LOBBYIST ARE HESITANT TO SUPPORT DONALD TRUMP?

….This is how lobbyists normally work in Washington DC

 

 

 Did you know that Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is a longtime lobbyist and political operative?

 

 

 

There is one group that usually has a lot of pull during an election year.  That group has been mostly silent for the Republican party.  And that group is the “K-Street Gang”. 

 

For those out there scratching their heads, K-Street is the place in DC where all of the serious lobbyists reside.  (Actually, they are all over DC, but the major, long-time operations started in buildings on K-Street, and this has become the universal identity when the media refers to Washington lobbyists as a group.)

 

Up to this point, K-Street and the Trump campaign had not gotten together.  These are the very same Washington groups that Donald Trump has been regularly railing against.

 

In fact, up to recently, lobbyists had raised $7 million for Hillary Clinton. For Trump? $0.

 

But just this week, according to a Republican party elder that was a former House Appropriations chairman and top a partner at a DC lobby firm, he has said that has recently changed.

 

According to the party elder, up to June, 15, lobbyists had contributed a total of ~$34,000 to Trump’s campaign and the Trump Victory Fund.  That’s a sharp increase from the three lobbyists who collectively chipped in less than $1,000 during the previous six months, (according to lobbying disclosure forms). At least two of the lobbyists are now actively fundraising on Trump’s behalf.

 

Yep, these guys have finally opened up their checkbooks and their fundraising networks in support of the Republican presidential candidate.

 

Now, that’s a far cry from those millions of dollars that hundreds of lobbyists have raised and contributed to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.  But this is notable because much of K Street and the corporate interests it represents have been slow to embrace the controversial GOP nominee. And he has been slow to embrace them as well.

 

With Trump running as an “outsider”, it is only been natural that Trump would have less institutional or Washington support.  This is according to David Tamasi, a GOP lobbyist who in June became finance chair for that Trump Victory Fund.  This fund is a joint fundraising committee among Trump, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and 11 state Republican parties. 

 

Tamasi today is a partner at the lobby firm Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, that has contributed $10,000 to the victory fund. 

 

During the primary, Tamasi bundled contributions for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and, later, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. He previously bundled contributions for Mitt Romney’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.  “I always intended to bundle for whoever the GOP nominee was going to be,” Tamasi said. “In this case, now it’s Trump.”

 

Trump’s other K Street backers include former Louisiana congressman Bob Livingston, the House Appropriations chairman-turned-lobbyist who endorsed Trump in March.  It also includes Rick Hohlt, a prominent Republican lobbyist and longtime Bush adviser. Livingston and Hohlt have each contributed $5,400 to Trump’s campaign.

 

As it happens, not surprisingly, Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is a longtime lobbyist and political operative.

 

Hohlt, who has been helping raise money for the Trump campaign, initially backed Jeb Bush in the race.  “I think it’s important we support the nominee of the party, and it’s important we bring someone in who will stimulate change in the system versus status quo in the system,” Hohlt said.  Apparently, he thinks that Trump will be that stimulus.  But based on Trump’s results to date, that may be a very risky bet.

 

The reality of all this is that because of how Trump has continued to talk against the lobbyists, and because he keeps making so many major gaffs, with less than 100 days left before the election, there are many lobbyists in Washington that are “sitting this one out”.

 

With Trump’s totally unconventional political campaign, and with his poll ratings starting to have a major gap in the wrong direction from Clinton, if this continues, it is doubtful that the K-Street gang will be of much help for the Trump campaign.

 

It will be interesting to see how much financial support Trump is able to raise form this group of supporters when it’s all over.  But the way Trump either loves you or hates your guts, should he win in November, these lobbyist sitting on their hands will be on Trump’s "black list".  And “Hell hast no fury like a Trump scorned!”

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016