Inside the Democratic Policy Center, the Upstart Progressive War Room
Corruption during the Trump years has become commonplace, but for progressive activists Andrew Perez and Adam Eichen, bailing out major lobbying groups during an unprecedented pandemic and economic recession was simply a bridge too far.
So Perez and Eichen founded the Democratic Policy Center (DPC) in May of 2020 and went on the offensive, launching a media and research barrage in hopes of getting Congress to maintain strict exemptions for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Initially, PPP excluded 501(c)(6) groups, which includes major industry lobbyists, but at the behest of groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Society of Association Executives, which represents the interest of “trade associations” like PhRMA (yes, even lobbyists have their own lobbyists), Congress began drafting legislation to loosen restrictions.
“That’s just the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” Perez told Blue Tent. “From a policy perspective, I just don’t see any good reason for giving money to corporate lobbying groups. But on an ideological perspective, those are the groups that really stand in the way of progressive reform and progress more than just about anyone.”
Since starting DPC, which Perez and Eichen claim to run on a volunteer basis, the two co-founders have been talking with congressional offices while notching op-ed clips in places like Jacobin and The Philadelphia Inquirer, and getting quoted for stories in The Hill and The Intercept, the latter of which publicized polling on lobbying bailouts that was commissioned by DPC and Data for Progress. The survey showed that a plurality of Americans opposed bailing out large lobbying groups, even if it meant helping smaller associations like local chambers of commerce.
If a political group can be measured by its enemies, then DPC is already walking tall, having clashed with the nation’s most powerful lobbyists—and Perez and Eichen won’t be stopping there.
Perez, who is 29, previously ruffled industry feathers as a money in politics reporter for both the International Business Times and MapLight before going off on his own last year to focus more on advocacy. In addition to leading DPC, Perez also runs his own progressive research firm, Dig Left, and edits Daily Poster, the newsletter and website from journalist and former Bernie Sanders staffer David Sirota.
Eichen and Perez got to know each other on Twitter, when Eichen was working for the Cambridge-based Small Planet Institute, where he co-wrote a book on expanding democracy with activist Frances Moore Lappe. Eichen’s current day job is serving as the campaign manager at Equal Citizens, another pro-democracy group, this one founded by Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig.
Perez and Eichen first met in person when Eichen and his girlfriend came to visit Perez and his girlfriend at their home in Maine, spending their time talking politics.
“We just meshed, it was as if we had known each other for a very long time,” Eichen said, ascribing that early trust to their decision to launch DPC so quickly in response to the possible PPP expansion.
“Over time, as we would talk on the phone or whenever we would see each other, it would always be just something floating into the conversation at some point,” Eichen said, “and then eventually, we pulled the trigger and formed [DPC] because we did see these gaps in the progressive space that needed to be filled.”
With more debates on pandemic response surely to come, as well as future battles over healthcare and climate policy, Perez and Eichen are looking to set up DPC as a progressive war room to hold Biden and congressional Democrats accountable through research, media hits and whispering in the ears of more progressive politicians.
"We aren't sure what our work will look like yet [under a Biden Administration] but I think we and other progressive groups will need to try to ward off the deficit hawk groups who are about to come out in force again," said Perez.
DPC is already gearing up to lock horns with Democrats and healthcare groups over Obamacare reform, where Perez—and many Democratic voters—are unwilling to accept piecemeal reform, or worse yet, no changes at all.
“It’s something we heard when Barack Obama got elected, one of those things he said was ‘hold me accountable,’ but it’s not like he fucking meant it,” Perez said. “There was no room for dissent in Obama’s Washington.”
“I think that progressive groups are going to have to realize that we’re going to have to challenge the Biden administration every day to be fighting for things that people desperately need right now.”
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