Lobbying Reform
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In 1995, the Congress enacted the first major lobbying law changes in 50 years.  The Lobbying Disclosure Act was designed to plug well-established gaps in the previous law:  it applied to staff as well as Members, and it provided for more uniform statements of the interests represented and the amounts spent for lobbying purposes.  A decade later, with scandals of one kind or another in the air, lobbying regulation has been restored to the reform agenda.  This space will contain regular reports on developments in this area of the law. 

Ethics Reform in the Last Year

   The Practicing Law Institute is holding its annual program on corporate political activities, and one of the panels, featuring Congressional officers, ethics committee counsel and one private counsel (the undersigned), will review in one hour the many and complicated developments of the last year.  One of the topics identified is "problems of self-enforcement of ethics by Congress", and this will be interesting to hear about, especially if the Congressional representatives can be coaxed into a word or two on the subject.

Bye Bye to the Gift Bag

     The Washington Post has scanned the convention horizon and found a clearing, a definite improvement.  The gift bag, it writes, is dead.  Partying goes on. But there is more “caution,” more restraint, fairly credited to the 2007 ethics reform.

 

The New "Guidance" on Ethics

     The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House redrew their Guidance for compliance with the new ethics law, and they did it the nick of time, when reports were about to be filed and the reporting lobbyists and registrants were unsure what they were supposed to do. At issue was the question of what kind of payments made to events honoring, recognizing or simply involving Members of Congress were reportable.  An early reading suggested the broadest of readings: the purchase of a ticket to an event would be considered the same as paying the cost of the event, requiring disclosure.

A Bundle of Issues: The FEC’s Proposed Bundling Rules

     Late yesterday, as the rain fell for the third consecutive day in Washington, the FEC published its proposed bundling rules.  Congress has passed new disclosure requirements for contributions collected or raised for candidates by lobbyists. It expects rules from the FEC on unanswered questions, such as how bundling will be precisely defined. Now the FEC has sketched some of those answers and asks for comment by November 30, for airing at a public hearing to be announced later.

 

Bundling and the Regulatory System

     It has worked out this way:  Congress acted on bundling, in the new reform law, just as bundling as a fundraising practice became an issue of hot interest in the Presidential campaign.  Now the question will be presented, more quickly than usual:  will disclosure prove enough to settle the issues raised about bundling or will the problem as it  is now defined be attacked more directly?  See also Brody Mullins and Ianthe Jeanne Dugan, "Donors Stir ‘Bundling’ Questions," Wall Street Journal (Sept. 20, 2007) at A3.

 

Also...

The Press and the Campaigns: On the Subject of Bundling and Consultants  9/4/07

Reform as a Refresher Course, More Toughly Graded  8/7/07

At Weekend: Angst about the Future, More Regulation in the Present  8/3/07

Bundling in the House  5/25/07

"Independence" and Accountability in Ethics Enforcement  3/5/07

U.S. PIRG and Independent Congressional Ethics Enforcement  2/8/07

More Disclosure Likely With Senate Changes to Lobbyist Disclosure Act  1/24/07

A Second Look at the Ethics Rules: Planes, Tix and More  1/10/07

Preparing for New Ethics Rules: First Looks  1/4/07

Lobbying Reform and the Principle of Reciprocation  1/3/07