Word: lobbyist
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Lobbyist Bob Gray makes friends and sells influence...
There was a time when lobbyists were discreet, working their deals behind closed doors. But Robert Keith Gray is a new breed of lobbyist, preferring to enter by the front door and stay in the limelight...
...charity balls. (He once put Mrs. Thurmond on his payroll, but criticism of the potential conflict of interest caused her to resign.) Gray says he never asks for favors in return. "There was a time when booze, blonds and bribes were the persuaders," he explains. "But today's lobbyist has to be a straight shooter." Contends Staffer Frank Mankiewicz, who until last year ran National Public Radio: "He's a small-town boy, like Ronald Reagan. In a small town, you help your friends...
Gray has produced results for many clients, including the government of Turkey, which has little support in Congress. The powerful Greek lobby was determined to trim back Turkey's military aid last year, but Gray sent Lobbyist Gary Hymel, a former top aide to House Speaker Tip O'Neill, to work on House leaders. Martin Gold, former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, was sent by Gray to deal with Republican leaders in the Senate. Turkey ended up getting more military aid out of Congress than the year before...
Harvard federal lobbyist Parker L. Coddington says of the various Democratic proposals to restore funding for aid programs. "They're all very general ideas. Price tags cannot be put on them and the cost-benefit can't even be guestimated...