Last evening, the Firedoglake hosted another installment of their Sunday Book Salons, where John Anderson took questions online about his new book Follow the Money: How George W. Bush and the Texas Republicans Hog-Tied America, released earlier this fall. In the book Anderson gives an overview of the connections between elite Houston law firms, Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, Tom DeLay and his K Street Project to Jack Abramoff. I haven’t read the book yet, but last night’s discussions makes me want to.

As an Austin American-Statesman review states, Anderson used previously reported or exposed facts to retell this story. By following Deep Throat’s advice, Anderson shows the overarching network that put George W. Bush in the White House, DeLay out of a job, Abramoff in prison, and the GOP in the minority.

In last evening’s salon, Anderson said that he originally set out to write a book on high-end Texas law firms, but got interested in their connections to DeLay and Abramoff. He started keeping month-to-month computer files on the two lions of K Street. "But then it dawned on me: They were joined at the hips," he wrote. "There was surely no Jack without Tom, and Jack was a vital cog in DeLay Inc." Their "endless gaming of the system" with zero oversight allowed the Republican Congressional leadership to "always deliver the goods" despite tiny Congressional majorities.

Anderson says that his first thought was to compare the Abramoff scandals to the Teapot Dome scandal. "I’m quite sure now that the scandals of this administration are Teapot Dome, Crédit Mobilier, the Whiskey Ring, the Indian Ring, Watergate, all rolled into one," he wrote. "And far, far worse than any of them or all of them combined."

Check out the book and the fascinating discussion at Firedoglake.

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I haven’t heard it mentioned much lately, but the online face of the K Street Project — the Republican effort to make sure Washington’s influence industry hired Republicans going through the revolving door — is still active.

Much as I find the project to be distasteful (although truth be told, I never thought that Republican heavies preventing Democrats from landing plum lobbying jobs rose to the level of a national crisis), I hope the Web site sticks around after the November elections. Where else can you find a compendium of job listings quite like this one?

Director, Federal Affairs
PhRMA
Description: One of Washington’s top trade associations has immediate openings in the Federal Affairs Department. These positions will focus on health care related(Medicare, Medicaid and Medicare Pard D) issues being considered by Congress. Successful candidates will have extensive experience working with the Appropriations Committee and with the legislative process in general. These positions will lobby on behalf of potential or proposed legislation involving health care issues. Undergraduate degree in political science, public affairs, public policy or communications required. A graduate degree is preferred. Three - five years of Capitol Hill experience REQUIRED with experience in appropriations work specializing in health care legislation. (bold emphasis added; capitalization in original)

Of course, PhRMA will need to fill that position regardless of which way elections go on November 7, just as lobbying shops all over town will be looking to maintain their access by keeping the revolving door spinning…

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Franklin Foer over at The Plank pronounces that the K Street Project is headed the way of Tom DeLay. That is, down the elevator shaft. Foer provides an anecdote from his office building:

TNR shares its building with a lobbying outfit that was a prime cog in K Street Project machine. (Yes, our office space is that sweet.) This firm contains several of DeLay’s ex- staffers. But apparently, their juice has dried up. Riding down in the elevator, I heard the firm’s head kvetching about how DeLay’s downfall had been bad for business. “We’re hurting,” he moaned. “The whole industry is hurting.” Hopefully, the hurt has just begun.

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