No Recession Special On The D.C. Power Lunch Menu

There's no recession special on the menu at D.C.'s hottest power lunch spots. At a time of double-digit unemployment, when one in eight Americans is on food stamps, the bistros and steakhouses that serve the Capitol crowd seem to to be doing fine -- with no reduction in business and no fewer fawning media profiles.

In September, the Washington Post offered a peek at the rich and famous powerbrokers who dine at Ristorante Tosca. On Monday, CNN visited the Palm, the Capital Grille, the Monocle, and Charlie Palmer Steak, where the executive chef boasts that every member of the House and Senate has dined at some point.

"You're going to be seen, you're going to see who else is there, and to sort of hobnob and be part of the club," said Washingtonian editor-at-large Garrett Graff. "The private rooms, the private dining is an important thing if you're holding a fundraiser or you're trying to bring together a group to try to have a private conversation."

But is it really elevated hobnobbing that brings the big spenders to these restaurants? Or is that they are the favored places for moneyed interests to quietly exchange favors among themselves and our elected representatives?

At least in part, it's the cold-hearted and nonstop quest for cash. The nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation obtains invitations to fundraisers happening at places like Charlie Palmer and the Monocle almost every single day -- and Sunlight doubts that the invites it receives constitute the majority of fundraisers happening at any given time.

Here's a sampler of upcoming fundraisers: On Tuesday, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is having lunch at Bistro Bis. On Thursday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will have breakfast at the Monocle and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will dine at Charlie Palmer Steak. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) will be at Capital Grille for a "financial services dinner" later this month.

Lawmakers need so much money to fund winning campaigns that more than 40 such events can take place on a single day, regardless of whether the event interferes with a hearing. The venues are already expensive, but the price of admission for a fundraiser is typically a campaign contribution ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. That's one powerful lunch!

What happens if you show up at Bistro Bis and tell the host you're there to see the senator? The host looks at a schedule and asks, "Which one?"

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Comments

[invest in jobs]

03:39 PM on 12/02/2009

Now that Obama tacked unemployment benefits he needs to set his focus no on WALL STREET REGULATION and JOBS

good articles; http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

[jsarets]

08:06 AM on 12/01/2009

I could use a steak dinner. I wonder if my representative would extend me an invitation...

[yourmonscalling]

05:17 AM on 12/01/2009

YOU CAN MAKE REAL CHANGE HAPPEN VOTE ALL INCUMBENTS (THE PEOPLE NOW IN OFFICE ) OUT OF OFFICE YOU WANT TO SEE CHANGE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Choicelady]

07:53 PM on 11/30/2009

I hang at the Hawk & Dove. Very cheap, pretty good, lots of fun. I'd recommend it to Congress - it's where their own staff members go.

[wittgene]

07:14 PM on 11/30/2009

The financial rulers and the political rulers are destroying this country. These rulers don’t have any ethics toward the social policy of the people for whom they serve, nor moreover, for the country in which they live. At Citi Bank (the gambling parlor), there is a derivatives trader who owns a castle in Europe. And lets not forget the $90,000 in the freezer by Congressman William Jefferson. The Corporatists and the Wall-Streeters could care less about the public good and are more influence by their self-interests in manipulating financial and political rulers. Since the election of Ronald Reagan and corporate interest groups canvassing across Washington DC, moral values have drop to the bottom of the swamp. Warren Buffet’s sectary pays more in taxes than he does; golden parachutes for corporate CEOs; the 1 billion dollar CEO at United Health Care. If the Middle Class can’t drain the swamp, essentially, the Middle Class is screwed.

[pam45]

08:43 PM on 11/30/2009

I agree with you. Congress has no shame and only plays the American public. We send them to Washington to establish kingdoms of power and when they do we get angry and complain about what they aren't doing.

[Tulka2]

06:43 PM on 11/30/2009

Nice if a few unemployed citizens could start showing up every morning at Charlie Palmer's questions in hand about just who is eating with who. I am on the west coast which is feeling more than a little Balkanized whilst watching this farce from a great distance.

[RebelCPA]

06:20 PM on 11/30/2009

The article is stupid.

It is good these restaurants have business or more people would be UNEMPLOYED!

[FoonTheElder]

10:48 AM on 12/01/2009

The business that goes on in these restaurants is a big reason why so many people ARE unemployed.

[invest in jobs]

05:20 PM on 11/30/2009

US economy & stock market is a joke. The only ones benefiting from this 'recovery' are as always the top 1% of earners.
good articles; http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

A second stimulus ONLY for job creation would reverse this trend, but neocon economist policy makers and or repuk3s prevent that from happening

[BowlingForRevenge]

04:50 PM on 11/30/2009

$4.99 Enchilada Plates are everywhere here.
Before the recession they were $6.99 or more!
We tip the extra $2 to the wait folks!

[SangZe]

04:20 PM on 11/30/2009

2010 is close at hand. Change is coming.

[Roci]

04:39 PM on 11/30/2009

Sorry to puncture your balloon, but the entire point of the article is that this culture hasn't changed, money and politics aside. Elections only change the seating preferences, and the cast of characters ordering from the menus. You want to change this? Here's what you (and I) can do. We have to take big money out of politics. That's the money that buys these politicians their $1000 a plate rubber chicken, while the people who can't afford rubber chicken get themselves plucked over, every day in the week. The moment that we the people force the hands of Congress to pass campaign reform (That means federally-funded campaign money-Tax money with spending limits) for the Senate, House, and yes, even the White House, or we bounce them out, and keep electing new people until we are lucky enough to get a batch who get the idea, and want to keep their jobs for more than two or six years. Nice fantasy, isn't it? It's a fantasy because most Americans care more about their favorite TV shows than they do about taking responsibility for their own democracy.

[DandaPanda]

04:14 PM on 11/30/2009

Geez all these places have real cheap happy hours with 5 buck drinks and cheap bar food. Oh and lunch is way cheaper than din din.

[Opti]

03:50 PM on 11/30/2009

horseforever, did your reply to me get scrubbed? Sheesh.

[THISTLE]

03:22 PM on 11/30/2009

Come on - where do you expect these people to conduct business, at a fast food joint?
The power lunch has always been a very useful tool in conducting business.
And we can write it off - as we should be able to do...

[javajava]

03:12 PM on 11/30/2009

There have been cries for campaign reform and legislation with teeth to limit the ways money is raised for decades, and we all call the cries the wailings of the lunatic fringe. Vote progressive.

[harveyr2]

03:00 PM on 11/30/2009

Obama's Washington is worse than Bush's Washington.

Let's shrink the size of government so that the only special interest is the people, not corporations and organizations looking for a piece of government largess.

[rinpochet]

03:13 PM on 11/30/2009

The size of the government is not the problem. The way campaigns are financed is the problem and until we have complete public financing of these elections, the corruption will continue, regardless of the size of the government.