Weakened Lobbying Bill Heads to House Vote

[Eugene]

Weakened Lobbying Bill Heads to House Vote

Monday April 24, 2006 8:31 PM

By JIM ABRAMS

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Lobbying legislation is heading to a House vote this week
without provisions requiring lobbyists to keep track of their contacts
with lawmakers and report fundraising activities. Democrats and activist groups
say the bill is now too weak to change the money culture in Washington.

"They took an already unacceptable bill and turned it into a charade," said
Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, one of the groups pushing for major
changes in the way lawmakers interact with wealthy lobbyists.

With opinions divided over the effectiveness of the House bill, the vote scheduled
for Thursday is likely to be far closer than the 90-8 vote in the Senate last month
on another version.

<snip>

The eliminated measures would have forced recordkeeping of letters, phone calls or
handshakes between lawmakers and lobbyists, and required disclosures, already covered
by election law, of how much each person attending a lobbyist-sponsored fundraising event
contributed.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5777000,00.html

The lobbyists sound very happy about this. Jack Abramoff was an aberration, they say.

[ShockediSay]

1. they oughtta make a transcript of every communication IMHO

b/n the lobbyist bagmen and the congressional ... bagmen

[maddezmom]

2. kick

[Judi Lynn]

3. GOP leaders to put weak lobbying bill to House vote

GOP leaders to put weak lobbying bill to House vote
Critics say reforms have been taken out
Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Washington -- House Republican leaders plan a vote on a lobbying reform bill this week, but critics say the toughest provisions already have been stripped from the measure and claim it won't change the cozy ties between lobbyists and lawmakers that have fueled recent ethics scandals in Congress.

Watchdog groups say the measure is an election-year ploy to give the impression of addressing the scandals while failing to take major steps to increase enforcement of ethics rules or to distance lawmakers from those seeking to influence them.

"This is an attempt at one of the largest legislative scams that I've seen in 30 years of working on these issues," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a group that has pushed for much tougher rules.

"Even the titles in this bill are scams. There is a section called 'Curbing Lobbyist Gifts' that doesn't curb lobbyist gifts. There is a section called 'Stopping the Revolving Door' that contains no provision to slow the revolving door. These are Orwellian efforts at trying to manipulate the public's understanding of this legislation."
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/26/MNG0GIF7VA1.DTL

[acmejack]

4. Wonder why they are even bothering?

This is just a waste of time! It must be a show for the constituency's benefit-see what we've done! They will be able to print it proudly in all their worthless little newsletters which they distribute in their once per quarter mailings, which is generally the only time most of the people in their districts ever hear from them.

[Supersedeas]

5. just putting up a show for the country boys--just like the Oil Probes