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Thu 19 Jan, 2006 11:06 am
Loophole in Lobbying Bill Leaves Wiggle Room
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
The Washington Post
Wednesday 18 January 2006
Lawmakers are about to bombard the American public with proposals that would crack down on lobbyists. Several prominent plans, including one outlined yesterday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), would specifically ban meals and privately paid travel for lawmakers.
Or would they?
According to lobbyists and ethics experts, even if Hastert's proposal is enacted, members of Congress and their staffs could still travel the world on an interest group's expense and eat steak on a lobbyist's account at the priciest restaurants in Washington.
The only requirement would be that whenever a lobbyist pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a campaign contribution. Then the transaction would be perfectly okay.
"That's a big hole if they don't address campaign finance," said Joel Jankowsky, the lobbying chief of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, one of the capital's largest lobbying outfits.
The plans offered by Republican leaders yesterday would change two of the three areas of law or regulation that govern lobbyists' behavior: the congressional rules that limit gifts to lawmakers and the laws that dictate the amount of disclosure that lobbyists must give the public.
A third major area - campaign finance laws - would go untouched, an omission that amounts to a gaping loophole in efforts to distance lobbyists from the people they are paid to influence.
Anything that members of Congress can now do in the pursuit of money for their reelections will still be permitted in the future - including accepting lobbyist-paid travel and in-town meals - unless campaign finance laws are altered.
"Political contributions are specifically exempted from the definition of what a gift is in House and Senate gift rules," said Kenneth A. Gross, an ethics lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. "So, unless the campaign finance laws are changed, if a lobbyist wants to sponsor an event at the MCI arena or on the slopes of Colorado, as long as it's a fundraiser it would still be fine."
The result, he added, "may well be more out-of-town fundraising events than there are at the moment."
Paul A. Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists, said of the loophole: "You may see a shift from what we're able to do now to the political fundraiser side where it is legal."
Currently, lawmakers and staff members are permitted to take "fact-finding" trips paid for by private groups, including lobbying organizations and corporations. These excursions, whose destinations are often major cities and warm resorts in wintertime, need only be disclosed and include official functions to be acceptable under the rules.
Yesterday, Hastert and high-ranking Senate Republicans, led by Rick Santorum (Pa.) and John McCain (Ariz.), said they would eliminate these privately funded fact-finding trips as part of a comprehensive ethics package that they hoped would begin moving through Congress early next month. The senators also said they would restrict gifts to lawmakers but apparently would not go as far as to ban meals, as Hastert said he intended to propose.
None of the lawmakers, however, said they would end travel and meals supplied by lobbyists as part of fundraising events, which, at least for now, would leave the loophole open. Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), who is Hastert's emissary on the lobbying issue, said he was tasked to deal with lobbying laws, not campaign-finance laws, which he declared a separate issue.
McCain, who has been a leader on matters dealing with lobbyists and campaign fundraising, said he was aware of the problem. In an interview after his news conference with Santorum, McCain said he knows the loophole exists and vowed to close it before the bill becomes a law.
Dem Reform Plan Not Much Better Than Republicans'
Dem Reform Plan Not Much Better Than Republicans', Watchdog Says
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
January 19, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - Democrats on Wednesday declared an end to the "Republican culture of corruption," announcing their own "real reform" plan one day after Republicans announced theirs.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said the Democrat plan is about "real change and has real teeth." It's called the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act.
Democrat leaders said their "aggressive reform package" would "reverse Republican excesses and restore the public trust."
But according to a taxpayer watchdog group, both parties have legitimate criticism to lob against each other's reform proposals.
"The Republicans are right in saying that both parties have complicity in the current ethical mess, where campaign contributions and other gifts are given to Members of Congress in exchange for their support for government largesse for the contributors," said John Berthoud, president of the National Taxpayers Union.
On the other hand, "The Democrats are right that the Republicans' package doesn't go nearly far enough," Berthoud said.
He noted that under the Republican plan, a Member of Congress convicted in of murder would still get a taxpayer-funded pension - as long as he didn't commit the crime "on the job."
And the Republican plan also fails to end the process of handing out favors to contributors and special interests through earmarks (pork barrel projects).
"But the Democrats' package is little better," Berthoud said. "Their lackluster reform package gives lie to their claim that they are not part of the Washington problem."
Budget reform needed'
Lobbying reform alone is not enough, said the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), which has urged Congress to fix the "mangled and secretive budget process."
Tom Schatz, CCAGW president, said, "Bipartisan abuse of the budget process has led to record spending on pork barrel projects and handouts to special interests."
According to CCAGW, total federal spending has swelled 67 percent, from $1.5 trillion in fiscal 1995 to almost $2.5 trillion in fiscal 2005. The number of pork-barrel projects in the federal budget during that same period of time has skyrocketed from 1,349 to 13,997, an increase of 938 percent.
CCAGW supports a bill introduced by Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jeff Flake, both Arizona Republicans. The bill, the Obligation of Funds Transparency Act (S. 1495 and H.R. 1642, respectively), would make earmarks more visible and amendable before legislation is passed.
Morality and conscience
Democrats said their proposed legislation would:
-- end all gifts from lobbyists, including skyboxes at football games, steak dinners at expensive restaurants, and golf trips to the finest courses in the world.
-- close the revolving door between Congress and lobbying firms: Lawmakers and senior staff would have to wait two years instead of one between leaving their government jobs and returning to Capitol Hill to lobby.
-- toughen public disclosure of lobbyist activity: Lobbyists would have to disclose more information, including campaign contributions and client fees. Lobbyists would have to file disclosure reports more often; and they would have to certify that they have not violated rules. False certifications would be subject to criminal penalty.
-- end efforts like the "K Street Project," a Republican effort to put more Republicans in powerful lobbying positions.
-- prohibit cronyism in key appointments: Individuals appointed to positions involving public safety would have to have "proven credentials," such as training or expertise in areas relevant to the position. ("We can't afford another Mike Brown at FEMA," said a press release from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.)
-- establish zero tolerance for contract cheaters: (echoes of Halliburton and no-bid contracts on the Gulf Coast.)
The Democrats said this provision would restore accountability and openness in federal contracting by subjecting major contract actions to public disclosure and aggressive competition; criminally prosecute contractors who cheat taxpayers; impose penalties for wartime fraud in government contracting; mandate full disclosure of contract overcharges; create tough penalties for "improper" no-bid contracts; and close the revolving door between federal contract officials and private contractors.
Pelosi, writing for the DCCC, said the Democrats' proposed legislation shows "the kind of morality and conscience that drives our party."
Along with the DCCC, she is urging Americans to sign on as "co-sponsors" of the reform bill.
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See Earlier Story:
Republicans Announce 'Reform' Proposals (18 Jan. 2006)
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