RICK AND GROVER….Rick Santorum is getting a little touchy about the K Street Project, isn’t he? Apparently he blew up at a reporter who asked about it yesterday:
“I had absolutely nothing to do ? never met, never talked, never coordinated, never did anything ? with Grover Norquist and the ? quote ? K Street Project,” Mr. Santorum said.
Really? All the way back in June 2002 Jim VandeHei reported that Norquist was busily assembling the data for the K Street Project and that Santorum was an eager accomplice:
Copies of the bulky dossier, being compiled by conservative activist Grover Norquist and other prominent Republican lobbyists….dubbed the “K Street Project”…has been expedited and expanded now that Republicans control the White House and federal agencies.
….Senate Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (Pa.) last month hosted a private meeting in the Capitol, during which Norquist asked a group of about two dozen lobbyists and staffers to help complete the project, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
And here’s what the Philadelphia Inquirer reported a couple of months later about Santorum’s biweekly breakfast meetings with the K Street elite:
Grover Norquist, a conservative activist, has appeared before the group and sought help with an effort to push lobbying firms and trade associations to hire more Republicans.
The so-called K-Street Project got the attention of the Senate Ethics Committee, which is concerned that the project could be used to deny access to Democrats.
“He [Santorum] has gotten me in to talk to all those guys,” Norquist said.
It’s funny that Santorum has suddenly forgotten all about his pal Norquist, isn’t it? I think I detect a whiff of panic in the air.
Democrats would be wise to keep banging on this. After all, “K Street Project” has sort of a sinister ring to it, doesn’t it? I can see the grainy black-and-white ads in my mind’s eye already….
