TIME: Lobbying Reform Stumbles

[PhilipShore]

TIME
Lobbying Reform Stumbles
Feb. 09, 2006

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1158043,00.html

Congress' push for tougher ethics rules is already dying down

A month ago, Jack Abramoff had just been indicted, and the talk all over Capitol Hill was about how Congress should change its rules, stopping lobbyists from getting too close to lawmakers, and vice-versa. But even then, there were signs that lobbying and ethics reforms might be yet another Washington fad that would soon pass. Republican Roy Blunt, then running for the post of House Majority Leader, defended earmarks—money doled out for specific projects in congressional districts. And House Speaker Dennis Hastert, unable to blame the powerless Democrats for the growth in earmarks, found the next best scapegoat, saying the projects grew because "the Senate plays appropriation games."

And now, lo and behold, the reform talk has died down. While House Republicans did push through a ban on former members lobbying in the House gym last week, GOP members also suggested Hastert had overreacted to the Abramoff scandal. "Some of the proposals out there were just not necessary," said one House leadership aide. The new management in the House agrees. Two days before his surprising election as House Majority Leader, Ohio Republican John Boehner had suggested one of Hastert's ideas, banning all privately-funded travel, was "childish". Since then Boehner has further distanced himself from the reform ideas, suggesting that current laws have worked in catching violations of ethics rules and an independent office of public integrity to check for abuses is unnecessary. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant," Boehner said on Meet the Press last weekend.

[fasttense]

1. The thieves in Congress have decided that they have talked enough

It is now time to get back to business as usual.

[ps1074]

6. very well said

:thumbsup:

[sasquatch]

2. Gee, what a surprise, I thought for sure they'd do it

:sarcasm:

[salin]

3. watch - more GOP will go down

the public sentiment will continue to sour and suddenly they will all be about reform again. These folks are idiots and do not have much memory per 1994 when even the speaker of the house lost his reelection bid. Their overconfidence is both amusing, and encouraging - per retaking the House. Yet all we read in the press is about the weak democratic leadership - rather than the out-of-touch (not too mention dangerously corrupt) GOP leadership.

[rodeodance]

4. with all the headlines, many assume the reforms are already in place.

[PhilipShore]

5. Sunshine with no Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for lobbyists?

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant," Boehner said


I am not a lawyer, but the Freedom of Information act (FOIA) does not apply to private K street lobby firms. How can there be "sunshine" on the lobby industry, when there is no law (like FOIA) that requires -- Congress and K Street lobbyists -- to provide any and all information about their contacts, etc. while lobbying? (Sunshine)

Seems to me just like more legal mumbo jumbo double talk.

[tecelote]

7. Honor among theives.

Here's proof that this corruption is party wide.

America be damned! We will profit despite ethics and morals!

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. It hasn't died down. They're just stalling.

Like when McCain made a whole day of news calling Obama an obstructionist. Why nobody else bothered to point out that Obama supported an open process, instead of McCain's backroom taskforce is beyond me.

[phoebe]

10. was watching the CSPAN re-run - there was a very significant wink given by

McCain to somebody sitting on that panel after he brought up NGO's and travel reform. Wink certainly implied "I'll bring it up but don't think that I am going to do a damned thing about it". When he turned back he looked as if he realized he had been busted by the cameraman..

[wordpix]

9. Bush & Abramoff--emails revealed at this website

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/02/08/exclusive-abramoff-emails

[Mythsaje]

11. Maybe the Dems

(real Dems, not DINOs, who wouldn't) should run on a public financing platform.