Robert H. Michel Quotes
It isn't like dealing with a state legislature.
The new White House Chief of Staff, a former governor, had much early difficulty in dealing with Congress:
Robert H. Michel, U. S. Congressman (Republican, IL), Advice to White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, 1989
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
See Henry Clay for an earlier expression of this point.
In 1908 William Randolph Hurst made public a series of letters showing that the senator was being paid large sums by the Standard Oil company and was also being instructed on pending legislation. See John Archbold. The senator was pressured out of public life:
After FDR died in his 4th term, Republicans started a movement to limit the Presidential service to eight years. There was little public interest in the issue, but the Republicans who had just obtained control of Congress considered it a priority for them. Despite the lack of public interest, the Republican-controlled Congress passed the amendment, which was later ratified by the States.
Referring to the fact that unpledged delegates tipped the balance against him in several states where he had won the majority of delegates in the 1988 Democratic Presidential primary elections:
This statement was made After the Senate straw-voted 58-42 in favor of a constitutional amendment against flag burning, less than the two-thirds required by the Constitution.
Then running for reelection as a state legislator.
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.
Robert Henry Michel was an American Republican Party politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives for 38 years. He represented central Illinois' 18th congressional district, and was the GOP leader in Congress, serving as Minority Leader for the last 14 years (1981–1995) of a decades-long era of Democratic Party dominance of the House.
