Corkers Hits Up K Street — Again
From the City Paper: Republican U.S. Senate frontrunner Bob Corker went to Washington and had fund-raisers with D.C. lobbyists this week, prompting his opponents to call him “very hypocritical.” Tuesday night, Corker attended a $250-per-person, $1,000-per-political-action-committee (PAC) fund-raiser at the office of Capitol Decisions Inc., a wing of the largest independent lobbying firm in Washington, D.C.
This morning, Corker attended a “meet and greet” — where a ticket price wasn’t required but donations were accepted — that was hosted by Independent Petroleum Association of America.
That organization employs lobbyists and has a PAC that has given Corker $5,000 for his primary election.
The two events come after Corker has been criticizing his two GOP primary opponents, Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary, for their time as lobbyists after they left Congress.
To sum up their feelings, the Bryant campaign sent out an e-mail with the subject: “Hypocrisy Thy Name is Bob Corker.”
“While Bob Corker now hypocritically attacks lobbyists in TV ads lying about Ed Bryant’s honorable career of public service, he has no problem going to Washington, backslapping with lobbyists, taking their money, and singing their praises,” Bryant spokesman Andrew Shulman said in the press release.
The Hilleary campaign’s Jennifer Coxe said Corker was the choice of the lobbyists and the “inside-the-beltway gang.”
“It’s laughable for him to criticize Ed and Van for being congressmen when he’s the inside-the-beltway lobbyists’ choice,” Coxe said.
Ben Mitchell, Corker’s campaign spokesman, responded to the Bryant and Hilleary campaigns’ attacks by repeatedly pointing the finger back at Corker’s two opponents and their time as lobbyists in Washington.
“I can understand why they want to divert attention from the fact that after serving in Congress they became registered lobbyists, but their allegations and accusations are without merit,” Mitchell said.
“I think Bob Corker’s record clearly demonstrates that of the four major candidates in this campaign, Bob Corker can be trusted to go Washington to change the process and the culture and not become a part of it.”
When pressed on the question of whether Corker’s taking of lobbyists’ PAC money makes him part of the culture in Washington, Mitchell said Corker will bring a “fresh and new perspective” and repeated the Hilleary and Bryant attacks.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America’s PAC director, Kelly Philson, said the IPAA has endorsed Corker for the election.
“I believe that he is the strongest candidate out there that will be an advocate for domestic producers of oil and natural gas,” Philson said.
Bryant and Hilleary served as lobbyists after leaving Congress. Bryant was registered to lobby for BlueCross/BlueShield of Chattanooga and Methodist Healthcare of Memphis. Hilleary was registered to lobby for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Prevent Blindness America. He’s still registered for Nashville-based SMS Holdings.
By John Rodgers
07/26/2006
