The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is seizing on Mitt Romney’s attacks against Newt Gingrich in Monday night’s debate, in which Romney accused Gingrich of “influence-peddling” in Washington in such a manner as to avoid registering himself as a lobbyist. Their new line: A whole bunch of star Republican Senate candidates have done the same thing.
“Even Mitt Romney is disgusted with the way Tommy Thompson, Pete Hoekstra and George Allen-types cashed in and got rich ‘selling influence around Washington’ on behalf of special interest clients,” said DSCC spokesman Shripal Shah, in a press release. “It looks like Thompson, Hoekstra and Allen aren’t fooling anyone, not even their party’s presidential frontrunner; these three are nothing but lackeys for the special interests who line his pockets for doing their bidding in Washington. They’re the last thing needed in the Senate.”
Of course, the Dems are definitely putting some words in Romney’s mouth here, as he has, as far as we can tell, never said anything negative about Thompson, Hoekstra or Allen. But the Democrats do seem to have gotten the idea that Romney has opened the barn door for just these kinds of attacks against folks on his own team.
Its evidence: Thompson became a partner at Akin Gump, one of the most influential law firms in Washington, and has worked on board directorships at medical device and drug companies he once regulated as HHS Secretary; Hoekstra earned $240,000 as a part-time senior adviser to Dickstein Shapiro; and Allen runs a consulting firm that hired one of his former aides to be a registered lobbyist.
