Steny Hoyer...Tom DeLay all over again.

[Bullypulpit]

<blockquote>...There is no doubt he has worked hard to curry favor on K Street. Over the last year and a half, he has ramped up an effort—begun soon after taking over the whip’s job—to raise money for Democrats from Washington business lobbyists. Starting in late 2004, Hoyer and three close allies—Reps. Crowley, Tauscher, and John Tanner (D-Tenn.)—launched an energetic K-Street-outreach program, with a goal of raising $250,000 for vulnerable Democratic incumbents by June 2006. Later, they would switch the focus to raising money for promising Democratic challengers, increasingly basing their pitch on the growing likelihood that Democrats would retake the House this fall, and thus be in a position to pass legislation. Hoyer’s particular political gifts—his persuasiveness, his talent for negotiation, and his willingness to see all sides of an issue—appear to have made him well suited to the task. “We find mutual interests, mutual ways to help each other,” says [Bill] Cable, [Hoyer's] chief of staff. <a href=http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2006/11/2885_steny_hoyers_k.html><i>Mother Jones</a></i></blockquote>

According to <a href=http://www.cleanupwashington.org/sii/sii_rankings.cfm?CAT=h><i>Public Citizen</a></i>, Hoyer topped even Republicans in the amount of money recieved from K-Street lobbysists and other special interests. Couple this with a long track record of opposition to any meaningful lobbying reform, and we have another Tom DeLay in the making. And if Hoyer follows that path, I hope he gets his dumb ass run out of Congress...Just like "The Hammer" got nailed.