Daschle Moving to K Street

[quaoar]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32604-2005Mar13.html

Dole Played a Key Role in Recruiting Former Senator

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 14, 2005; Page A17

Former senator Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), following a bipartisan path blazed by many prominent ex-members of Congress, has moved from Capitol Hill to K Street, joining Alston & Bird as a special adviser in the law firm's legislative and public policy group.

Daschle, 57, the former Democratic leader in the Senate, starts work today providing the Atlanta-based firm's corporate clients strategic advice on such issues as energy, health care, financial services, tax policy, trade and agriculture. He was recruited by another former Senate leader, Republican Robert J. Dole, 81, who joined the firm as a special counsel in 2003.

Neither Daschle nor his new employer would discuss how much he will be paid. Other influential former members of Congress have drawn annual compensation packages of as much as $1 million and higher after making such moves. Dole has been reported to earn $800,000 to $1 million annually, a range the Republican called "more or less" accurate in an interview Friday.

Daschle, whose record of taking on the Bush administration probably cost him support in South Dakota, was denied a fourth term in the Senate after Republican John Thune defeated him Nov. 2. Dole soon sought him out to offer condolences and plant the idea of working at Alston & Bird.

[sasquatch]

1. Boy I sure do miss him*sarcasm*

:eyes:

[AP]

15. Thinking about John Thune DOES make me miss Tom Daschle.

[SoCalDem]

2. They are all whores, just putting in time to secure their "Bingo" job

Republican/Democrat..it makes little difference.. This is one reason why "super-rich" like kennedy is almost better..they ALREADY HAVE more money than they could spend, and may be less likely to sell out..

[coloradodem2005]

11. Bush has always been super-rich.

He sold out. I guess that is debatable since you would have to have principles to begin with.

[LibDemAlways]

3. "Daschle, whose record of taking on the Bush

administration..."

There's a joke here somewhere.

[mazzarro]

5. That made me chuckle!

eom

[burrowowl]

4. To be closer to his wife?

Why am I not surprised?

[jaysunb]

6. No surprise here !

n/t

[VegasWolf]

7. Now he can get filthy rich advocating for mega corporations! Yea! Not! n/

[VegasWolf]

8. When boosh retires I guess it will be to "F" Street. n/t

[TomClash]

12. LOL!

[Erika]

9. Hey, Why should he return to South Dakota?

They voted for Thune. Daschle fought hard for his constituents and they didn't vote him back in. Let them have Thune and his right wing agenda and let them live with it.

[MADem]

10. I guess he gets the Hill exemption, then

Dole must have gotten it for him.

The word is out on K Street that if you hire Democrats (the nameless, faceless ones, I guess, not the ones whose names pop up in a Lexis-Nexis or a google search) that your firm will be FROZEN OUT and roundly punished...Democracy in action!!!!

Tip for K ST job seekers: No lobbying or PR firms will hire you if you are a registered Democrat, at least those that want to do any business with the federal government.

[TomClash]

13. So what does that tell you?

[MADem]

27. It tells me Dole expects to be able to use him as a wedge

Either that, or Dole has his own agenda...and that the Daschles' will be settling in permanently to their already well appointed DC home...and you really need two incomes if you want to play the power couple game in DC....

We'll have to see how, and if, he is used up close and personal on the Hill....will be interesting.

[Rose Siding]

14. They all play for the same team.

"He was the first Republican leader I worked with, and it is like coming back home"...In an interview, Mr. Daschle said he and Mr. Dole also developed a close friendship and that his former Senate colleague was among the first people to call him after his loss in November.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/14/national/14daschle.html?

Where would he be without a Republican "leader"?

[demokatgurrl]

16. Good; if he makes enough we're safe from him running again. n/t

[KoKo]

17. Guess he didn't think much of returning to live in South Dakota, huh.

He and his wife are making too much in DC to think about those long periods of cold in SD... He probably has a vacation home or several in very nice places.

Good Riddance.

[KoKo]

18. And, no wonder he didn't go after "Jimmy/Jeff" who cost him the election

I couldn't imagine that Daschle wouldn't have started a lawsuit against Talon News for interference with the SD Elections. Gannon and his GOPUSA folks supported Thune and trashed Daschle by manipulating news coverage.

But Daschle barely commented. Now we know why. :-(

[Cocoa]

28. that's some real tortured spin

the RW threw everything they had at Daschle, including Gannon.

To use Gannon against Daschle, spinning the RW's target on his back against him, reminds me of the way some people spun John Kerry's work on BCCI and the Contras.

[KoKo]

29. That's what I said...they threw everything that had at Daschle...

Daschle should sue the hell out of them for "election tampering." You have a problem with that?

[YankeyMCC]

19. Daschle to Join an Old Adversary as Adviser at Law Firm

How cozy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/14/national/14daschle.html

[OzarkDem]

20. Its a real problem

Dems losing jobs in DC (whether elected officials or staff) are being hired by "law firms" and lobbyists to shmooze their old buddies to support "bipartisanship".

I spoke with one of these lobbyists in DC over the weekend and he admitted it was pressure from Dem lobbyists that resulted in some Dems supporting the bankruptcy bill.

These folks seriously need to find another way to make a living without selling out to Republicans. They don't realize the damage they're doing to our party in their zeal to make a buck.

[housewolf]

22. It's a bigger problem that just Dems

There are FAR more republicans who have left congressional service (representatives, senators, staff and aides) for the much more lucrative world of congressional lobbying.

Tom Delay has been making a concerted effort to squeeze Dems out of the lobbying world, pressuring lobbying firms to only hire Republicans.

The entire lobbying business needs to be reformed. It's absolutely inappropriate that that people with inside information and contacts are employed by special interests to use their contacts and information to gain access to the Congress in order to pressure Congress to create and vote for legislation that advances the interests of special interests. We, the American people, do not have a comparable force promoting our interests. The lobbying process as it is today is a social unjustice because there is virtually no force competing against the influence of the special interest lobbies.

It's a revolving-door process that needs to end - Congressional staff going to work for a lobbying firm to promote special interests, then later being appointed to agencies and commissions that either regulate or provide oversight to the agencies that regulate those very special interests they lobbied for. This whole system is just about as corrupt and inethical as anyone could imagine.

[wellst0nev0ter]

21. Boy, Good Riddance Then

With "friends" like these, who needs Republicans?

[VegasWolf]

23. Together Boys and Girls! All politics are a game, there is only one

winner, the politician.

[ernstbass]

25. Well put VegasWolf

[YankeyMCC]

26. To cynical for me

politics is how humans interact. Politics itself isn't the problem is the current set of rules - or lack thereof - and lack of accountability to the people that's the problem.

To just dismiss politics means we don't get involved in such a "dirty corrupt thing" and it just gets worse and all we become are a bunch of complainers.

[Skidmore]

24. Legislators should not be allowed to join either

lobbying firms or work for the media until they have been out of DC at least one term.