by Ruth Shalit

About the author: Ruth Shalit is an associate editor for the New Republic, a biweekly magazine.

John Galetta liked his job as a staff assistant in President George Bush’s Office of National Service. “I was in charge of picking the daily Point of Light,” he says. “It was fun. I was the one who got the program up and running.” But after the November 1992 elections, Galetta decided it was time to try a different tack. “I wanted to hang up my own shingle,” he says. So he founded TTCI Inc.—a for-profit, full-service opposition research boutique. The former Republican do-gooder now works around the clock exhuming dirt and scandal on people running for office. He pores over divorce records, shareholder suits and uniform commercial code...