K STREET GIVETH... Two amusing K Street-related notes regarding Tom DeLay's imminent retirement: First, see Jesse Lee for the latest on lobbyists getting a wee bit testy about DeLay converting the re-election campaign contributions they raised for him into funds for his legal expenses. �If I wanted to give to a legal fund, I would�ve done it directly,� Roll Call quotes one lobbyist; says another, "That all this money will go to the legal defense fund, it sickens me."
Meanwhile, former DeLay (and Dennis Hastert) aide John Feehery's Sunday Washington Post op-ed is worth a read for the dirt it dishes on DeLay's rogue minions, Ed Buckham, Mike Scanlon, and Tony Rudy. Do be wary of the good-man-wronged-by-perfidious-underlings narrative Feehery is aiming for, however.
Given the prominence of the K Street Project in discussions of DeLay's legacy (see Michael Barone's delightfully forthright defense of the gambit from last week), it's worth noting that Feehery himself is a direct and emblematic beneficiary of the Project. When, in 2004, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) hired a Democrat as its new president, furious congressional Republicans retaliated by excising tax credits to movie studios from an international tax bill. The MPAA got the message and promised to hire several Republicans for top positions. One of those hires: John Feehery, now the MPAA�s executive vice-president.
--Sam Rosenfeld