Democrats won control of Congress by emphasizing Republican scandals and corruption and promising clean government. The start of the 110th Congress has not demonstrated much of a commitment to making that a reality, and the start of the 2008 primary campaign leaves even less hope that the Democrats will address corruption.

One of the Republicans cast as a villain by Democrats on the campaign trail, former Rep. Tom DeLay, got that reputation as the author of the “K Street strategy.”

DeLay, then-House Majority Leader and the real power in the Republican-controlled House, wanted to actively engage with the K Street lobbyists to ensure that they would support Republican candidates in future elections.

His attempts to seed K Street were branded as part of a “culture of corruption” by Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic reformers — and some Republicans, such as Randall “Duke” Cunningham, did little to refute that.

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However, National Review highlighted a new effort by recently ascendant progressives that has more than a ring of familiarity. The well-connected Campaign for America’s Future announced that it will take back K Street from conservatives, and that the new Democratic majority has helped lead the way:

“Marking the end of more than 12 years of conservative rule in the nation’s capital, the Campaign for America’s Future will double its office space and join a network of progressive groups taking over Washington’s K Street power corridor this week.

“The Campaign for America’s Future moves to 1825 K Street today, joining several other progressive organizations that represent ‘the new K Street.’ Progressive Majority and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center moved at the same time as the Campaign for America’s future, joining Americans United and US Action, already in the building.

“The Campaign for America’s Future signed a 10-year lease for the space to accommodate the organization’s growth since its founding 10 years ago by a network of 100 prominent progressive leaders.”

The list of founders and advisers to CAF reads like a who’s who of Democratic Party activists. Jesse Jackson, former Sen. Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio, former California state Sen. Tom Hayden, Jim Hightower of Texas, and Clinton-era Secretary of Labor Robert Reich lead a host of union leaders and academics who have all stumped for Democrats.

These activists have set CAF up as the middleman to do exactly what Democrats excoriated DeLay for doing directly.

Nor have the Democratic candidates for president demonstrated any enthusiasm for swamp-clearing. In fact, their two leading candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., appear to have conducted a bidding war to buy the endorsements of several South Carolina state legislators.

Darrell Jackson and Robert Ford stunned observers by committing early to Clinton, despite their earlier support for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. When pressed to explain why two African-American state legislators would bypass Obama for Clinton, Ford explained that a black man at the top of a presidential ticket would doom the party’s chances in 2008.

However, that wasn’t the only motivation behind the surprise endorsements. It turns out that Clinton signed a $10,000 per month consulting contract with Jackson just as he issued his endorsement.

Later, The Associated Press discovered that several state legislators who also endorsed Hillary will benefit from the same consultancy contract. The Chicago Sun-Times later printed a series of e-mails between Jackson’s office and the Obama campaign, which clearly showed that Obama’s staffers attempted to get Jackson signed to a similar contract, but got outbid by Clinton’s team.

Is this the Democrats’ method of draining the swamp — buying politicians and cozying up to the lobbyists that they demonized in 2006?

Ed Morrissey is a member of The Examiner Blog Board of Contributors and blogs at Captainsquartersblog.com.