Having pledged to destroy the “old LDP,” Koizumi implemented exemplary reforms that took the spoils away from special-interest groups, which merely accelerated the LDP’s enfeeblement. Behind Koizumi’s pro-reform slogans was an intra-party factional struggle with the dominant Tanaka faction, whose seemingly invincible political machine and electoral constituencies were anchored to public works involving special-interest groups, particularly civil engineering and construction firms.