Dead Presidents, Fortunate Sons, and Raytheon Flacks: A K Street Kegger Party Report – By Daniel Boguslaw (The Intercept) / Oct 4, 2022
All-purpose firm S-3 hosted lobbyists, staffers, congressmen, and special guests for a feeding frenzy at the Navy Yard docks.
THE LOGE BOXES of Nationals Park were dark Thursday night, but Washington, D.C.’s, Navy Yard — a demented maze of New American eateries, self-service watering holes, and overpriced sports bars generously dubbed a “neighborhood” by Politico in 2018 — was still heavy with the reek of stale beer and schmoozing. I made my way past a poorly attended open-air concert, featuring the country musings of Ryan Hurd under a neon sign for Booz Allen Hamilton, toward one such New American restaurant, the Salt Line, on the choppy waters of the Anacostia.
I’d generously been forwarded an invitation to the S-3 Group’s 11th anniversary celebration emblazoned with “Do Not Forward,” and bypassed the door check with a brisk walk and a serious phone call with a cousin about his plans for Eritrean crypto arbitrage. It seemed too easy given the hundreds of thousands of dollars S-3 takes from “security”-related firms like Innovative Defense Technologies, Raytheon, and the National Rifle Association.
Founded as a Republican-aligned lobbying firm in 2011, S-3 has expanded both its size and temperament to include former Democratic staffers from across the political spectrum, a full service public relations shop, and clients spanning labor unions, defense contractors, foreign governments, and fossil fuel giants. Public rivals clasped hands on the waterfront and ante’d up business cards in anticipation of a coming congressional shakedown in D.C.
I was two hours late. Past the entry gate, an empty half-shell buffet leaked brackish fluids, picked clean like a whale corpse on the floor of the abyssal zone. I ordered the first Bud Light of the night from a downcast server and noticed Michael Long, who — having recently departed a 14-year long stint for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — flitted between staffers and reps from both parties in his new role as S-3 principal.
CONTINUE > https://theintercept.com/2022/10/04/washington-dc-s3-lobbyist-party/
