The Prowl: Lobbying For Sex
I realize I have written about this before, but once again this week I have been seriously wondering how successful I would be in this city if I were less attractive.
On Monday, I had a dinner with several of a client's board members in an attempt to convince one to agree to something he was hesitant to do - start a PAC. His feeling was that when our "friends" ask, the answer is always yes but that these contributions should remain individual rather than institutionalized. His concern was that having a PAC would essentially taint the image of the organization and that any PAC that was set up would be percieved as another lefty slush fund. While these are valid points, thousands of PACs have been registered since January so why shouldn't we also use the tools available for some strategic political giving?
Given that my boss, our proposed fundraising team, an FEC legal expert, and two other board members had conventional DC wisdom on our side, convincing the lone holdout should not have been difficult. Somehow though my boss' plan to do so was grounded in the very common knowledge that this board member has an old man crush on me. What is an old man crush you might ask? It is when someone of considerably advanced age becomes smitten with a young girl, fully realizing he will never act on this (how much this part is the case is actually very unclear). Therefore, my whole purpose at this dinner, despite having basically done all of the background work, was to smile at this board member, put him in a good mood, and use my feminine wiles to get a "yes." I got it, but was less than impressed at the way I did it. This can't possibly be what I was hired for? Having done this several times now, I am increasingly curious.
Following my PAC-creating dinner incident, I had a run-in with a board member of a different organization that we represent and a US Senator at a cocktail event. The board member stood a little too close and kept saying he would convince my boss to take me to their annual meeting in Southern California, almost visibly sizing me up as he did it to picture me in a bikini. This was followed the next day by an email about it, emphasizing that meeting me had been a "treat." While I do not disagree that I am a delight to mingle with, but I am simply just not confident that this board member would like me in California for my political insights or even for a status report on my quest for a House sponsor to his group's bill. Rather, knowing that it has more to do with other things, and knowing our contract will be reviewed soon, the situation is somewhat ambiguous with how to proceed.
Next came my encounter with a Senator wherein he did not use any innuendo but instead just told me that I am very pretty. I thanked him, his staff looked embarrassed, and he insisted that I was. Of course the pretext for this exchange was that once again, my boss sent me over his way at an event to tell the Senator he would be in another room if he wanted to catch-up. Oh, that, and if I could somehow non-awkwardly mention a client who would like a meeting that would be great too. After batting my eyes and getting the Senator to issue a directive to his staff, a much sought after meeting is next week. I normally prefer to email the scheduler but my boss maybe had a better idea? Again, so ambiguous.
So to summarize, I am becoming ever more wary of the way my office is using me to manipulate clients and advance their agenda, and the extent this is really based on an assumption that all of DC's old men in charge have their minds in the gutter. They sort of do, and also an over developped sense of entitlement without any social awareness... As I have explained before, while this is simply using the resources available to me, there is nonetheless a line when it becomes both trashy and demeaning.