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Clean enough Cracking Down – Sort OfBy Rick Horowitz
You can still take their money -- they just have to file more reports. You can still catch a ride on the corporate jet -- you just have to pay what a first-class ticket would have cost you. (Which is still much less than what a charter flight would have cost you.) You can't have the lobbyist pay for your lunch anymore -- but the organization he works for still can. In Washington, this is called "reform." "There's a sign that's now up in front of the Capitol," said Christopher Dodd of Connecticut after the vote. "It says 'Not for Sale.'" The senators are very proud of themselves, and can you blame them? They've put themselves on the side of the angels -- and in an election year, no less! They've proven -- or so they say -- that they're really sincere about cleaning up the system, about limiting the influence of those nasty lobbyists. But not all at once. After all, you don't want to be too hasty about this sort of thing. And if the public isn't demanding that you give up all the perks, why give up all the perks? Still, a 90-8 vote for lobbying limits -- it does look pretty impressive. Unless people start wondering why those "no" voters included the likes of John McCain and Barack Obama and Russ Feingold, the folks who've been pushing for real changes. Which makes it less impressive. But it's something, right? So what if it's not the sweeping overhaul everyone seemed to be promising just a few months ago, when the Jack Abramoff scandal first burst into the news and they were all scurrying for high ground? So what if it's bound to get watered down even more when they go to conference with the House of Representatives, whose "reform" bill is even more toothless than theirs? Rest assured, by the time they're all done with it, it'll be exactly what most of them really want: plenty of bark, not so much bite. For instance? Well, don't be surprised if the new rules look something like this: * When flying on a corporate jet with a lobbyist, you can't talk business for the first 20 minutes of the flight. You can no longer have a window seat. And you're only allowed one bag of peanuts. * You can still accept foreign travel from a lobbyist, as long as you make clear within seven days of the completion of such travel that the trip wasn't all that much fun. * All checks made out from lobbyists to your campaign fund have to be printed in black or blue-black ink, and have to include the notation "for better government." In capital letters. * All cash contributions from lobbyists to your campaign fund have to be organized with the biggest bills on top and all the famous guys facing the same way. * When pocketing an especially large contribution from a lobbyist, you need to demonstrate, by body language or facial expression, that you find the whole fundraising process somewhat distasteful. * When receiving phone calls from prominent lobbyists, you are no longer required to answer on the first ring. * If a lobbyist pays a visit to your office, he or she must now wait at the receptionist's desk for at least three minutes before being ushered into your private suite. A lobbyist obliged to wait for more than ten minutes may be offered a cup of coffee, or an additional amendment. And of course: * No special-interest or "earmark" provision entirely drafted by a lobbyist can be offered by you as an amendment to a bill under consideration except on weekdays, or weekends. All this and less -- don't say I didn't warn you. "Not for Sale," they insist. "For Rent"? That's another matter. Posted 3/30/06. Rick
tells you the things they don’t want you to know. Tell your friends.
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Rick Horowitz
