This article is light on organizational and financial details. You don't just go to DC once, have some meetings, and announce what has to be done, if you're serious.
You open a permanent office, meet with people on the Hill regularly, and spread campaign contributions around liberally. DC is crawling with people whose life it is to help you do that. Just drive around Chevy Chase and see all the luxury shops catering to those people.
There's a not entirely rigorous, but empirically weighty analogy here to Silicon Valley. Why don't startups just fly into SFO, rent an AirBnB for a few days, hit Sand Hill Road, and split back to wherever overhead is cheaper?
in SV, the idea is that you can hire people to do almost anything a growing company needs. That's true in DC as well, but it's also that the important people who can decide your future are there and continually meeting with your enemies.
"If you're not at the table, you're on the menu." they like to say.
You open a permanent office, meet with people on the Hill regularly, and spread campaign contributions around liberally. DC is crawling with people whose life it is to help you do that. Just drive around Chevy Chase and see all the luxury shops catering to those people.
Is that slimy and disgusting? You bet it is.