Thomas G. Corcoran Quotes

Money speaks louder than words in Washington.

We probably had very strong influences, shall we say, on about 100 Congressional offices.

… lobbyist-larded Washington

I have the most reliable friend you can have in American politics, and that is ready money.

I am not in Washington as a statesman. I am there as a very well paid messenger boy doing your errands. My chief occupation is going around with a forked stick picking up little fragments of patronage for my constituents.

The power of the crown, almost dead and rotten as prerogative, has grown up anew, with much more strength and far less odium, under the name of influence.

I don’t know how to do what you have to do to get something out of a congressman.

It may well be true that, as a former cabinet member, I had better access than some.

Washington has political power combined with the insider illusion of being in control.

I had been in the administration long enough to know that Cabinet rank meant nothing.

Members of Congress don’t want anyone to have more influence than they have—that’s why they hated Harry Hopkins.

What is being bought by PACs is access ... Can my Uncle Fred walk into a senator's office? Of course not!

America’s super-elite has been particularly effective at using the tools of a political democracy to protect its minority privilege.

We live in a country where Wall Street owns Washington.

Money buys access; access buys influence.

Success can be built on a strong relationship between a lobbyist and a single, powerful lawmaker.

The number one way of becoming powerful in Washington is by becoming the 'Washington Post.'

If I was into politics, I would be rich.

People like to do politics with me, and they like to do business.

A senator will come off Capitol Hill and they'll be barred from two years from lobbying in the Senate. So they'll pick the phone up and they'll call their buddy, the senator, their old buddies, and they'll say, 'Listen, I'm here at this law firm now. I can't lobby you, but my new partner, Jack, can lobby you.'

If you chose to serve in Congress or on a congressional staff, you should be barred for life from working for any company, organization, or association which lobbies the federal government.

I'm a bit of a shill for the Clinton Administration, which has its perks. I'm invited to all the inaugural balls.

Obviously no one wants to give members of Congress a lot of money, because they barely do anything, and many of them are terrible, but a Congress that is made up of rich-but-not-super-rich people is going to be more corruptible than a Congress of really rich people.

Spending limits not only do not work, they have the perverse effect of making special interests more powerful and more influential.

Johnson showed me how important it was to use every hour of every day to shape national policy while we had the power to do so.