Gingrich’s D.C. offensive launches in earnest with a $1,000-a-head fundraiser Wednesday. | REUTERS Gingrich courts K Street

Newt Gingrich likes to boast that he runs an unconventional campaign that relies more on grass roots outreach than expensive infrastructure, but as he’s soared in the polls, he’s turned his sights to a traditional cash source: K Street.

Gingrich’s Washington offensive launches in earnest Wednesday, with a $1,000-a-head fundraiser at the power restaurant Occidental Grill and Seafood.


It’s a turnaround from this summer, when Washington’s political class mostly turned its back on the former House speaker after his staff quit en masse and his fundraising slowed to a trickle.

Now a crew of Gingrich loyalists, employees and business partners from his three-decade political career are trying to capitalize on his recent momentum by building a network of donors who can undercut GOP rivals Rick Perry and Mitt Romney’s base inside the Beltway and turn Gingrich’s relatively meager war chest into one that can support a front-runner.

Gingrich has certain advantages over his rivals when it comes to courting Washington. Even as he’s tried to cast himself as a reformer, his years as a political insider — capped by a decade in the advocacy industry — have left him with countless influential connections on K Street, the Hill and the conservative movement.

And those ties are reflected in the fundraiser host committee, which includes former Reps. Robert Livingston (R-La.) and Robert Walker (R-Pa.), both of whom built lucrative lobbying practices after leaving Congress.

Also involved are several folks who worked for or with Gingrich in Congress and afterward as he built his own successful political business empire.

Dan Crowley was the top lawyer for Gingrich as speaker, while Missy Jenkins was a health policy adviser and Rachel Robinson worked in his speaker’s office. David Merritt and Jim Frogue are former senior level employees of Gingrich’s for-profit health care think tank, the Center for Health Transformation, and Sreedhar Potarazu is president of VitalSpring Technologies, a member of the Center that was featured in a New York Times story about how Gingrich used the group to further the interests of its members.

The roster of supporters assembled for the fundraiser represents “the tip of the iceberg” of Gingrich’s potential Washington presence, said Crowley, now a lobbyist at the mega-firm K&L Gates. Asserting that hundreds of people who worked for Gingrich or members of the GOP conference during his speakership could become the basis of a formidable Washington operation, Crowley said: “Newt World was extensive and most of those people are still around, and some are just starting to appreciate that his campaign is viable.” He added, “They all have their own political pedigree and are activists in their own right, and what is emerging as a result is a truly organic political organization.”

Despite the apparent homefield advantage, though, K Street fundraisers “will not be a big part of what we’ll do going forward,” said Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond, predicting his boss’ efforts to cast himself as a reformer could irk insiders.

“We find that when you run on being the candidate promoting dramatic change for Washington, Washington is really not interested,” Hammond said.

While Hammond said Gingrich’s campaign money has come overwhelmingly from small online contributions, he conceded that the campaign has started doing more big-donor events.

“What we’re seeing now is the addition of the $2,500- or $5,000-a-couple donations. We’ve been doing more and more reception-style, sponsored-by-a-host committee events,” Hammond said, noting that Gingrich had done similar events in New York and Florida.

Big donor events “would not have been possible until his campaign took off,” said a veteran GOP fundraiser who is not working for any of the presidential campaigns. “Lobbyists are no different than big donors out in the states. They want to give to somebody who is seen as bringing some viability.”

Ken Kies, an influential tax lobbyist who — along with his wife — maxed out to Gingrich’s campaign this spring and are among the hosts of Wednesday’s event, agreed.

“K Street is predictable. It is full of people who see a parade and love to jump in front,” Kies said. “Newt is the parade. The guys who signed on with Perry now realize they bought an Edsel and the guys with Romney now see he can’t get above 25 percent.”

Former Gingrich senior aide Dan Meyer, now a lobbyist at the Duberstein Group agreed.

“Considering what had happened earlier in his campaign, Newt knew he wasn’t going to raise a lot in D.C., but, if anything, people want to be on the right side,” Meyer said of Gingrich’s upward trajectory. “People will start hedging their bets.”

Perry and Romney have spent months courting the Hill and K Street crowds — considered important sources of campaign cash, endorsements and networking. While Gingrich maintains deep Washington ties, some in the lobbying community question whether he is a viable candidate, considering his controversial past. Others say his team has done little to capitalize on his surge.

Still, multiple lobbyists who raised money and support for Perry, whose campaign has foundered after a series of debate stumbles, told POLITICO that they’re considering switching their allegiance to Gingrich.

“Perry remains my first choice, but I don’t see much activity. I see little chance he makes the shootout. Newt is my fall back,” said one major firm lobbyist who has helped Perry court conservative movement support. “Many of my friends in the evangelical movement began moving from Perry to Newt and Cain to Newt a few weeks ago.”

Romney still has a “huge built-in advantage” among members of Congress, particularly those first elected after Gingrich resigned in 1999, said another lobbyist, who has helped lead Perry’s efforts to win support on the Hill, which will continue Wednesday with a congressional meet-and-greet.

Through a series of leadership PACs, Romney “has doled out cash and campaigned for them for four years,” said the lobbyist, adding of Gingrich “a bunch of folks think he is the smartest guy we got, but are worried about his discipline and baggage.”

Likewise, former Rep. Walker suggested Gingrich’s outreach to the Hill might pick up as his fundraising does.

“We just have not had the resources or the time to look into the endorsement side of things,” said Walker, who first met Gingrich in 1977 and is serving as a policy adviser and surrogate for his campaign. “It’s something people with the luxury of millions of dollars to spend can spend their time doing.”

Gingrich’s inside-the-Beltway fundraising has been paltry at best. The Center for Responsive Politics tabulated the Georgia Republican as taking in just $105,000 from donors in the Washington-metro area, according to the latest FEC reports, filed Oct. 15.

Where Gingrich has struggled, Romney has soared, raising more than $1.3 million from the same donor pool.

Romney has long had a stronghold among Republican K Streeters — working early and often to secure support and fundraising dollars. “It’s a methodical slow march,” one longtime Romney supporter said of the candidate’s Washington charm offensive. The Massachusetts Republican had held at least seven events in the metro region. His son, Tagg Romney, is headlining a Dec. 14 event and Romney, himself, will be in Richmond Thursday for an event.

One Romney supporter — Frank Keating, a former Oklahoma governor who is president of the American Bankers Association — said Gingrich’s team hasn’t done much to boost its Washington outreach as its candidate has gotten hot.

“I don’t know of anybody who has been rushed by them,” said Keating. “D.C. is Newt’s nest. Surely they will press for support here.”