WASHINGTON, 7 January 2007 — Congress limped out of town last month without having done much about the “culture of corruption’’ that alternately sustains or torments members of Congress, depending on who is in the majority. When Congress returned this week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said that culture would change.
Democrats say they were returned to power in part because of corruption and ethical lapses of the Republican Congress. They promised to clean up the swamp and crack down on lobbyists.
But hours after changing House rules to reduce favors from lobbyists, critics said it was back to business as usual in Washington.
Democrats threw a $1,000-a-person fundraising concert in Washington on Thursday night, with Hollywood celebrities, big donors and those lobbyists writing checks to re-elect Democrats.
“Tonight we are having a celebration!” said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “Democrats are back!”
Congressional Republicans also had a pricey fundraiser with lobbyists after they assumed power 12 years ago.
While campaigning for a Democratic majority in Congress, Rep. Nancy Pelosi promised to produce the most ethical Congress in history. To her credit, his week she did deliver a lobby reform proposal as the Democrat’s first official act in the majority.
The proposal takes aim at Tom DeLay’s K Street project, in which the former Republican House leader threatened to prevent sought-after legislation unless lobbying firms hired Republicans, including DeLay’s former aides.
The new rule would prohibit members of Congress from interfering in private-sector hiring decisions.
Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper since 1955, said this week that lobbyists have already become very creative, and already discovered ways to make lemonade from the lemons incoming Democrats have dealt them.
The rules change would prohibit the worst lobbyist abuses, such as Jack Abramoff’s free trips to Scottish golf courses and other excursions. Members of Congress could no longer fly on corporate aircraft. Members could not accept meals and gifts from lobbyists or their clients, increasing the possibility that legislators might examine issues on the merits rather than what was in it for them.
The proposal has several noticeable loopholes, however, for what some political observers call “legalized bribery.” They note it is okay for a lobbyist to give a legislator a set of golf clubs — as long as the lobbyist extends only one club per day until the transfer is complete.
The Democratic proposal would allow lobby-paid travel for overnight trips, but it would require ethics committee approval for trips from outside organizations other than universities. This, however, would do little to prevent lobbyists from funneling money to members through tame nonprofits, just as Abramoff did.
