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Washington's Big Secret Ronald Kessler Now that Deep Throat's identity has been revealed, Washington has only a handful of secrets left. One of them is the Wednesday meetings.
The weekly off-the-record meetings held in the offices of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) have become the fulcrum of the conservative movement. Under the supervision of Grover Norquist, president of ATR, they have spread to 43 states besides the district and to a number of foreign countries. While the media occasionally mention the meetings, no story has previously explored how they operate, according to Norquist.
"The weekly Grover Norquist meeting is considered the place to be for conservative activists, both in and out of government," said Steven R. "Rick" Valentine, a deputy assistant attorney general during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and a partner in Preston, Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, a major lobbying law firm. "The meetings have great influence in shaping and implementing conservative policy priorities."
Norquist, age 49, became founding executive director of ATR in 1985. A graduate of Harvard and of Harvard School of Business Administration, he was previously executive director of the College Republicans, chief speechwriter of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and executive director of the National Taxpayers Union.
Norquist started the meetings in 1993 as a way of galvanizing conservative groups against Hillary Clinton's health insurance initiative. Then, as now, the meetings were held at ATR's offices in Washington. A dozen people attended.
"The Republican National Committee began sending people to the meetings," Norquist said. "We had 50 people by the end of the year. By then, we were no longer stopping at health care. The agenda had broadened to include any conservative issue."
Story Continues Below Today 120 to 140 people attend the Washington, D.C. meetings. Prior to the meetings, those who want to speak check in with Carrie Hale, who manages the meetings. As many as 20 to 30 speakers make presentations at each meeting. Often, Hale has so many requests to speak that she has to put them off until the next meeting. With 117 seats, it's standing room only. The meetings last an hour and a half and are preceded by bagels and coffee. Attendance is by invitation only. So far, no one has breached ATR security precautions.
"The rules of engagement are you talk about what you are doing, not what your hopes and aspirations are," Norquist said. "You never say, ‘If the president would do this, it would happen.' You never assign going to the meeting to someone else like an intern or a secretary."
Presenters can distribute literature that may be quoted publicly. The meetings are held throughout the year except between Christmas and New Year's.
Besides spokesmen for an array of lobbying groups, the meetings in recent weeks have included talks by a Democratic senator and a Republican House member about efforts to cut spending, by a representative of an embassy about efforts to bring a more market-driven economy to that country, and by the minister of an Arab country about that country's economic policies and cooperation in the war on terror. Occasional candidates for Congress who happen to be in town will speak about their candidacy.
The RNC, the White House, and key Republican congressional leaders send representatives to each meeting and occasionally present briefings on issues that are percolating. The talks are limited to three to seven minutes but can extend longer if there are questions.
Norquist punctuates the talks with an occasional joke or questions that pin down sources of statistics. If a presenter begins a talk about a particular piece of legislation by saying, "The problem with this bill is . . ." Norquist cuts him off and asks him to begin by explaining what the bill is intended to do. He interjects observations from his own conversations with White House and RNC officials. The day after Karl Rove was told he would not be indicted in the CIA leak case, Norquist was having lunch with him in the White House mess. They never talked about the case, however.
Some refer to the Wednesday meetings as the Grover meetings, but Norquist considers that a no-no.
"It's the Wednesday meeting or the coalition meeting," he said modestly.
Under ATR's umbrella, 53 similar meetings have been set up in 43 states. Another seven states are in the process of arranging such meetings, which are called Center-Right Coalition Meetings. These usually are held once a month. Attendance ranges from 15 in Kansas to 180 in Manhattan. The meetings are spreading throughout the world and are now held in Great Britain, France, Japan, and Austria. They will soon be held in Ireland, Spain, and Germany as well.
In arranging meetings in other states and countries, Norquist makes sure the moderator will be acceptable to all sides.
"The Chamber of Commerce may not go to a meeting chaired by the National Federation of Independent Businesses," he said. "They see them as a competitors. You are looking for someone who can work well with everyone."
Editor's note:
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