Nobody Knows Who Jack Abramoff Is
Call for Lobbying Changes Is A Fading Cry, Lawmakers Say (Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Jim VandeHei, Washington Post)
When Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) announced his resignation as majority leader in January -- soon after lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to corruption charges -- House Republicans panicked. Dozens of GOP lawmakers, fearing a political backlash, flooded the office of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) with urgent pleas for lobbying reform.
Their message was clear: Hastert needed to champion legislation to crack down on unethical behavior and impose tough new restrictions on lobbyists and congressional perks. Hastert, who had previously shown scant interest in the issue, responded with proposals that surprised longtime reformers with their reach: a ban on privately funded travel by lawmakers and severe restrictions on lobbyist-paid meals.
"We need to reform the rules so that it is clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what is ethically acceptable," Hastert said at a news conference 10 days after DeLay stepped down.
But that was then. Six months later, the legislation has slowed to a crawl. Along the way, proposals such as Hastert's that would sharply limit commonplace behavior on Capitol Hill have been cast aside. Committee chairmen once predicted the bill would be finished in March, but the Senate did not pass its ethics bill until March 29 and the House passed its version May 3. The House has yet to name negotiators to draft the final package.
Legislators and public-interest group advocates say the most likely result this year is a minimalist package that would allow members to say they have responded to the Abramoff situation and other scandals but would do little to crimp their ability to accept lobbyist favors.
The change, these people say, reflects a calculation that the political storm has mostly passed and that the need for more intrusive efforts to alter the congressional culture and the lobbyist-lawmaker relationship is less urgent.
For better or worse, most people understand that their Congresscritters are what they are, and don't have much of an attention span for trying to make them other than they are.
The Congresscritters, of course, amply demonstrate what they are by immediately making their perks off limits the minute it seems that any real political danger has passed.
So it goes.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/26/06 22:42 | American Politics | Technorati
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