Ethics Reform? What Ethics Reform?

Ethics Reform? What Ethics Reform?

March 22, 2006

Three months ago, when images of Jack Abramoff emerging from court were fresh in everyone’s mind, it seemed inevitable that Congress would pass ethics and lobbying reform. Then people’s attention shifted elsewhere. The Vice President shot a man in the face, a Dubai company purchased the right to operate U.S. ports and sectarian violence erupted in Iraq. While this is all good news for a Congress who really wasn’t serious about lobbying reform, it’s bad news for the majority of Americans who would like to see something done about the culture of corruption in Washington. Congress needs to act now to open up government and stop the practices that have allowed lobbyists to gain so much power in Washington — including the late-night 50-page bill dropping and the weakening of committees.

• Senator John McCain seems to have given up the mantle of reformer. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has a reputation of being a “reformer” in Congress. So it was surprising that he is working to scuttle meaningful ethics reform in Congress. McCain “quietly submitted an amendment to the lobbying reform bill on the Senate floor March 9 that would cap donations to 527 groups.” Tying regulations of 527s to the (largely unrelated) issue of lobbying reform is widely seen as a politically-motivated “poison pill” designed to undermine consensus. Groups who support regulations on 527s even agree that 527 provisions would complicate and undermine the lobbying reform effort.
  
  
• Even restaurants are fighting against reform. Always looking to their bottom lines, Washington restaurateurs have sent their lobbyists to fight against efforts to control lobbying. Restaurants are worried about losing money due to a provision that that would make “it illegal for lobbyists to pick up a lawmaker’s tab.” Their lobbyists argue that free meals help develop relationships on the Hill, and their efforts appear to be working. It looks like the House will not impose the meal prohibition on it its members after all.
  
  
• The House isn’t serious about real ethics reform, judging from its actions. House Rules Committee Chairman David Drier (R-CA) has watered-down the effort to impose reform. Instead of “outlawing gifts from lobbyists to elected officials,” the modified proposal “would simply require more frequent disclosure reports by the donors” and a proposal to double “the year-long ban on the lobbying of Congress by former members and staff” was scrapped altogether. On top of that, “neither the House nor Senate Ethics Committees have taken meaningful action over the past year.” Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI), Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), Congressman Richard Price (D-NC) and Congressman Tom Allen (D-ME) have put forth a plan (PDF) to enact real Congressional ethics reform.