Fancy seeing you here, compadres! Lady K is a lobbyist on K Street, and here to answer your questions.
What’s your favorite–but affordable–K Street restaurant? I’m eating too much Cosi and am looking to try a new lunch place. I’m interning near Farragut Square, if that helps.
Ah, the lunchtime options this side of the District make me yearn for the not-so-secret back delis on the Hill. You know, where’d you walk past the liquor and shelves of crackers until you found yourself at a little meat counter that looked only slightly sanitary?
Over here in the NW, I’m getting tired of chain French-sounding restaurants — Au Bon Pain, Pret, Pain Quotidien — that serve overpriced sandwiches that leave you hungry two hours later. Combine that with the fact that our client lunches mysteriously always appear from Firehook or Corner Bakery and you’d think the sliced artisan bread industry owned this town. This is America, dammit! I don’t want my BLT on a baguette.
If you can stand another sandwich, have you tried the Daily Market outside the K Street entrance to Farragut North? They also have fresh smoothies. Or, check out the International Square food court around 19 and K? I’m a sucker for the Cuban stand, and the gyros aren’t bad (almost as good as Greek Deli, which, incidentally, is another great location and will make you forget chain Mediterranean shops like Roti ever existed). Finally, eat a Chipotle burrito while making a greedy, smug face because the Hill doesn’t have one yet.
If you’re feeling more creative, there’s always a food truck or three lumbering around. Don’t underestimate the goodness that is Takorean — there’s a line for a reason.
Other thoughts on where to snag K Street munchies? Leave your recommendations in the comments.
Is it better to work for Democratic or Republican groups? Are Democrats nicer?
My personal preferences aside, there’s a lot more to each client than their political affiliation. Some issues attract the political equivalent of a box of Chex Mix. A couple years ago, we had one client supporting a technology issue that attracted both the far left and the far right — the left argued that passing new legislation would harm low-income communities, and the Tea Partiers wanted less government intervention. That was a fun bunch of folks to manage.
Most clients claim to be “nonpartisan,” but their PAC records and executives’ campaign contributions tell a different story. Generally, Republican clients have more money to throw at events, whereas left-leaning clients tend to have better on-the-ground operations for local support.
Beyond that, there’s not much difference between the two. Most of the groups we work with are titan-of-industry types, on both sides of the aisle. The political affiliation of each client depends more on who’s in office (and who’s cosponsoring what bill) than any deep-seated ideology.
What’s the dumbest client request you’ve received?
Dumbest? I wish I got more dumb requests; it would be more fun. Most client strategies have been vetted through an internal group first. In our line of work, truly crazy big-daddy strategies rarely make it past the brainstorm phase.
We did have this one client who wanted to make his niche organization’s views “go viral.” This was a few months ago, when you couldn’t spend more than five minutes on the Internet without hearing something about Kony. We had to kindly let them know that “viral” videos often gain their popularity because they are stupid to the point of inspiring mockery, or just inane. There’s a reason Baby Monkey (Going Backwards on a Pig) has more views than something that’s actually informative (Kony notwithstanding, if you can call it “informative”). Unfortunately, there wasn’t much room for compromise.
Another face-palming issue is the classic case when we give a client two strategy options and they respond something like “yes” or “sounds good.” This happens much more than you would think.
K Street, Political sides and More, check out more of Lady K Street!
The post Restaurants, Chosing Political Sides and Dumb Requests appeared first on Cloture Club.
