From today's edition of Roll Call:
When lobbyist Jeff Murray and his firm, the C2 Group, held a reception earlier this month to honor Members of the conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition on the occasion of their swearing-in for the new Congress, the event drew a crowd of 300.
That’s six times the number it was two years ago, Murray said.
The increase is a clear sign of the business community’s redoubled affection for the Blue Dogs, a group that lobbyists for corporate America view as a natural ally in the Democratic-controlled Congress. The Blue Dog Coalition is best known for its fiscal conservatism, though its members also have bucked the Democratic Party on business and social issues.The network of former Blue Dogs and their one-time aides now working on K Street, such as Murray, is relatively small. But those lobbyists say that their clients are seeking closer ties to the Blue Dogs, hoping that the conservative Democrats will influence how their party oversees business policy, ranging from an upcoming farm bill to energy policy.
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The business community sees in the Blue Dogs an opportunity to pick off majority votes, but lobbyists closest to the coalition say that today’s breed of Blue Dog is more loyal to their party and more likely to influence the debate from the inside.
“The business community sees the Blue Dogs as having an open-door policy -- open minds and open ears to their proposals,” said former Blue Dog and Rep. Max Sandlin (D-Texas), who’s now a lobbyist with Fleishman-Hillard Government Relations. “At the same time, the Blue Dogs are a part of the Democratic Caucus and certainly are going to work in the confines of the Democratic majority and try to work from within to try to influence legislation.”...
Stenholm, a former co-chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition, now represents a number of clients in the agriculture sector. He said that since so many Blue Dogs are on the House Agriculture Committee, it bodes well for his lobbying business as Congress negotiates a farm bill reauthorization this year.
“The Blue Dog clout has been increased dramatically because many of the freshman Democrats are Blue Dogs,” Stenholm said. (There are now 43 Blue Dogs.) “Therefore the agenda for the 110th Congress is going to naturally go toward the center.”
Blue Dogs also serve on the House’s most powerful committees, including Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce. And one former Blue Dog staffer, Ed Lorenzen, now is an aide in the office of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).
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