Norquist seeks trademark on ‘K Street Project’ name

12 Apr 2006 // Conservative activist Grover Norquist is seeking a trademark on “K Street Project,” saying Democrats and Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) have wrongfully acquired the term to describe unethical practices that have nothing to do with his organization.

Far from running away from the term, as most other Republicans have since January, when lobbyist Jack Abramoff agreed to plead guilty to corruption charges, Norquist is embracing it.

His project is a branch of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), which he heads. He says the project is an innocuous list of job openings for Washington lobbyists and a database of lobbyists’ political ties and federal campaign contributions.

The lists are circulated among high-level conservatives, with critics calling the efforts an improper “whitelisting” and “blacklisting” of potential hires.

Norquist said he founded the K Street Project in 1989 to bring ideological balance to lobbying firms. His group distributes weekly jobs bulletins by e-mail to 250 subscribers. This week’s bulletin is a 75-page dossier with positions at the Federal Election Commission, Merrill Lynch, the American Health Care Association, WellPoint and Home Depot.

Norquist said, “We argued to K Street — to trade associations, Fortune 500 companies, the Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers — you should hire people who agree with you philosophically. That means, labor unions, you should hire liberals.”

But the phrase “K Street Project” has since come to encompass a nefarious practice of Republican lawmakers pressuring groups to hire right-leaning employees; Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was admonished by the House ethics committee for doing so in 1998.

Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has come under fire in his reelection race from Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., his likely Democratic challenger, for hosting weekly meetings between Republican senators and lobbyists, another event that has come to be seen as part of K Street Project.

Norquist’s trademark application could take up to a year and a half to be processed.

“Some people say Kleenex when they mean tissue,” Norquist said. “We will jealously guard the real phrasing the way Kleenex and Coca-Cola do. We will sue anyone who says it wrong and make lots of money.”

Boehner distanced himself from the K Street Project in its broadest sense during his election race for the top House job.

“If I am elected majority leader, there will no longer be a K Street Project, or anything else like it,” he said in January, without specifying his meaning.

“There has to be an understanding that this is an approach rather than an entity. The K Street Project is a title that was an approach that was given during the ’94 takeover. I don’t see how you can marry the two,” Boehner spokesman Kevin Madden said Tuesday of Norquist’s K Street Project and the term’s broader meaning.

“I don’t have an opinion of what they’re doing,” Madden added of Norquist’s project. “The practice of encouraging trade associations or private-sector firms with regard to their hiring practices is not something this office directs or is interested in directing.”

Boehner has not had any contact with Norquist’s group, Madden said. Norquist said he spoke to a Boehner staffer several weeks ago.

“We would just ask him not to use the phrase ‘K Street Project.’ We are in support of the reforms he advocates,” Norquist said. “They understand the distinction. I believe in the future they’ll be clearer.”

Norquist said his group targets K Street rather than Capitol Hill. Some former Republican staffers agree.

“The K Sreet Project has taken on a bigger-than-life perspective, particularly in the media,” said one former Republican leadership staffer. “Lobbying firms don’t need Grover or Santorum, either one, to help them [decide whom to hire]. ... We are fully capable of figuring out ‘Oh, the Democrats are in control, so we need to shift who we have on staff in order to reflect that.’”

A spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) condemned the K Street Project in any form.

“Republicans can call it anything they want,” said Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider. “It doesn’t change the fact that every single Republican is responsible for enabling and benefiting from a K Street Project that puts their cronies ahead of the American people.

“The whole concept makes me laugh,” Crider said of Norquist’s trademark efforts. “The House Republicans don’t want us to be able to use the phrase ‘culture of corruption.’ Norquist doesn’t want us to be able to use the phrase ‘K Street Project.’ Again, it doesn’t change the reality.”

Republicans with intimate knowledge of how the K Street Project operated under DeLay attempted to distance themselves from Norquist, arguing that he was the one who hyped it from the beginning. In actuality, they said, the project as they knew it was more of a low-key job bank for staffers ready to move off the Hill than a high-pressure attempt to dictate who got top lobbying jobs and who didn’t.

“Did we ask Grover for his list, and did he willingly share it? Yes,” a former GOP leadership staffer said. “But Grover’s list was totally outdated and inaccurate, and if we ever hired anyone from the list … Grover took credit for it inside the [conservative] circle.”

The source conceded that “Boehner cannot control Grover” but noted that “Grover is not part of the [GOP] conference.”

“Boehner and Roy should probably avoid running anything official or organized, just because it’s going to draw attention in this environment,” the source said.