Just Don’t Call Them Special Interests
A Washington truism: Conservatives do meetings better than liberals. They get more done. They coordinate better. When it’s time to rally around John Roberts or Samuel Alito (or torpedo Harriet Miers), they know how to make it happen. Here’s a look at the conservative insider roundtables:
The Wednesday Meeting
HOST: Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform.
LOCATION: Americans for Tax Reform office, 20th and L streets, downtown DC.
TIME: Wednesdays, 10 am sharp.
SETUP: Norquist, flanked by invited guests, presides over a large conference table. Others sit in auditorium chairs.
FOOD: Delicious bagels, not-very-delicious coffee.
PHILOSOPHY: Leave-us-alone conservative crowd: Big government is bad; taxes are bad; liberal bureaucracy is bad.
PARTICIPANTS: 80 to 100 people, including elected officials looking for donations, Hill aides, state officeholders seeking tax-fighting help, even representatives of free-market think tanks in Europe and Asia.
KARL FACTOR: White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove has attended many meetings, including a “buck up the troops” visit before election 2004. Rove sends White House aide Tim Goeglein to take flak when he’s not there.
MEDIA: Conservative and some mainstream media attend with the proviso that the session is off the record.
CLAIM TO FAME: Seeded the 1994 Gingrich revolution. In time Newt’s informal policy shop became the connection between grasstops conservative activists and official Washington. The meeting helps the White House discern the mood of the movement.
NOTABLE GUESTS: Past speakers include Christopher Hitchens, Ralph Nader.
The Arlington Group
HOST: Donald Wildmon, American Family Association.
LOCATION: Family Research Council conference room in DC. Formerly based in the condo of Sandy Rios of Concerned Women for America.
TIME: Every-other-month sessions last up to several days.
SETUP: Conference tables arranged in a square allow participants to look each other in the eye.
FOOD: Sandwiches, chips, and drinks.
PHILOSOPHY: Savvy Christian political action.
PARTICIPANTS: 30 to 45 social-conservative leaders, ranging from Focus on the Family’s James Dobson to the National Association of Evangelicals’ Reverend Ted Haggard, ex-presidential candidate Gary Bauer, influential South Florida pastor D. James Kennedy.
KARL FACTOR: He has briefed the meeting—and listened to complaints—several times via telephone.
MEDIA: None, though details often leak to New York Times conservative-movement chronicler David Kirkpatrick.
CLAIM TO FAME: Conservatives frustrated at the pace of social-conservative legislation convened the group in 2003, and it was instrumental in garnering grassroots support for the Federal Marriage Amendment.
NOTABLE GUESTS: Reporters would love to know.
The Weyrich Meetings: Lunches, Family Forum, and Stanton Group
HOST: Paul Weyrich and staff, Free Congress Foundation; Bob Thompson, Coalitions for America.
LOCATION: Free Congress Foundation, 717 Second Street, Northeast.
TIME: Wednesday Weyrich lunches; biweekly Family Forum meetings; every other Friday for the Stanton Group.
SETUP: Varies.
FOOD: Family Forum serves doughnuts; Weyrich lunches are catered; the Stanton Group offers box lunches.
PHILOSOPHY: American conservatism, broadly construed.
PARTICIPANTS: 20 to 25 social-conservative activists, Hill staffers, and occasionally administration officials.
KARL FACTOR: Rove has attended several meetings.
MEDIA: None.
CLAIM TO FAME: First established in 1979, the Weyrich meetings helped bridge the gaps between the Washington GOP establishment and conservatives backing Ronald Reagan. Coalitions for America, a group linked to Weyrich, coordinates all three meetings.
NOTABLE GUESTS: George W. Bush attended during his father’s presidency.
The Monday Meeting
HOST: PR executive Mallory Factor and hedge-fund director James Higgins; affiliate of the Free Enterprise Fund.
LOCATION: Grand Hyatt, 42nd Street, New York.
TIME: One Monday a month.
SETUP: Chairs face a dais at the front of the room. Factor uses an egg timer to keep things moving.
FOOD: Water.
PHILOSOPHY: Free markets, free minds, but uncertain about cultural issues.
PARTICIPANTS: 200 guests, ten invited speakers.
KARL FACTOR: He hasn’t visited yet, but several allies have.
MEDIA: Conservative writers and a few others attend with the proviso that sessions are off the record.
CLAIM TO FAME: A participant says, “If you’re a conservative and you want to tap into New York money, you have to go there.” Potential 2008 Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Sam Brownback have already stopped by.
NOTABLE GUESTS: Fernando Ferrer, onetime Democratic New York mayoral candidate, once spoke on taxes.
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