Candidates Taking Aim at Lobbyists

The dirtiest word on the campaign trail this year is "lobbyist."

In close contests from Connecticut to California, Republicans and Democrats are attacking each other for getting too close to "special interests" and lobbyists. The accusation, a longtime election staple, is carrying greater heft than usual, election experts agree, thanks to the guilty plea of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in January and the recent e-mail scandal of former representative Mark Foley (R-Fla.).

"The lobbyist has become the prime caricature for having too much power in Washington," said Evan Tracey of TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, a nonpartisan research firm that monitors political commercials. "Lobbyists and special interests are the biggest bogeymen of this election."

Candidates and independent organizations have run more than 300 political ads suggesting that the incumbents, the challengers or both have been co-opted by narrow interests or, worse, have actually lobbied. Many more such ads are planned in the tightest House and Senate races.

In one congressional district in eastern Florida, each candidate has tried to lay the taint of lobbying on the other. Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R) upbraided his Democratic rival, state Sen. Ron Klein, a lawyer, for working as a lobbyist at the local level -- a suggestion that Klein dismissed as "a personal attack." In response, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) bought ads accusing Shaw of championing special aid to drug companies in Medicare legislation.

Maryland's Senate contenders, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R) and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D), have also traded insinuations in TV ads that the other is too sympathetic to "special interests."

Lobbyists have never been popular, and Democratic leaders have signaled for months that "corruption" would be central to their assault on the GOP. But as ethical misdeeds on Capitol Hill have multiplied, politicians of both parties are betting big that voters will reject candidates who appear to be too involved with professional favor-seekers.

"First there was Abramoff; now there's Foley," said Paul A. Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists, a lobbyist trade group in the capital. "Corruption has risen to play a major role in this election, and lobbyists are a target."

Allegations of lobbying are as likely to come from Republicans as from Democrats. In the rematch of Rep. Michael E. Sodrel (R-Ind.) and former representative Baron P. Hill (D), Sodrel disparaged Hill for joining a D.C.-based lobbying firm last year rather than returning home after his defeat for reelection. "It speaks volumes about him," said Cam Savage, Sodrel's campaign manager.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has been attacked by her Republican opponent for sponsoring more than $11 million in earmarked appropriations for the clients of Ron Dotzauer, a former boyfriend, current campaign adviser and head of a lobbying firm.

"This is a year in which Congress has been rocked by scandal, much of it between members of Congress and lobbyists," said Elliott Bundy, spokesman for Mike McGavick, Cantwell's challenger. "We have discussed how her connections to this lobbyist have affected her official duties."

Democrats berate Republicans for their lobbyist connections with equal vigor. The DCCC put up ads in Arizona against Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R) that charged him with taking more than $4 million in contributions from "lobbyists and special interests." And in California, a group called Americans for Conservation went after Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R) for advocating the sale of public land "after mining lobbyists threw him a fundraiser."