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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (55026)	1/17/2006 10:02:46 PM
From: Rock_nj	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 362355

At least things are swinging so far to the lunatic right that it is bound to cause a counter-reaction. How long can the radical right run this country based on their madness before people just throw the bums out? Unfortunately, the Democrats really aren't taking avantage of this opportunity. All they need is a cohert and positive message about where they want to take this country and they win big in November 2006. Give people something to vote for.

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (55026)	1/17/2006 10:13:32 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 362355

Senator Reid responds to today's GOP reformapalooza ... talkingpointsmemo.com January 17, 2006 -- 03:42 PM EST “The idea of Republicans reforming themselves is like asking John Gotti to clean up organized crime. I thought I’d seen the last of corruption when I helped clean up Las Vegas thirty years ago. But, while its not quite the mafia of Las Vegas in the 1970s, what is happening today in Washington is every bit as corrupt and the consequences for our country have been just as severe. “Some problems have no legislative fix, and the Republican culture of corruption is one of them. Today’s announcements by House and Senate Republicans should be taken at face value – minor wrist slapping and good public relation stunts by the same people responsible for this mess. Democrats will lead the tough reforms, because we owe it to the American people to stand up for their interests over special interests. Are we really going to believe that Republicans will stop answering the calls from their friends on K Street? Are they really going to put seniors ahead of drug companies when it comes reforming Medicare? Are they really going to help families over oil companies when it comes to gas prices? The answer to these questions is no, and that’s why the American people trust Democrats to clean up Washington and put their interests first.” Criticisms below notwithstanding, I think Reid's hit on a key point. The Republican majorities in both bodies, but particularly in the House, have to start cooperating with the investigations of the criminals and corrupt officials in their midst before they get on to proposing bans of getting free meals. There's a major criminal investigation into the political operation that Denny Hastert is at least nominally in charge of. Has he pledged cooperation with that probe? Is he going to launch any sort of congressional investigation into the seemingly systemic corrupt practices that have evolved under his leadership? It's almost farcical. The mobsters want to join the Rotary Club without even passing 'go'. If Michael Corleone had only known ... -- Josh Marshall

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (55026)	1/17/2006 11:24:41 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 362355

Loophole in Lobbying Bill Leaves Wiggle Room By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 18, 2006; Page A04 Lawmakers are about to bombard the American public with proposals that would crack down on lobbyists. Several prominent plans, including one outlined yesterday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), would specifically ban meals and privately paid travel for lawmakers. Or would they? According to lobbyists and ethics experts, even if Hastert's proposal is enacted, members of Congress and their staffs could still travel the world on an interest group's expense and eat steak on a lobbyist's account at the priciest restaurants in Washington. The only requirement would be that whenever a lobbyist pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a campaign contribution. Then the transaction would be perfectly okay. "That's a big hole if they don't address campaign finance," said Joel Jankowsky, the lobbying chief of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, one of the capital's largest lobbying outfits. The plans offered by Republican leaders yesterday would change two of the three areas of law or regulation that govern lobbyists' behavior: the congressional rules that limit gifts to lawmakers and the laws that dictate the amount of disclosure that lobbyists must give the public. A third major area -- campaign finance laws -- would go untouched, an omission that amounts to a gaping loophole in efforts to distance lobbyists from the people they are paid to influence. Anything that members of Congress can now do in the pursuit of money for their reelections will still be permitted in the future -- including accepting lobbyist-paid travel and in-town meals -- unless campaign finance laws are altered. "Political contributions are specifically exempted from the definition of what a gift is in House and Senate gift rules," said Kenneth A. Gross, an ethics lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. "So, unless the campaign finance laws are changed, if a lobbyist wants to sponsor an event at the MCI arena or on the slopes of Colorado, as long as it's a fundraiser it would still be fine." The result, he added, "may well be more out-of-town fundraising events than there are at the moment." Paul A. Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists, said of the loophole: "You may see a shift from what we're able to do now to the political fundraiser side where it is legal." Currently, lawmakers and staff members are permitted to take "fact-finding" trips paid for by private groups, including lobbying organizations and corporations. These excursions, whose destinations are often major cities and warm resorts in wintertime, need only be disclosed and include official functions to be acceptable under the rules. Yesterday, Hastert and high-ranking Senate Republicans, led by Rick Santorum (Pa.) and John McCain (Ariz.), said they would eliminate these privately funded fact-finding trips as part of a comprehensive ethics package that they hoped would begin moving through Congress early next month. The senators also said they would restrict gifts to lawmakers but apparently would not go as far as to ban meals, as Hastert said he intended to propose. None of the lawmakers, however, said they would end travel and meals supplied by lobbyists as part of fundraising events, which, at least for now, would leave the loophole open. Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), who is Hastert's emissary on the lobbying issue, said he was tasked to deal with lobbying laws, not campaign-finance laws, which he declared a separate issue. McCain, who has been a leader on matters dealing with lobbyists and campaign fundraising, said he was aware of the problem. In an interview after his news conference with Santorum, McCain said he knows the loophole exists and vowed to close it before the bill becomes a law. © 2006 The Washington Post Company washingtonpost.com