Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Abramoff is a hustling Hollywood native whose charm, flamboyant deal-making and readiness to bend or break rules propelled him first to a K Street pinnacle and probably next will lead him to jail. The spreading scandal that now bears his name, and which primarily affects Republicans, yielded a new victim this week: a top lobbying firm, the Alexander Strategy Group.

While Republicans note that Abramoff has Democratic entanglements, too, his far greater involvement with Republicans means that it is the majority party that sees most to fear.

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K Street has taken on a lopsidedly Republican cast in recent years, much of it DeLay's doing, and this has paralleled and been partly fueled by a dramatic overall growth in the lobbying industry.

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DeLay was a force in changing K Street. Until the past decade, lobbying firms tended to hire roughly equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats.

But once Republicans took control of the White House and Congress, DeLay began pressuring lobbying firms to hire or promote more Republicans in what Democrats saw as a breathtakingly aggressive takeover that became known as the K Street Project. An estimated two out of every three corporate dollars go to Republican-dominated lobbying firms.

It is a shame that we must rely on an internationally headquartered paper for such blunt reporting on this issue, but at least it's out there in print [and in a New York Times owned paper, no less].

I'll take the truth where I can get it and pray that it spreads.