THE BEST GOVERNMENT THAT MONEY CAN BUY
In Washington on $10 Million a Day, a superbly researched, fact-crammed, rock-eting and rolling, and utterly engaging 240-page book, Ken Silverstein exposes the seamy underbelly of the Washington, D.C. "K Street Corridor" lobbying industry. True to the motto of CounterPunch, an investigative newsletter co-edited by Silverstein and Alexander Cockburn, this book "gives the facts and names the names."
No doubt you have heard the shrill cries of campaign finance reformers who declare that corporate campaign contributions are distorting-and some say destroying-democracy. Well, that's the bad news. The worse news is that most corporations spend far more on lobbying. "Dollar for dollar," writes Silverstein in the book's introduction, "lobbying is a far better investment than campaign contributions.... "
ln 1996, Philip Morris coughed up $19.6 million for lobbying programs versus $4.2 million for campaign contributions (making it the leader in both categories). The same pattern holds true for other firms. For 1996, Georgia Pacific spent $8.9 million for lobbying and handed out $527,000 in political money. Corresponding figures for AT&T are $8.4 million vs. $1.8 million; for Pfizer [a pharmaceutical maker], $8.3 million vs. $775,000; for Boeing, $5.2 million vs. $170,000; for ARCO, $4.3 million vs. $1.3 million; for Lockheed, $3.5 million vs. $1.26 million; for Fedex, $3.1 million vs. $1.9 million; for Dow Chemical, $1.5 million vs. $578,000."
As the above passage illustrates, when money talks, it speaks in the arcane language of dollar signs, digits, and lots of zeros. And when it's corporate money, it speaks in 6- and 7-figures. The rest of the book amply demonstrates how the combined voices of corporate lobbyists, public relations firms, and fake "grassroots" campaigns all but drown out the relatively tiny voice of "The People" in late-twentieth century U.S.-style democrazy.
Travel with Ken Silverstein as he dons the persona (complete with faked credentials) of a lobbyist/bagman for the mythical Miami-based United Broadcasting Corporation and sets out to plug into the beltway influence-peddling circuit. "Armed with my impressive credentials as a lobbyist for this cash-dispensing outfit, I called the offices of Democratic and Republican Party fundraising outfits and asked for information about upcoming affairs in Washington."
He felt nervous as he made the calls and feared being unmasked if party staffers asked detailed questions about UBC's operations. But staffers from both political parties asked few questions and happily faxed him a list of that week's 68 fundraising events, including a $500 per person "Wine Reception" for second-term Congressman George Radanovich (R) of California, and a $500 per person elbow-rubbing and gladhanding affair for Texas Democrat Ken Bentsen. There were other, pricier, buffets, luncheons, and cocktail parties, but Silverstein attended just these two.
Again, he feared probing questions that would unmask his flimsy cover. Yet at both affairs he was warmly and personally greeted by the pols and their helpful staffers, who offered to set up future meetings with United Broadcasting officials to discuss the company's concerns.
Read about the revolving door between the capital's halls of power and the denizens of Washingp;ton's hundreds of lobby and PR firms. There are an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 lobbyists in Washington, D.C. They outnumber Congress by 75-1, even if you accept the lower figure. Between 1988 and 1993, 42 percent of all permanent Senate committee and staff directors became lobbyists, while the corresponding figure on the House side was 34 percent.
Silverstein dishes up numerous play-by-play analyses of how specific players trade on relationships, call in favors, pay for phony academic studies and think tank reports, and manipulate public officials to score goals for their corporate teams.
One illustrative example is Procter & Gamble's lushly funded campaign to obtain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the fat substitute called "Olestra." In just eight fact- and name-crammed pages, Silverstein details P&G's impressive masterplan to buy up made-to-order scientific research, crush contrary studies by academics and scientists not on their payroll, deftly manage press coverage (it helps that the company is one of the largest advertisers in the nation), silence and marginalize consumer opposition groups, and marshal an army of high-profile hired guns to descend on the FDA approval hearings.
Washington on $10 Million a Day offers a virtual blueprint of the who, how, why, and what gets done in Washington. If this is a process you would like to witness firsthand, come along with Silverstein on this hair-raising tour of the beltway.
Available at finer bookstores and mail order (hardcover, $22.95 plus $3 S&H) from: Common Courage Press; P.O. Box 702; Monroe, ME 04951. (Visa/MasterCard orders: 1-800-497-3207).
Winter Contents 1998 -- NCX -- Archives -- Electrons to the Editor