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18 BATTLE OF THE “BLACK HATS” when lloyd duxbury and ned breathitt asked me to become the railroads’ lobbyist in the upcoming congressional battle over coal slurry pipelines, I had finally given up on the fiction that lobbying was merely an interregnum in a career that would be dedicated to improving the human condition. There was not a smidgen of social significance in coal slurry. It was the spring of 1977, and I had just come off my most successful lobbying performance ever—the passage of four major bills that would greatly benefit my forest-products, maritime, port, and county government clients. The bills had passed Congress on the final day of the 94th Congress, September 28, 1976, and I had been on a high ever since. I also finally admitted that I had come to love the lobbying game. I liked the hard scrabbling for votes, the head counting, the mobilizing of pressures on undecided legislators , the long hours in the Senate reception room and outside the House, “showing the flag” to members, even the endless committee hearings and strategy sessions. And I liked dealing with members. What a rich range of personalities: outrageous characters such as Phil Burton, whose final legacy was the redistricting of California’s congressional districts in his own Democratic demographic image; tough, old machine politicians such as Johnny Dent of Pennsylvania; charmingly cynical young realists like John Breaux of Louisiana; the players who saw a laugh in every situation, such as Bill Clay of Missouri; warm-hearted people like Dante Fascell of Florida; the “Irish 225 Dukes,” headed by their chieftain Michael J. Kirwan of Ohio; and the total political pragmatists such as Bob Packwood of Oregon. Congress has been called many names, some of them true, but one thing it surely is—a microcosm of the nation’s remarkable diversity. That one fact made it both a joy and a never-ending challenge to do business there. I also loved the setting: the Capitol in all its glistening majesty, the imperial Senate and House office buildings, the nearby bars of the Democratic and Republican clubs, and the restaurants where I knew everybody. It was an incredible luxury to walk three or four blocks to work from my Capitol Hill townhouse and to come home in minutes from the legislative war-front to sleep in my own bed. I had spent fourteen years on the campaign trail in thirty-seven states, bunking in fleabag hotels from Bangor to Boise. Being one of the “boys on the bus” no longer held any charms for me. I liked battling in my own backyard and sleeping in my own bed. The money was good. I was surprised to find myself making a substantial income, even though my retainers were modest compared to the big-timers such as Bob Strauss and J. D. Williams. My wife said that I undercharged my clients, and she was right. I still couldn’t believe that one could get paid so much for doing so little, and it inhibited my billing. There is an abundance of amorality in politics and lobbying, and I was as amoral as anybody. When winning was at stake, you did whatever it took and thought about the niceties later. You knew your opponent would do or was doing the same. My only ethic was the need to believe in what and who I was lobbying for. Some lobbyists wore “this gun for hire” labels and could easily be on either side of an issue, depending on who showed them the money. I couldn’t. When I joined a lobby, I wanted to be a permanent player on the team. So I responded with unfeigned enthusiasm when Duxbury and Breathitt invited me to become a member of the railroad lobby. Since boyhood I had been a passionate rail buff. The rail exhibition at Grand Central ranked with baseball’s Opening Day as among the most memorable events of my youth, and one summer I had been a “punk” on a Bangor and Aroostook road crew in Maine. At the time, I was maritime labor’s representative on the railway unions’ executive council. I was a natural for the new role and was thrilled that it had been offered to me. The Burlington Northern’s Duxbury and the Southern Railway’s Breathitt were new to lobbying but savvy to the ways of politics. Duxbury had been 226 battle of the “black hats” [3.21.231.245] Project MUSE (2024...

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