K Street whines, feels it's being unfairly targeted by bill disclosing lobbying violators

[babylonsister]

K Street feels it's being unfairly targeted by bill disclosing lobbying violators
By Kevin Bogardus - 08/01/10 04:14 PM ET


K Street is blaming the politics of the 2010 midterm elections for a new bill that would toughen lobbying law enforcement.

The House unanimously passed legislation last week that would disclose suspected violators of the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) for the first time to the public. The bill would also set up a Justice Department taskforce to investigate those cases, likely upping the law’s lax enforcement.

It’s unclear whether the legislation will be approved by the Senate and reach President Obama’s desk, but the House vote nonetheless sends a tough message to K Street that lawmakers are interested in being seen as cracking down on lobbyists.

Lobbyists told The Hill that they had no issue with more enforcement of the law but bristled at the bill’s suggestion that their profession is inherently corrupt.

Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, said he thinks all lobbyists should follow the law and that his firm makes sure lobbying reports are filed on time.

“I hardly think it is one of the top law enforcement priorities. But it is an election year. You have to expect something like this to happen,” Podesta said.

more...

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/112073-k-street-feels-its-being-unfairly-targeted-by-enforcement-bill

[msongs]

1. lobbyists would go out of business without a cooperative congress enabling them nt

[SunsetDreams]

2. it's a good thing they were not cooperative then, with this bill

[SunsetDreams]

3. K&R

[Odin2005]

4. Oh, fuck them!

[brentspeak]

5. Considering that Obama hosted Billy Tauzin at the White House

and that the insurance industry wrote the HCR and Wall St. wrote the financial industry regulation laws, they should celebrating, not whining.

[babylonsister]

6. You need a whambulance for your whining; sure you're not a

lobbyist? :D

[SunsetDreams]

7. LOL what a load of hyperbole

[Exilednight]

8. I think it's time to e-mail Tony Podesta and tell him that maybe it's time .............

to start making illegal lobbying practices a top priority. [e-mail]

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. The law is a joke.

The simple fact remains - everything that gives lobbyists any more power than they should have in merely representing American citizens is derived from one of two places. The first is the ability to deliver campaign contributions, which is (unfortunately) perfectly legal. The second is through bribery, which is very illegal already.

I see no point to a law like this other than to make a meaningless political statement. Seriously, we don't need a law to disclose suspected violators of the LDA to the public - we have that power already and it's called a "subpoena" or an "indictment". They can - and have - been used regularly.