Congressman Brad Ellsworth may have thought that he found a course for smooth sailing into the United States Senate with the way that he managed to wrap up the Democratic nomination without a primary contest. Ellsworth’s mentor, outgoing Senator Evan Bayh, arranged to leave the Senate just a day before the filing deadline for the primary, making it impossible for anyone to enter the race, allowing Democratic Party power brokers to come in and merely appoint Ellsworth the party’s candidate.
A maneuver like that can backfire, though, and many Indiana Democrats were left with a bad taste in their mouths when Bayh and Ellsworth evaded the democratic process. Ellsworth also has accumulated a rather anti-progressive voting record as a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of Republican-leaning Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Facing a rather unenthusiastic Democratic base back in Indiana, what could Congressman Ellsworth do to bring some energy to his campaign? Facing that difficult question, Ellsworth went to 4C Partners, a campaign consulting group that promises it “can take your campaign to the next level in fundraising.”. 4C Partners came up with a time-tested solution: Turn to the lobbyists of Washington D.C., and ask them for money, in return for political access.
Thursday evening, when other members of the House of Representatives were still at work on Capitol Hill attending to the business of the nation, Brad Ellsworth slipped out to attend a party held on his behalf at the Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. This was a special kind of party – one that D.C. power brokers had to pay to attend.
The invitation for the party that the Ellsworth for Senate campaign created “cordially” asked anyone who wanted to spend some time with Congressman Ellsworth to bring between $500 and $5,000. A gift of $5,000 would ensure a special status at the party, with recognition by Ellsworth as a “host”.
The host committee was “in formation”, the invitation explained, though anybody willing to give Ellsworth $5,000 could join it. It takes a special sort of person to give up that much money just to go to a dinner party, of course – lobbyists seeking to influence votes in Congress, who look at these sort of donations as a cost of doing business.
The founding members of Brad Ellsworth’s party host committee were all lobbyists. These lobbyists were:
Maria Berthoud is a former aide to Joseph Lieberman who now works as a lobbyist for B&D Consulting. Among Berthoud’s clients are the FCCI Mutual Holding Company ad the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.
John M. Gonzalez was the Chief of Staff for right-leaning U.S. Representative Melissa Bean until last year. He is now working as a lobbyist for Peck, Madigan, Jones and Stewart. Gonzalez represents clients such as Allstate Insurance, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the International Swaps & Derivatives Association, MasterCard, and the US Chamber of Commerce.
Caleb Baker is a lobbyist with C Baker Consulting, serving the political access needs of military contracting corporations General Dynamics, Honeywell International and Raytheon.
Rashid Hallaway was once an assistant to Ellsworth’s mentor, Evan Bayh. He now works as a lobbyist with the Ameriqual Group, representing the Patriot Coal Corporation.
Alixandria Lapp was Campaign Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee under Rahm Emanuel, but those days are over for her now. She presently works as a federally registered lobbyist with the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld. Her clients include industrial agricultural giant Monsanto, pharmaceuticals corporation Pfizer, and, as with John Gonzalez, the US Chamber of Commerce.
Gordon Taylor had his own time in public service as a congressional aide, but in his work with Ogilvy Government Relations, he now focuses on aiding a long list of corporate clients, such as the American Petroleum Institute, the American Chemical Council, the Carlyle Group, Cash America International, Monsanto, Pfizer, the Poker Players Alliance, UnitedHealth, and VISA.
As with Ellsworth’s evasion a Democratic primary, his dinner party for lobbyist cash is a maneuver that could backfire. Yes, it helps Ellsworth fund some TV commercials, but if Democratic voters get a wind of their party’s appointed candidate, a sitting member of Congress, making backroom deals with lobbyists, it could lower grassroots donations, and push an already depressed Democratic turnout down even further.
Politics in this charade of a democracy is a sad joke on the voters. Now the Duopoly appoints their connections from various corporate sponsors and special interest groups to lobby-written “laws of the land” and brazenly flaunts the way it really is. The corruption is so pervasive that we all just accept it like good little sheeple and go our merry ways. How can a corrupted system fix itself?