Richard G. Darman Quotes
Almost every special interest lobby was organized to prevent reform.
Richard G. Darman, Director, U. S. Office of Management and Budget (Republican), Presidential Assistant, “The Nuts and Bolts of Bipartisanship,” New York Times, December 24, 2000
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Hollings who was one of the senior experienced senators was offended by the degree to which the George W. Bush Administration and the Republican leadership had turned to lobbyists to draft legislation and amendments to pending legislation. Lobbyists often have specialized information that members of Congress do not have, so there has been in modern times communications between lobbyists and members of Congress and their staffs. However, during the Bush Presidency the practice reached an extreme where lobbyists would even write the legislative language and give it to the members in whom they had invested by giving them large campaign contributions and many perks. K Street is the fanciest street in Washington DC with some of the most expensive office space. A substantial proportion of the lobbyists have K Street offices, hence the metaphor.
Trump often used the phrase "Drain the swamp" in his campaigning to mean get ride of the establishment figures who had, for the most part, dominated politics, for decades. When he was elected, he had to appoint a cabinet, but when he did so, it was almost exclusivly made up of people who had been a part of the political and corporate establishment -- the swamp.
He made this quotation when he was a member of the Wisconsin State legislator. He was describing the influence and interaction that corporations had with the Wisconsin state legislative process.
Richard Gordon "Dick" Darman was an American businessman and government official who served in senior positions during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
