How the DLC Does It

.....Though the DLC offers a nominal $50 membership to anyone interested, its mass base is minuscule. "There's a New Democrat audience of about 5,000 to 10,000 people who get our stuff on a regular basis," says Matthew Frankel, the DLC's spokesman. And with a nonexistent grass-roots presence, the DLC is generally unknown except to practitioners of "inside baseball" politics. Yet the affiliation of scores of members of Congress has enabled the DLC to establish alliances with Fortune 500 corporate supporters, particularly along the so-called K Street corridor of Washington-based lobbyists and in high-tech enclaves such as California's Silicon Valley.

Once, the Reverend Jesse Jackson disparaged the DLC as "Democrats for the Leisure Class." But no one should underestimate the DLC's role in remaking the Democratic Party. Disciplined and single-minded, working tirelessly to forge alliances between individual Democratic elected officials and business groups, zealously promoting the political fortunes of their stars, and publishing a dizzying array of white papers and policy proposals, the DLC has given strategic coherence to what otherwise would have remained an inchoate tendency within the party. It has become a forum within which like-minded pro-business Democrats can share ideas, endorse one another, and commiserate about the persistence of the Old Guard.

"We're a party that's going through a transition from one ideology to another," says NDN's Rosenberg. "It was 40 years between the creation of the National Review and Newt Gingrich's takeover of Congress in 1994. We're only 16 years into this. Are we challenging old ways and leaders who've been around for a while? Are we being contentious? Yes."

Of course, it is easier to be contentious when you are well financed. And the DLC message of pro-market moderation is just what organized business wants to hear. From its modest beginnings--with a start-up budget of just $400,000 in its first year, cobbled together at fundraisers starring Robb, former President Jimmy Carter, and K Street Democratic eminence Bob Strauss--the DLC patiently cultivated wealthy individuals and corporate backers. By 1990 the combined DLC-PPI operation boasted revenues of $2.2 million, a big chunk of which came from a single source, New York hedge fund operator Michael Steinhardt, who pledged $500,000 a year for three years. (Steinhardt, whose actual donations came to half that in the end, was named chairman of the newly formed PPI's board of trustees, before falling out with the DLC in the mid-1990s.)

One by one, Fortune 500 corporate backers saw the DLC as a good investment. By 1990 major firms like AT&T and Philip Morris were important donors. Indeed, according to Reinventing Democrats, Kenneth S. Baer's history of the DLC, Al From used the organization's fundraising prowess as blandishment to attract an ambitious young Arkansas governor to replace Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia as DLC chairman. Drawing heavily on internal memos written by From, Bruce Reed, and other DLCers, Baer says that the DLC offered Clinton not only a national platform for his presidential aspirations but "entree into the Washington and New York fundraising communities." Early in the 1992 primaries, writes Baer, "financially, Clinton's key Wall Street support was almost exclusively DLC-based," especially at firms like New York's Goldman, Sachs.

The DLC's investment in Clinton paid off, of course, after the 1992 election. Not only did the DLC bask in its status as idea factory and influence broker for the White House, but it also reaped immediate financial rewards. One month after the election, Clinton headlined a fundraising dinner for the DLC that drew 2,200 to Washington's Union Station, where tables went for $15,000 apiece. Corporate officials and lobbyists were lined up to meet the new White House occupant, including 139 trade associations, law firms, and companies who kicked in more than $2 million, for a total of $3.3 million raised in a single evening. The DLC-PPI's revenues climbed steadily upward, reaching $5 million in 1996 and, according to its most recent available tax returns, $6.3 million for 1999. "Our revenues for 2000 will probably end up around $7.2 million," says Chuck Alston, the DLC's executive director.

While the DLC will not formally disclose its sources of contributions and dues, the full array of its corporate supporters is contained in the program from its annual fall dinner last October, a gala salute to Lieberman that was held at the National Building Museum in Washington. Five tiers of donors are evident: the Board of Advisers, the Policy Roundtable, the Executive Council, the Board of Trustees, and an ad hoc group called the Event Committee--and companies are placed in each tier depending on the size of their check. For $5,000, 180 companies, lobbying firms, and individuals found themselves on the DLC's board of advisers, including British Petroleum, Boeing, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coca-Cola, Dell, Eli Lilly, Federal Express, Glaxo Wellcome, Intel, Motorola, U.S. Tobacco, Union Carbide, and Xerox, along with trade associations ranging from the American Association of Health Plans to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. For $10,000, another 85 corporations signed on as the DLC's policy roundtable, including AOL, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Citigroup, Dow, GE, IBM, Oracle, UBS PacifiCare, PaineWebber, Pfizer, Pharmacia and Upjohn, and TRW.

And for $25,000, 28 giant companies found their way onto the DLC's executive council, including Aetna, AT&T, American Airlines, AIG, BellSouth, Chevron, DuPont, Enron, IBM, Merck and Company, Microsoft, Philip Morris, Texaco, and Verizon Communications. Few, if any, of these corporations would be seen as leaning Democratic, of course, but here and there are some real surprises. One member of the DLC's executive council is none other than Koch Industries, the privately held, Kansas-based oil company whose namesake family members are avatars of the far right, having helped to found archconservative institutions like the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Not only that, but two Koch executives, Richard Fink and Robert P. Hall III, are listed as members of the board of trustees and the event committee, respectively--meaning that they gave significantly more than $25,000.

The DLC board of trustees is an elite body whose membership is reserved for major donors, and many of the trustees are financial wheeler-dealers who run investment companies and capital management firms--though senior executives from a handful of corporations, such as Koch, Aetna, and Coca-Cola, are included. Some donate enormous amounts of money, such as Bernard Schwartz, the chairman and CEO of Loral Space and Communications, who single-handedly finances the entire publication of Blueprint, the DLC's retooled monthly that replaced The New Democrat. "I sought them out, after talking to Michael Steinhardt," says Schwartz. "I like them because the DLC gives resonance to positions on issues that perhaps candidates cannot commit to."

A key member of the event committee for the 2000 annual fall dinner was Mike Lewan, who runs a boutique lobbying house that has represented clients such as Oracle and BellSouth. In the late 1980s, Lewan, who joined the DLC because he was "one of those disaffected Democrats," went to work as Lieberman's chief of staff--and promptly introduced the Connecticut senator to the DLC. Today, Lewan helps recruit support for the DLC on K Street. "It's astonishing to me how much support the DLC is getting from the professional Washington people, the lawyers, the lobbyists," he says. "There's a relationship and a trust level that's been built up."

Joining Lewan on the event committee were several dozen of Washington's elite lobbyists, including representatives from the Dutko Group, Greenberg Traurig, the Wexler Group, Verner, Liipfert, and SVP Kessler and Associates, all with blue-chip clients, along with lobbyists for Chevron, Citigroup, Salomon Smith Barney, and others. One was Arthur Lifson, vice president for federal affairs at Cigna Corporation, one of the nation's largest health insurers and a company that stands to gain enormously if, say, Medicare were privatized along the lines proposed by the DLC and by one of its founders, Senator John Breaux of Louisiana. "The DLC is trying to bring some fresh ideas to Medicare and to dealing with the uninsured," says Lifson, whose company is listed as a member of the DLC's policy roundtable. "It builds on changes that are taking place in the marketplace, rather than turning everything on its head [like] Hillary Care." Lifson frankly endorses the DLC as a counterweight to "populists ... at the other end of the party."

In 1996 Lieberman, Breaux, and Simon Rosenberg founded the New Democrat Network political action committee. "Our role is to add political muscle," says Rosenberg. In the 1997–1998 reporting period, its first full cycle, NDN raised $1.4 million directly, and another $1.2 million in so-called "bundled" contributions, gathered at fundraisers for individual candidates and funneled through NDN. In the 1999–2000 period, NDN more than doubled its take, raising $4 million directly and bundling $1.45 million more, plus $450,000 for GoreLieberman. Nearly $2 million of NDN's take in the last cycle came in large, unregulated soft-money chunks from companies such as Aetna, AT&T, and Microsoft and from trade groups such as the Securities Industry Association, who helped sponsor a $1.2-million fundraiser honoring Lieberman on February 13.

NDN's brochures sound like investment prospectuses. "NDN acts as a political venture capital fund to create a new generation of elected officials," says the PAC. "NDN provides the political intelligence you need to make well-informed decisions on how to spend your political capital. Just like an investment advisor, NDN exhaustively vets candidates and endorses only those who meet our narrowly defined criteria."

With three full-time fundraisers plus consultants in New York and Los Angeles, NDN runs a prolific schedule, holding more than 100 events last year. Most of them are typical Washington, D.C., money events, with the usual cast of characters from PACs and lobbying houses; a smaller number are held around the country. NDN also holds some large-scale happenings: Last year, its annual legislative retreat was held at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, where members of the congressional New Democrat caucuses mingled with wealthy contributors from the private sector. Even more ambitious was its annual retreat in June, a three-day gathering spread out all over the San Francisco Bay Area, at which no less than 23 House and Senate Democrats met with executives who paid $1,000 each for the event, which was cosponsored with TechNet.

To many up-and-coming politicians, NDN's events are heaven-sent forums at which they can strut their stuff and ring up contributors. Case in point: Tom Carper, the newly elected senator from Delaware. Last year, NDN raised $55,000 for Carper's Senate race. But it provided an intangible benefit as well. "He's a believer," says Rosenberg. "In addition to all the support we gave him, he'd come to a lot of our other fundraisers, and he was able to meet a lot of new people and develop new contacts. That's one of the reasons why so many elected officials come to our events." For politicians like Carper, NDN is a pipeline for campaign contributions. For donors, NDN provides precertification that none of the politicians are noisy populists. "The candidates are validated to people in the room as New Democrats," says Rosenberg.

To ensure that liberals don't slip through the cracks, NDN requires each politician who seeks entree to its largesse and contacts to fill out a questionnaire that asks his or her views on trade, economics, education, welfare reform, and other issues. The questions are detailed, forcing candidates to state clearly whether or not they support views associated with the New Democrat Coalition, and it concludes by asking, "Will you join the NDC when you come to Congress?" Next, Rosenberg interviews each candidate, and then NDN determines which candidacies are viable before providing financial support.

Sitting in his office at the DLC's bustling headquarters a few blocks southeast of the Capitol along Pennsylvania Avenue, Al From vigorously rejects the idea that the DLC shapes its views to cultivate its donors: "Anybody who's familiar with the DLC knows that we do what we think is right." Even 17 years after the fact, From is impassioned when he recalls the Democrats' crushing defeat in 1984, when former Vice President Walter Mondale lost 49 states. "Robert Kennedy is my hero," says From. "I saw the liberal cause, which I believe in, almost go the way of the Whigs. And I said, How do you take these principles ... and do it so that people will vote for us again?"

....... Representative Adam Smith, for one, worries that with Republicans in control of both the White House and Congress, Democrats will revert to their old ways, thumping the anti–Big Business, pro-government themes that the DLC has fought so hard to suppress. "It's easier to draw a good contrast if you take the approach that on every issue, Bush is kowtowing to the corporations, that he's in the pocket of the pharmaceutical companies, that he's in the pocket of Big Oil," says Smith. "Too many Democrats want to say, åVote for me because Exxon is screwing you, Chase Manhattan's screwing you.'" On Medicare, for instance, which is likely to be a defining issue in the current Congress, Smith is concerned that while President Bush and Democrats like Senator Breaux might be able to strike a deal on privatizing Medicare, other Democrats will block it. "I fear that the party now, if the Republicans roll something like that out, will be reflexively hostile to it in order to draw a contrast, to accuse the Republicans of simply not caring and of getting in bed with their friends in the health insurance industry."

On the table in front of him as he speaks is the business card of Vanda McMurty, Aetna's Washington lobbyist and a member of the DLC's board of trustees. "In fact, I was just meeting with a guy from Aetna," says Smith.
Read complete and eye-opening article here.

Hey, BluesDuke....the poor people, existing in that shady, underhanded world, never knowing who's a real friend, all those boring, heartless, pretend events...pretty and hollow. Perhaps we should start a spiritual 501-3c organization to help them out. LOL!

Isn't it true that most corrupt groups and nations followed that path of least resistance down into increasing chaos and lawlessness, and fell at last by their own greed and hate?

What do you think- Hater's Anonymous? (^: Joy.

FYI.
While the DLC will not formally disclose its sources of contributions and dues....

In the 1997–1998 reporting period, its first full cycle, NDN raised $1.4 million directly, and another $1.2 million in so-called "bundled" contributions, gathered at fundraisers for individual candidates and funneled through NDN. In the 1999–2000 period, NDN more than doubled its take, raising $4 million directly and bundling $1.45 million more, plus $450,000 for GoreLieberman. Nearly $2 million of NDN's take in the last cycle came in large, unregulated soft-money chunks from companies such as Aetna, AT&T, and Microsoft and from trade groups such as the Securities Industry Association, who helped sponsor a $1.2-million fundraiser honoring Lieberman on February 13.

Not to mention "five tiers of donors" - from big to huge, over 100 events a year, etc....
Campaign fundraising schemers.

I don't think this is relevent but since I found it on a NY web site I may as well stick it here for fun, since both Hillary and Torricelli have their hands in much the same businesses:

"Andrew Rasiej, chief executive of Digital Club Network (which Webcasts live concerts), is Silicon Alley’s link to the Democratic political heavyweights. Hosted a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser earlier this year that gave Internet types the chance to hobnob with Hillary and Bill, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Bob Torricelli and other assorted politicians high and low. But will the hacks show up if the money’s dried up? "

Sounds like an ordinary PAC, to me; or, extraordinary if you prefer.
There had to be a way established by which cash could be legally funneled into the Liberal's bank account(s) from various extortions &/or enablers.
I suppose this is it, huh; or one of 'em, at any rate.

Interestingly enough?
Remember the hissy-fit the Left through over NewtG's GOPAC?
GOPAC as I recall, was merely an instrument of education used to enlighten people to conservatism et al.
Am I wrong?
Of course the Libs saw to it GOPAC cost the man his head, & then some.
But hey, we can still see Gingrich performing on TV; right?
Lucky us; what a country.

They're going to get their Socialist way, you realize?
And who knows; they may get more than that, when all's said & done.

...it's a world turned upside down, cowgirl; it sure is.

Thanks for this incredible post.

A few things pop up out of my old Grampa mind after reading your thread and the great replies to it besides the rare headache I got after reading it.

1. A very wise friend, after Clintoon got elected in 92, wanted to know who really financed this crook from a little banana republic state to enable him to be president. Well we now know the answers to his question.

2. How does this massive financing by the super rich never gets into the mass media. Are they part of this? Do they get huge ad $'s from these biggies for not doing real stories on this incredible issue?

3. How many of these companies fit my double whammy on corporations to be really suspicious of. The companies with massive/large donations to the DemonicRats and use Arthur Andersen as their auditor and consultant. I think this duo connection of being a major contributor to the DemonicRats and a client of Arthur Andersen is the sign of a possible very bad corporation. They do not represent our best interests!

4. Last, but not least, these massive donors to the DLC and the demonicRats, are they, also, donors to the various enviral organizations like Club Sierra and other enviral organizations. These enviral organizations can serve as massive money launderers for these super rich demonicRats. You give 100,000 $ to one of the enviral organizations. They keep $20,000 and give the rest to their favorite senator like Boxer, Da$$hole or _______?. Then the envirals order their massive voting cults to vote for Boxer, Da$$hole or _________?.

Articles like this give me, the rare headaches that I get, and make me feel really angry.

Inspite of these discomforts, thank God for Free Republic and the great research people we have. People who find this stuff and get it posted. Then more great Freepers add their research to these threads.

But the Dems are the party of the "little guys", aren't they?

They are against the evil greedy corporations, right?

Some old time sayings keep going through my head after all this Enron/Global Crossings cooked books/ debacles.

Like: "Honesty is the best policy" and "What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive"

The Rats are simply better at corruption (practiced deception, payoffs, etc) than the Repubs.

They are also killers.

And these corporate bigwigs are as corrupt as the Dems....

Sick. Frankly, there is not much hope for our country now. IF there is, somebody please give me a pep talk...I need it.

Frankly, there is not much hope for our country now. IF there is, somebody please give me a pep talk...I need it.

Buck up, pal. The very fact that you are agonizing over this means there is hope.....as long as people like you are out there, there's hope. Don't despair, and go stick your head in the sand thinking there's nothing you can do. That would be a cause for hopelesness. Hang in there and keep posting.

The fact that you are able to read about this, and we are able to contribute to this thread is proof that things will change!

Communists, facists, socialists and enviralists must have total control of the media and have the ability to spike or kill stories like this thread. Then if the story does get out, they must be able to spike those of us who pass on the story and comment on it.

Thanks to Free Republic and other conservative threads, that total control is gone. Just look at how Jeff Head's truth and reality re the NY Fire Fighters raising the flag stopped the left wing revisionists from pcing history.

Look at what is happening to CNN in just two years. I predict that they will gone or be only a minimalist organization when the 2004 elections start out and finish!

We have won a lot of significant battles and more to come.

I hope that you are a regular monthly donor to Free Republic to ensure that it stays viable as our tool and weapon against the left wing maggot infest media.

So donate to Free Republic on a monthly basis, stay positive and help us win more battles in 2002!

Sorry about the headache, Grampa. You summed up my questions, anger and resulting headache with your post. Do you have any doubt about the enviral and media connections? I know that Enron teamed up with Sierra Club, John Kerry, and other enviral interests and supporters to push Kyoto, etc..

Truth is, it's pretty d*&% easy to find connections to top Dems. and their intersts, isn't it? A child could find this information, yet the press chooses to report only one side of the story....and that, simply allegations based on Dem. talking points.

My headache cure: read a Rumsfeld press briefing....and then "be like Donald," say "bunk," firmly and patiently explain the facts...day after day to the press. (^:

They're going to get their Socialist way, you realize? And who knows; they may get more than that, when all's said & done.

Landru, if it's any consolation....grace comes through longsuffering. The Dems. may get their way (and the world, going down that path of least resistance it is rather inevitable), but they will not be happy if they do....

"what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" - God.

One person armed with faith can move mountains. Wherever we end up, we will be o.k.(^:

Snow Bunny, I didn't flag you yesterday because your USO work is so important and uplifting and this article is not. (^: We can at least stand tall while facing the press people (and mean Dems.) and, armed with Freep facts (truth), confidently say, "Phooey."

Another good article about a few DLC supporting financial institutions...Citigroup, Bank of America, the usual Clinton cronies.
Wall Street Banks 'Knew About Enron'. ((((Hugs)))

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.