Editorial: A step closer to lobbying reform

Friday, May 25, 2007  

"With their credibility on the line, House Democrats did the right thing yesterday by mandating disclosure of the lobbying industry’s power to purchase Capitol influence with richly bundled campaign donations to pliable lawmakers.

This basic step to ethics reform — already accepted by the Senate — was fiercely resisted in private by many rank-and-file Democrats worried that their re-election funds will be crimped. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi held fast for approval, warning that voters would retaliate if the Democrats retreated from their anti-corruption promises of last November. As the bundling issue was put to a recorded vote, Republicans jumped aboard, mindful of how the misdeeds of the now-imprisoned superlobbyist, Jack Abramoff, helped them lose the majority.

In the lead-up to the vote, some lawmakers whined as if lobbyists would be barred from seeking privileged access with bundled donations. Not hardly, but at least they must now let the public in on who is giving how much to whom. A companion bill requires lobbyists to file more details of their business expenditures and puts restrictions on members’ spouses who lobby the Hill. And it bars lawmakers from pressuring lobby firms to hire favored partisans, a signature trait of the last G.O.P. majority."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Closer to Reform (The New York Times 5/25)
pwnyt

Lobbying Reform Bills:
Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (H.R.2316) | Lobbying Transparency Act (H.R.2317)

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