Lobbyists, Consultants Fret Over Bernie Sanders Victory

Bernie Sanders won an overwhelming victory in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, capturing nearly every demographic group and 60 percent of the vote. The insurgent democratic socialist from Vermont, however, was not celebrated in some quarters of Washington, D.C., as a number of lobbyists and business political consultants took to Twitter to complain.

Tony Fratto, the co-founder of Hamilton Place Strategies, a political consulting firm that has previously represented a variety of Wall Street interests including recent work to promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement on behalf of large corporations, tweeted in disapproval of Sanders’ rhetoric against the excesses of Wall Street:

https://twitter.com/TonyFratto/status/697249725435748352

Alex Castellanos, a co-founder of lobbying and consulting firm Purple Strategies and executive with National Media, a political media agency that works with Super PACs and industry groups to develop advertising, disparaged Sanders’ victory speech as an “anti-American rant”:

.@SenSanders = naive foolishness of youth wrapped in veneer of old age and wisdom. sad his anti-american rant is applauded by americans

— Alex Castellanos (@alexcast) February 10, 2016

John Feehery, a lobbyist for AT&T, Sony, Qualcomm, and Zurich Financial Services, among others, tweeted:

This speech is Castro-like in its length.

— John Feehery (@JohnFeehery) February 10, 2016

Rory Cooper, a managing director at Purple Strategies, was somewhat apocalyptic in his reaction:

https://twitter.com/rorycooper/status/697224797479170048

Jason Boxt, who runs the research division for the Glover Park Group, a lobbying
and public relations firm, advised restraint:

Levelheaded people need to chill out about Trump and Sanders winning in NH. We've known they were going to win for six months.

— Jason Boxt (@jboxt1) February 10, 2016

CR Wooters, a Democratic lobbyist at the firm Mehlman Castagnetti, had sympathy for the night’s biggest losers:

I think I might start a SuperPAC to defend those people being attacked the most tonight…. lobbyist. #MakeLobbyingGreatAgain

— CR Wooters (@crwooters) February 10, 2016