Hartley Sends E-mail to GOPers Touting Nodler, Dinging Long

"You can't be partly pregnant . . ."

Gregg Hartley, who endorsed Sen. Gary Nodler for Congress Tuesday night, has sent an e-mail to 7th District Republicans, urging them to sign on to the campaign.

In the note, Congressman Roy Blunt's former longtime chief of staff also suggests a potential weakness of auctioneer Billy Long's campaign.

"The pundits would tell you Billy Long is in the lead and he sure has had some momentum," Hartley wrote in the e-mail forwarded to The Notebook.

"He is playing the outsider role but his campaign structure sends a different signal," Hartley goes on.

Hartley, who used to live in Missouri but now works as a lobbyist with Cassidy & Associates in Washington, D.C. said he did not intend to get involved in the 7th District primary, but that this campaign is personal to him.

"This is an important campaign. The candidate who wins the primary wins the seat. Congressmen Gene Taylor, Mel Hancock and Roy Blunt have built the seventh into one powerful seat. It is more than just one of 435. There are expectations of the one who holds the seat to live up its history. In Missouri, the 7th is the fulcrum which has leveraged tremendous growth statewide in GOP power. It is the traditional cradle of conservative Republic belief in Missouri and votes," Hartley wrote.

"I think it really matters who follows Roy," he added.

Nodler said he met with Hartley this past weekend and said he appreciates his support and welcomes it. Hartley said that while he and Nodler have not always been on the same team in the past, the Joplin Senator is best prepared to fill Blunt's shoes.

"I have known him for 30 years. Gary and I have not always agreed on campaigns or issues, and we won’t in the future. But he will do a strong job as the Congressman for the Seventh. I am going to support his efforts and endorse his campaign. Not as lobbyist or a vested interested here in DC, but as a Missourian, a former chief of staff to the Congressman from Southwest Missouri and as someone who cares deeply about the difference he can make in the Republican House Conference. I hope you will consider doing the same," Hartley wrote.

Hartley won't have a formal role with Nodler's campaign, but is expected to provide advice.

NODLER ON LOBBYIST TIES

"No one in the nation's capitol -- outside Congressman Blunt -- knows the district better than Gregg Hartley," Nodler said.

"Gregg is very close to Congressman Blunt. He managed many of his campaigns, so he understands the district and the demands of the office. He's a lobbyist in Washington D.C. and knows a lot of folks both inside and outside of government," Nodler said.

Asked whether he was worried about the perception of receiving an endorsement from a Washington, D.C. based lobbyist, Nodler said every major candidate in the 7th District race has some ties to lobbyists.

"You're not going to find any significant contributor base that isn't tied to a lobbyist base. Any candidate who's raised any substantial money, has accepted money from lobbyists, people who have been lobbyists, paid lobbyists or employed lobbyists," Nodler said.

When suggested that Sen. Jack Goodman's campaign donations have been smaller, Nodler replied, "For a time, he had a relationship with David Barklage. He's a registered lobbyist." Barklage is running Sen. Goodman's campaign.

"You can't be partly pregnant. I know some people would like to be hypocritical about it. I'm not criticizing it. I'm just saying people throw allegations out there without looking in the mirror."

Hartley Endorses Nodler for Congress

HARTLEY ALSO REPRESENTS JOPLIN BUSINESS

Congressman Roy Blunt's former chief of staff Gregg Hartley endorsed State Sen. Gary Nodler for Congress via Twitter late Tuesday night.

The backing from the politically connected Hartley comes at a time when some Republicans were privately speculating about the long-term future of Nodler's campaign. To some it's an unusual move from a Washington, D.C. lobbyist who has maintained a relatively low-profile in Missouri politics and not lived in the district for years.

"I endorse Gary Nodler and will actively work with folks in SW Missouri to ensure his election; I urge others to join this important campaign," Hartley wrote on his Twitter page. "I believe the best candidate in primary has the experience as a former congressional aide, business advocate & current legislative leader," he wrote.

Hartley is the vice chairman and chief operating officer of Cassidy & Associates, a high-powered lobbyist group in Washington that currently employs former Gov. Matt Blunt and former Democratic operative Roy Temple. Hartley was Roy Blunt's closest advisor in Congress for 18 years.

In his posts, Hartley suggested that Nodler, the Senate Appropriations Chair, would be the best Republican able to preserve the "unique influence of the 7th."

But Hartley also has his own influence and interests to protect. Hartley's Cassidy & Associates has represented Eagle-Picher Technologies in Joplin between 2004 and 2009. Federal lobbyist disclosure reports show that Eagle-Picher has paid Cassidy between $70,000 and $120,000 a quarter for work during that time period.

During this past legislative session, Nodler landed $25 million dollars for the company. He disputed that the money was an "earmark," but critics labeled it "corporate welfare."

Notably, Sen. Jack Goodman, a rival of Nodler's in the 7th District primary, voted against the $25 million dollar provision for Eagle-Picher.

According to Hartley's Twitter page, he was visiting Southwest Missouri to meet with clients to discuss "batteries, education and manufacturing." He also said he met with Sen. Nodler during his trip.

A Look Inside Roy Blunt's "Alter Ego"

"Most of what people deride in politics is because people don't understand it."

There may be no single person who's been more important to Roy Blunt's political rise than Gregg Hartley.

In his new instructive book, So Damn Much Money, about the rise of money and lobbying in Washington, Robert Kaiser describes Hartley as Blunt's most important personal aide and friend for around three decades.

The two have been close since the 1970s, when Blunt served as Greene County Clerk.

One lobbyist is quoted calling Hartley "Blunt's alter ego."

Hartley is one of the featured players in Kaiser's book in order to provide an example of the continuous and to some, troubling, revolving door between Capitol Hill and K Street.

Kaiser depicts Hartley as a conservative, friendly, unpretentious but outgoing Republican who followed Blunt to Washington and eventually ran his whip organization. It was April 2003 when Hartley decided it was time to "go downtown -- to become a lobbyist."

Hartley's story is not only important to understanding the way Washington works, but likely gives readers a window into Blunt's thinking, at the very time Republicans are contemplating his candidacy for U.S. Senate.

Below are excerpts of Kaiser's reporting on Hartley and his relationship with Blunt, beginning with Hartley's decision to go work for one of the top lobbying groups in Washington, Cassidy & Associates. Italics represent text and direct quotes from So Damn Much Money. (And if you're interested in the rise of money in politics and how the earmark originated, the entire book is well worth the read.)

"Blunt and I both concluded that I could still be a valuable part of his team, and there was no reason for us not to continue our personal relationship and our political relationship," Hartley is quoted. "I was fortunate in the sense that, being fifty years old instead of thirty-five, having spent seven years on the Hill . . . virtually all of it on leadership staff, having worked for a guy who had build a pretty good reputation in this town and moved up rather quickly, gave me lots of opportunities that the average staffer leaving the Hill doesn't have," Hartley went on.

Because he was a Republican with ties to the leadership entering a predominately Democratic firm, Hartley's skills were considered a top commodity for the legendary lobbyist Gerry Cassidy. Hartley was able to bring in scores of new climates, and reorganized the firm from top to bottom. He was at the top of hit game. Life was good.

Hartley liked his new life. "I enjoy 80 percent of the work" and the hours were delightful. "When I worked for Roy I worked 70 hours a week," he said, but at Cassidy it was 9 a.m. to 6 p.m . . . And he stayed close to Roy Blunt, raising money for him, donating $47,000 himself (with his wife) to Blunt, his leadership PAC and the House Republican campaign committee."

Hartley also enjoyed the era of the permanent campaign.

"I didn't grow up wanting to run government, I came from the political side of the equation. I like campaigns, I like politics. I only worked in government because that's what paid your way to do the political side." Hartley grew up as a Democrat, started his professional life as an administrator of legal aid programs in southwestern Missouri and fell in love with politics. "I quickly learned there wasn't much potential in Democratic politics in southwestern Missouri," he said, so he became a Republican. That decision was "as much practical as philosophical. It's hard to be impactful when you're in a minority - I learned that lesson early."

Hartley made no secret his love of fundraising. "I think it's an important part of the political process. I think a measure of a good campaign and how successful it's going to be is its ability to raise money." What about reformers who complain the system is corrupt . . .? What about Fred Wertheimer, the former president of Common Cause and founder of a group called Democracy 21, an advocate of reform who had criticized DeLay's tactics for years? "Fred is full of shit," Hartley replied, softening the message with his friendly grin. Raising money was part of the game, part of the helter-skelter of it . . . the rough-and-tumble of it . . . The American public is intrigued by politics and campaigning and the routes to power," he said. "They want to know about it, and on the other hand they go, 'Ohmigod, isn't this distasteful . . . I think politics works. I think most of what people deride in politics is because people don't understand it."

"Hartley is not troubled by the relationship between lobbyists and members of Congress, and he won't accept the formulation that the Hill now depends on downtown, and downtown depends on the Hill. Instead he sees more complicated interactions: "A lot of people on the Hill are a new breed . . . they understand there's lots of things you do that interrelate with government." In other words, you can help people who need something from the government, and you can accept their help in return, and that's fine."

"Most people in the lobbying business contribute [money] so that they're seen as active participants in the process. And if you're seen as an active participant, does that sort of move you into a different realm than people who aren't? Yeah . . . I would presume that lobbyists who participate heavily in the political process are probably more successful by and large" But giving money "is not compulsory," he emphasizes. "I can't possibly give money to everybody I know on the Hill. It's impossible. But people I don't give money to still see me and talk to me and work with me on my clients."

To open his book, Kaiser outlines the relationship cultivated between Cassidy's firm and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He includes a telling quote from Hartley "not over-worrying" the deal he had help strike with Abramoff.

"Washington is a town full of controversies," Hartley was quoted in The Washington Post. "If you over-worry about controversies, you'd end up doing nothing."