Jan 17, 2007 -- Reform Groups Urge Senators to Vote for Obama-Feingold Disclosure Amendment

Enclosed for your information is a letter reform groups sent today urging Senators to support the Obama-Feingold amendment to the Reid-McConnell substitute.

The Obama-Feingold amendment would require lobbyists and lobbying organizations to disclose the contributions they collect or arrange for federal officeholders and candidates, leadership PACs and party committees.

The reform groups include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

The reform groups also sent to Senators today the enclosed editorial that appeared on January 9, 2007 in The Washington Post entitled, ''Bundles of Influence.''

In supporting the Obama-Feingold amendment, the Post editorial stated, ''No single change would add more to public understanding of how money really operates in Washington.''

Dear Senator,

Our organizations strongly urge you to support the Obama-Feingold amendment to require lobbyists and lobbying organizations to disclose the contributions they collect or arrange for federal officeholders and candidates, leadership PACs and party committees.

This amendment deals with one of the most important issues pending in the Senate -- the ability of citizens to know the contributions that lobbyists and lobbying organizations are providing to members of Congress and others.

Currently, the pending Reid-McConnell substitute would require lobbyists to disclose on their lobbying reports the contributions they directly make and the fundraising events they hold for federal officeholders and candidates, leadership PACs and party committees.

Contributions directly made by lobbyists and the fundraisers they hold, however, are only a part of the campaign funds that lobbyists provide to members of Congress, their leadership PACs, party committees and other recipients. Lobbyists also often collect or arrange large amounts of contributions made by others for these same recipients. Without disclosing this information as well, a huge disclosure loophole will exist in the lobbying disclosure requirements in the law.

The practice by lobbyists of collecting or arranging contributions for Senators, presidential candidates and other recipients often results in far more money being provided by the lobbyist to these recipients than the money directly given by a lobbyist or the amount raised through a fundraiser event sponsored by the lobbyist.

All of this his information should be available to the public.

Public disclosure of campaign contributions is a bedrock principle. If it is appropriate to require lobbyists to disclose on their lobbying disclosure reports the contributions they make and the fundraising events they hold for federal officeholders and candidates, leadership PACs and party committees, as the pending Reid-McConnell substitute requires, it is certainly appropriate to require lobbyists also to disclose the additional contributions they collect or arrange for these same recipients.

From the public's point of view, it all represents money provided by the lobbyist to the recipient and it all should be disclosed.

There is no credible argument for failing to provide this information to citizens.

Information about all of the funds provided by lobbyists to lawmakers -- including the total sums they collect or arrange for members of Congress -- is directly related to the activities which lobbyists are conducting in Congress. Disclosure of this information is essential in order for the public to fully understand the role being played by lobbyists in Congress.

We urge you to vote for the Obama-Feingold amendment to require lobbyists and lobbying organizations to disclose the contributions they collect or arrange for federal officeholders and candidates, leadership PACs and party committees, and to oppose any efforts to weaken the amendment.

Campaign Legal Center
Common Cause
Democracy 21
League of Women Voters
Public Citizen
U.S. PIRG

The Washington Post
Bundles of Influence
The checks that lobbyists collect matter more than the ones they sign.
January 9, 2007

THE MOST pernicious aspect of the relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists doesn't involve skybox tickets or golf junkets. It centers on the role that lobbyists play in providing lawmakers with the campaign cash they need to survive. Lobbyists write their own checks, which must be disclosed. But lobbyists are even more valuable to politicians in their role as bundlers, tapping their clients and other networks to deliver campaign cash far in excess of what they are permitted to contribute personally. The master of the bundling game was President Bush, with his $200,000-and-up Rangers and his $100,000-and-up Pioneers.

Yet while you can be assured that lawmakers and their campaigns know who their big bundlers are, and that the bundlers keep careful track of how much they help bring in, the people aren't let in on the news. That information ought to be made public, especially regarding those who make their livings seeking to influence Congress.

A provision that would require such disclosure is part of a strong package of ethics and lobbying reforms introduced yesterday by Sens. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). It would require lobbyists to disclose not only their contributions but also the donations they collect or arrange, along with checks going to presidential libraries, inaugural committees and lawmakers' charities. No single change would add more to public understanding of how money really operates in Washington.

Unfortunately, this change is not expected to be part of the reform package to be introduced today by the new Senate leadership, though its bill promises to be a significant improvement over the measure passed by the Senate last year. But Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has promised to permit an open amendment process. "I'm here to show that the Democratic caucus's commitment to giving America a government as good and honest as the people it serves really does exist," Mr. Reid said at a news conference yesterday. We look forward to the vote on the bundling amendment, with the new leader providing strong support.

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