Romney networks inside the Beltway

Eager to expand his network in Washington, D.C., before launching a probable presidential bid, Governor Mitt Romney is embarking on an aggressive courtship of Republican power brokers inside the Beltway.

The outreach includes a fund-raiser with lobbyists and other insiders on Capitol Hill next Monday and a strategy session with a select group of ``politically active senior professionals" the following week at a Washington lobbying firm. He has also been working to charm members of Congress and is turning to influential fellow Mormons in the nation's capital.

It all serves to beef up the political network of Romney, who, despite his growing stature among prospective presidential candidates, lacks the Washington relationships enjoyed by potential 2008 rivals, such as Senate majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Senator John S . McCain III.

One top Romney adviser who has been squiring him around Washington is Ron Kaufman, an executive at the lobbying firm Dutko Worldwide and a well-connected Republican who served as a top adviser to President George H.W. Bush. Kaufman, a Republican National Committeeman from Massachusetts, has been one of Romney's key supporters.

``Right now, the important thing for the governor is to get around and talk to folks," Kaufman said.

Romney has been careful to say he is traveling the country and raising money to support Republican candidates, and he has not declared he is running for president. But he is widely expected to build on his work for 2006 candidates by launching a presidential campaign either late this year or in early 2007, and memos and e-mail obtained by the Globe indicate that supporters believe he's committed to running.

Romney's political action committee -- the Commonwealth PAC, which donates to candidates across the country -- is hosting a fund-raiser Monday at the Capitol Hill Club, a favorite haunt of Washington Republicans. Kaufman said the event isn't targeting only lobbyists but rather the broader Washington community, which he defined as also including Washington lawyers, political operatives, and ``policy wonks."

Jared Young, a spokesman for the Commonwealth PAC, said the event would draw roughly 300 people. Kaufman said a good haul would be $30,000 to $40,000, adding that Washington is mostly empty right now because Congress has recessed so members of Congress can campaign for reelection.

One lobbyist who plans to attend is Marc Lampkin, a partner with the firm Quinn, Gillespie & Associates who has represented NBC Universal, the American Petroleum Institute, and Tenet Healthcare Corp. Lampkin said that it was important for Romney to do events like this.

``There's a `chattering class' aspect to it," said Lampkin, who was deputy campaign manager for President Bush in 2000. ``People like me, Washington types, talk to clients, talk to CEOs, former political colleagues across the country, and that's how you create a buzz. But it's also about raising money."

The next week, on Oct. 26, Kaufman, along with Romney's brother, Scott Romney; Spencer Zwick, a top Romney political aide; and Don Stirling, a paid consultant to the PAC, is hosting a meeting at Dutko headquarters with Romney supporters and potential supporters, according to a confidential memo obtained by the Globe.

The purpose, according to the memo, is to ``bring together the senior government, political, and business leaders in Washington" to meet with Romney's top advisers.

A primary goal of the meeting, the memo states, is to ``review a plan to identify, recruit, and involve individuals as advocates and donors to the Romney team."

Bill Simmons, managing principal at Dutko, is organizing the meeting. He said he expects the meeting to draw about 40 participants, including Capitol Hill staffers, association directors, business people, and lobbyists.

Invitees include Maurine Jensen Proctor, who, with her husband, Scot Facer Proctor, runs Meridian Magazine, an online Mormon publication. The Proctors are founders of the Family Leader Network, a right-leaning organization based in Virginia committed to ``faith, freedom, and family."

Proctor said she wasn't sure whether she and her husband were going and haven't formally committed yet to backing a Romney candidacy. But, she said, ``We think he's tops."

One leading Republican strategist in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of reluctance to speak publicly for or against a potential candidate, said it was important for Romney to make inroads in Washington now, before he steps down as governor and has a harder time finding a platform for regular exposure.

Currently, the strategist said, ``no one knows who he is."

Romney has already spent considerable time trying to build support in Washington. In addition to speaking at the Heritage Foundation, he has addressed the Federalist Society, an influential conservative legal group, met with members of the House at a recent luncheon, and delivered a speech at last month's 2006 Values Voter Summit hosted by the Family Research Council.

Written correspondence by Romney supporters about both upcoming Washington events suggest that some of Romney's supporters are clearly expecting him to run.

``As many of you might know, I am getting in deep with Mitt Romney and his national efforts," Craig Pattee, president of Dutko, wrote in a recent e-mail to Washington Republicans about the Monday fund-raiser.

``For what it's worth, I really think he is the guy and can go the distance."

The memo Simmons wrote for the Oct. 26 event says: ``Many of us are already heavily vested in helping support Governor Romney's agenda and perhaps even helping elect the next president of the United States. This group will be key leaders in that effort."

The memo goes on to say that the meeting will touch on ways the group can ``build a network of senior professionals who will collectively assist Governor Romney's efforts and help raise significant new resources for a potential campaign " in 2007.

The group, according to the memo, will also ``identify and invite new individuals who may not be involved in presidential politics."

Young said the PAC hadn't seen that memo yet and stressed that it hadn't signed off on the wording. (Presidential candidates don't typically announce until after mid-term elections.)

``Obviously the language in there is not language that we had approved, OK'd, or anything like that," Young said.

Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com.