Grover Norquist

College Republicans

When Norquist graduated in 1981 he returned to Washington and joined Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed in a successful takeover of the College Republicans, where he spent six months as executive director and helped conservatives consolidate control of the organization. “If you could look at the crap they had before,” Norquist said in 2009, “pictures of dancing elephants with the slogan ‘The Best Party in Town!’” Norquist led a campaign to sign up new members in solidaritywith Polish resistance to communism. “Guess who comes to sign up when you have pro-democracy in Poland and pro-Reagan posters? Conservatives.”WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009

Americans for Tax Reform

In the early 1980s, Norquist worked as a speechwriter for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a staffer at the election-focused Americans for the Reagan Agenda, and a staffer at the conservative Citizens for America. He spent time out of Washington lobbying for American interests in Afghanistan, in southern Africa and in Eastern Europe.

In 1985, Reagan’s White House began laying the groundwork for a fundamental rewrite of the U.S. tax code and Norquist was asked to lead a new organization — Americans for Tax Reform. With funding from Republican donors and leadership from Norquist, ATR campaigned for the passage of the landmark 1986 Tax Reform Act.Swarsdon, Ann, “Senate Rejects Proposal For 35% Tax Bracket; Overhaul Bill Is Spared Major Alteration,” Washington Post,  June 16, 1986 In that year, Norquist himself wrote a short pledge that, if taken by lawmakers, would cut through the clutter. The pledge has evolved into a staple of every campaign season, with ATR asking all candidates for federal and state office of both parties to sign it, including most Republicans who win and most Republicans who don’t.

“I _____ pledge to the taxpayers of the __________ district, of the state of __________, and to all the people of this state, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

The pledge immediately put Republicans on the record against tax increases and aided in the passage of tax reform. (One of the first things visitors in ATR’s 12th street office see is a photograph of President Reagan signing the pledge.) More Republicans took the pledge in the 1988 elections, most notably President George H.W. Bush, in what aides later recounted as a tortured decision.Woodward, Bob, “Origin of the Tax Pledge; In '88, Bush Camp Was Split on 'Read My Lips' Vow,” Washington Post, October 4, 1992 What “gave it teeth,”WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009 according to Norquist, was President George H.W. Bush’s approval of the 1990 tax increase. Norquist pinned Bush’s 1992 defeat at the hands of Bill Clinton on Bush’s betrayal of ATR’s no-new-taxes pledge and thus his conservative base.

“Wednesday” Meetings

ATR hit the ground running after Clinton’s victory. In January 1993, Norquist sponsored his first Wednesday meeting of conservative activists, drawing a dozen people to strategize against President Clinton’s health- care plans. The meeting grew in size as Norquist explained to his fellow travelers that “you had to slow everything down to stop health care--his gun stuff, his spending stuff, his midnight basketball.”WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009

After the defeat of Clinton’s plan and the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994, ATR’s meetings grew larger and more influential, and it collected more money from the Republican National Committee to defeat Democrats to the tune of$4.6 million to try and defeat Clinton in 1996.Marcus, Ruth, “RNC Steered Funds To Outside Groups; $1 Million-Plus Was Passed From Big Donors,” Washington Post, October 23, 1997

Clinton was re-elected anyway, and ATR began to evolve into what it is today—a powerhouse conservative group with connections to nearly every powerful Washington Republican, Republican leaders in the states and grassroots activists across the country. In 1997, Norquist launched the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, a campaign to name at least one place after the 40th president in every county. Re-naming National Airport outside of Washington was the first major victory; eventually putting Reagan on Mount Rushmore, said Norquist, was “a long-term debate, but doable.” Tapscott, Richard, “Ready for Takeoff: Debate Over Airport's Name; GOP Wants to Change It to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by His 87th Birthday,” Washington Post, January 26, 1998

In 1998, Norquist and ATR pushed for state ballot amendments that, if passed, would have prevented unions from using their members’ dues for political campaigns. It was an obscure issue, but it was a political winner, said Norquist: “As soon as you ask the question, you've won the argument.”Dionne Jr., E.J., “Shift On Prop 226,” Washington Post, June 2, 1998 In 1999 and 2000, Norquist backed George W. Bush over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in large part because of McCain’s fitful economic progressivism. He went so far as to run ads in New Hampshire that morphed McCain into Bill Clinton.Wilogren, Jodi, “And Now (Drumroll), Heeeere's Johnny (McCain),” The New York Times, January 18, 2000.

As one of the most influential conservative groups in the city, ATR welcomed the presidency of George W. Bush. Wednesday meetings swelled to more than 100 people, with representatives from the White House present. ATR was vital to the campaign for Bush’s 2001 tax cuts, and for the tax cut battles that followed.

But complete Republican control of Washington cut both ways for ATR. After the 9/11 attacks, Norquist was pilloried by some conservatives for his political alliances with Muslim leaders such as Abdurahman Alamoudi, the founder of the American Muslim Council. Norquist’s bridge-building had helped win Muslim votes for George W. Bush, but in the backlash to 9/11 and to Alamoudi’s response,Tapper, Jake, “Islam’s Flawed Spokesmen,” Salon.com, September 26, 2001 Norquist alienated some neo-conservatives. Several of Norquist’s allies were ensnared when Norquist’s old friend Jack Abramoff imploded in a series of scandals, including David Safavian,Edsall, Thomas B., “A Detour in the Corridors of Power,” The Washington Post, November 26, 2005 who served on Norquist’s Islamic Free Market Institute.

On other issues, Norquist and ATR alternately clashed with the White House and sided with it against the Republican base. Norquist was an early opponent of the USA Patriot Act that strengthened the government’s ability to monitor private communications.York, Byron, “Norquist and Keene Join Baldwin and Neas,” National Review, October 20, 2003

He joined the campaign for some Social Security privatization, arguing that Americans who owned stock were likely to become or stay Republican. Writing before the 2004 election, Norquist argued that “four more years of more and bigger individual retirement accounts, health savings accounts, RSAs, and LSAs means four more years of more Republicans and fewer Democrats.”But privately, Norquist told Karl Rove in a post-election phone call that Social Security privatization was politically impossible.WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009 In the summers of 2006 and 2007, when immigration reform bills came to the floor of the Senate, Norquist supported reformKlein, Rick, “GOP Pushed on Immigration Reform: Influential group outlines challenge for party leaders,” The Boston Globe, July 11, 2006— the White House’s position — and pilloried conservatives who thought that the issue was an election-winner outside of the core conservative base.

ATR Today

Since the mid-90s, ATR’s weekly meetings have grown to more than 160 regular attendees, now located in a new office in downtown Washington. ATR has also expanded its reach by helping to start “center-right meetings” in the states and starting “affiliates” that use ATR’s office space to push for special projects. There are currently seven affiliates:

- The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project (1997), headed by Nathan Pick, which lobbies for counties to dedicate public works and spaces to the 40th president.

- The American Shareholders Association (2000), headed by Ryan Ellis, which lobbies for more investor-friendly policies, such as capital gains tax cuts.

- The Alliance for Worker Freedom (2003), headed by Brian Johnson, which opposes pro-union labor reforms such as the Employee Free Choice Act.

- The Property Rights Alliance (2005), headed by Kelsey Zahourek, which lobbies for land and intellectual property rights.

- The Media Freedom Project (2005), headed by Derek Hunter, which advocates media deregulation and opposes the “Fairness Doctrine” for equal time on the airwaves.

- The Center for Fiscal Accountability (2008), headed by Sandra Fabry, which keeps track of, and advocates for more transparency in, government spending.

Norquist and ATR have encouraged, and kept tabs on, a current total of 50 center-right meetings in 46 states, with only Vermont, South Dakota, Wyoming and South Carolina meeting-less as of April 2009. They happen every week when legislatures are in session, and every month when they’re not. Internationally, ATR has helped to start meetings in Canada, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Norquist’s current goals are modest: blocking labor reform spearheaded by President Obama and the Democratic Congress and any other fundamental changes to the economy, and winning the 2010 elections. “What’s the key fight? Take the House back. What’s the key fight? Don’t let the Democrats get to 60 in the Senate.”WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009

After years of bachelor living, Norquist married the former Samah Alrayyes in April 2005, and the couple adopted a daughter, Grace, from Bethelem, Israel, in 2008.WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009 Having never joined the old Washington establishment (“Those of us who are part of the revolution . . . didn't come to get invitations to their dinner parties or their receptions,” he said in 1996.Quinn, Sally, “Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner; The Decline of the Washington Social Scene May Actually Be Bad for the Country,” Washington Post, February 4, 1996 Norquist is still a fixture at conservative events.

In 2008 he published "Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government’s Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives," the most definitive statement of his thinking and political strategy.

Taxes

Norquist’s stance against taxes has not changed appreciably since the 1970s. He argues that tax cuts create economic growth, and they make a larger state impossible; therefore, government should constantly cut taxes. “Pro-taxpayer legislators at the federal and state levels should learn from and follow the successful model of the [George W.] Bush administration,” Norquist has said, “and cut taxes each and every year.”Norquist, Grover, Leave Us Alone (2008), p. 276

The 111th Congress contains 172 Republicans in the House, and 35 Republicans in the Senate, who have signed the ATR pledge, and Norquist has counseled Republicans to oppose just about all of Barack Obama’s agenda. “Bad stuff will pass,” he advises. “Don’t have your fingerprints on it.”WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009

Transparency

The advent of easy-to-use search engines and digital data storage has bolstered Norquist’s case for total transparency of all government spending, and the Center for Fiscal Accountability keeps tabs on the states that have made their spending or bill mark-ups easily accessible to the public. “Honest liberals are for this,” Norquist has said. “So Illinois isn’t on board.”WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009 Norquist argues that more transparency would lead to less corruption and a better quality of candidates, because it would remove the incentive to steal and give challengers “$250,000 in opposition research” about incumbents.WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009

Guns

Since 2000, Norquist has been elected four times to the board of the National Rifle Association, and firearm owners are an integral part of his Leave Us Alone Coalition — highly motivated, single-issue voters who will storm the polls to beat Democrats. “I can assure you that many of the gun people in this country who vote on guns have what I consider the oddest views on free trade with China,” Norquist said in 2008, “but they don’t vote on that issue, so in a political sense it’s irrelevant. That’s what holds the coalition together.”Gillespie, Nick, “An Alliance for Freedom?” reason, August/September 2008

Foreign Policy

National security doesn’t play much of a role in Norquist’s “Leave Us Alone Coalition.” Since the Cold War, when he was a staunch anti-communist, Norquist’s approach to foreign policy has been malleable and largely based on what helped the Republican Party.

When America declared war on Iraq, Norquist said that “the Democrats were on the wrong side of the Civil War, the Cold War and now the Iraq War.”Mark Leibovich and Roxanne Roberts, “Among the Hawks, Few Crow; Bush Partisans Are Restrained, While Voices of Dissent Still Sound,” The Washington Post, April 10, 2009 But Norquist believed that opposition to the war weakened Bush in the 2004 election, and after the Republican defeats of 2006, Norquist suggested that the war had been a bit of a detour for the party. “If Bush changed the policy,” he said, “you'd have four neo-cons whine and the rest of the movement would be fine.”Kirkpatrick, David and DeParle, Jason, “For Conservatives, It’s Back to Basics,” The New York Times, November 12, 2006 He has been on the board of the Nixon Center since 2007.

Religion

Norquist is a Methodist, and while none of ATR’s organizations work on social issues, he builds coalitions with social conservatives with greater ease than most libertarian-minded activists. Democrats, according to Norquist, have forfeited the religious vote as they “work overtime to treat orthodox Catholics like Gypsies.”Norquist, Grover, Leave Us Alone (2008), Norquist is on the board of the movement to pass a Parental Rights Amendment for home-school parents: He considers school choice and the rights of parents a “defining issue of the next 10 years.”WhoRunsGov.com interview, March 30, 2009