(FORTUNE Magazine) – Thought Newt & Co. were out to smash that sleazoid nexus of power and money in Washington? Fat chance. For all their attacks on big business and the status quo, the Republican goal is much simpler: to shift corporate money and political muscle hard and fast to the right.

"For too long, corporate America's Washington-based operations have been run by Democrats who've been using their political-action committees to subsidize the other side," says Bill Paxon, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Now we're presenting big business with the pleasant opportunity to support what's right"--say, the Republican campaign to slash government spending, taxes, and regulation.

The GOP leaders even have a sort of enemies list in the form of a book published by Paxon's NRCC that cites the nation's 400 largest political-action committees, how much they gave in the last election cycle, and what share went to Republican vs. Democratic congressional candidates. "It's not a pretty picture," says former Reagan White House business liaison Wayne Valis. "It shows just how gutless most big Fortune 500 folks have been." A sampling: General Electric's contributions skewed 60% Democratic; Nationsbank's, 64%; Archer Daniels Midland's, 68%; Prudential's, 70%; Loral Systems', 75%; and Viacom's, 81%.

Meanwhile, majority leader Dick Armey has sent all House members a report delineating how corporations have favored liberal over conservative advocacy groups by more than 3 to 1. Concludes Armey in his "Dear Colleague" letter: "Big business is firmly behind the welfare state." Also in the works: a roster of lobbyists and their party ties. "We're trying to defoliate the political DMZ," says one strategist. "If you're representing IBM but you used to work for Pat Schroeder (D-Colorado), then screw you. The chairman is busy. Either you stand on one side of the ideological divide or the other." House whip Tom DeLay, for one, has said he wants to see "friends" not "foes."

The GOP's hardball tactics may not be idealistic, but they seem to pay off. Big Democratic law firms like Akin Gump and Patton Boggs are hiring prominent Republicans. Corporations with Democratic ties are panting before GOP rainmakers like Valis. "I had my best year ever last quarter," he crows from the palatial balcony of his new offices overlooking the White House. Philip Morris is promoting its Democratic office chief to Switzerland.

Meanwhile, corporate money is flooding GOP coffers. In the first two months of 1995, Common Cause reports, the Republican National Committee collected a record $7.3 million, mostly in corporate contributions. That's more than it raised during all of 1993, the last off-election year. Among the converts: Fruit of the Loom, the Chicago apparel firm chaired by Democrat Bill Farley, made its first-ever RNC contribution--$100,000.

Despite GOP barbs against big business, CEOs are lining up to support House Speaker Newt Gingrich's balanced-budget drive, as well as regulatory and tort reform. Says a veteran lobbyist: "Sure, the Republicans are shaking us down, just like the Democrats did. The difference is, Democrats gave us gridlock. Republicans may actually do something good."

- Ann Reilly Dowd