May 2, 2007 -- Reform Groups and CED Urge House Members to Support Strong Lobbying Reform Legislation
Requiring Lobbyists to Disclose the Total Contributions they ''Raise'' or ''Bundle'' for Members is the Defining Issue of Lobbying Reform Legislation, Groups State

Reform groups and the Committee for Economic Development sent a letter today urging House members to support strong and effective lobbying reform legislation that includes the essential lobbying reform provisions set forth in the letter, when the House considers shortly its lobbying reform legislation.

The reform groups signing the letter include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG. The Committee for Economic Development is a national organization of business leaders and educators.

The letter begins, ''In recent weeks, ethics clouds have appeared again over the House of Representatives, as criminal investigations involving two House members resulted in the Members stepping down from Committee assignments. In addition, a former House staff member pled guilty to criminal activities in connection with the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandals.''

According to the letter, ''Meanwhile, the House, after an excellent start in passing landmark ethics rules reforms last January, has yet to act on the companion bill, comprehensive lobbying reform legislation.''

The letter adds, ''Earlier this year, the Senate passed strong lobbying reform legislation, including essential disclosure provisions to require a lobbyist to inform the public about the total amount of contributions the lobbyist is providing to assist a Member or other candidate.''

The letter states:

In so doing, the Senate provided a minimum benchmark for the House to meet. There simply is no basis for the House to adopt weaker lobbying disclosure legislation than the Senate passed.

Disclosure by Lobbyists of Contributions ''Raised'' or ''Bundled'' for Members

According to the letter, ''The disclosure by lobbyists and lobbying organizations of the total amount of contributions they 'raise' or 'bundle' for a Member or other recipient is the defining issue of the lobbying reform bill.''

The letter states, ''The House action taken on this critical issue will tell citizens whether Members are serious about reforming the nation's lobbying disclosure laws, in the wake of the Abramoff corruption and lobbying scandals.''

The letter adds, ''Lobbyists provide campaign contributions to assist Members by making direct contributions to Members, by holding fundraising events for Members and by 'arranging' or 'bundling' contributions for Members.''

The letter continues, ''Only the first -- direct contributions made by a lobbyist -- is currently disclosed to the public, however, while the latter two means of a lobbyist providing contributions to a Member are undisclosed and almost always result in far more money being provided by a lobbyist to a Member than the money which a lobbyist directly gives.''

The letter states, ''Requiring lobbyists to disclose the fundraisers they hold and the contributions they 'arrange' or 'bundle' for a Member goes to the heart of the public's right to know about the efforts lobbyists and lobbying organizations make to advance their lobbying goals. Absent such public disclosure, a huge loophole will continue to exist in the lobbying disclosure laws.''

According to the letter, ''The Senate-passed bill effectively addresses this problem by requiring lobbyists to disclose the fundraising events they hold for a Member or other recipient, and also to disclose a good faith estimate of the total amount of contributions they 'arrange' or 'bundle' for a Member or other recipient.''

The letter continues, ''These essential disclosure provisions also are contained in legislation introduced in the House by Representatives Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Marty Meehan (D-MA). It is critically important to effective lobbying reform for the House to adopt similar disclosure legislation.''

The letter quotes a New York Times editorial (February 1, 2007) as stating, ''Full disclosure of bundling is the sine qua non of lobbying reform.''

The letter also quotes a Washington Post editorial (May 1, 2007) as stating:

The influence that lobbyists wield can't be gauged by looking at their individual contributions. Their power comes in their capacity to deliver a stack of checks to grateful lawmakers. A lawmaker knows how much he or she is indebted to a lobbyist. So, you can be sure, does the lobbyist. The only ones in the dark are the public.

Disclosure by Lobbying Firms of Campaigns to Influence the General Public to Lobby Congress

According to the letter, ''Our organizations also strongly urge you to support an important proposal contained in legislation introduced by Representatives Marty Meehan (D-MA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) to require disclosure by lobbying firms of the total amount they spend on behalf of a client to conduct communication campaigns to influence the general public to lobby Congress.''

The letter continues, ''This provision is fundamentally different from the 'Astroturf' lobbying disclosure provision rejected in the Senate earlier this year by a vote of 55 to 43.''

The letter states, ''The House provision only applies to lobbying firms retained by a client and only if a firm receives a total of more than a $100,000 during a reporting period from the firm's clients. Furthermore, the provision only covers paid communication campaigns by the lobbying firms to influence the general public to lobby Congress.''

According to the letter:

The provision expressly states that it does not apply to any person or entity other than a retained lobbying firm. This means that the provision does not require any person or entity, other than a retained lobbying firm, to register or file any lobbying reports.

According to the letter, ''The provision would address a black hole in the lobbying disclosure laws for lobbying firms.''

The letter states:

Lobbying firms currently report the total amounts they receive from a client to conduct direct lobbying campaigns on Capitol Hill. The new provision would require a lobbying firm also to disclose the total amount the firm receives from a client to conduct expensive media and other paid communication campaigns to influence the general public to lobby Congress.

The letter further states:

Citizens and lawmakers have a right to know about the huge undisclosed amounts being spent by lobbying firms to influence the general public to lobby Congress. We urge you to support providing the public with this information.

Curbing the Revolving Door

The letter states, ''Former members of Congress working as Washington lobbyists used to be the exception. Now it is a regular practice, with some 200 former Members reportedly lobbying Congress.''

According to the letter, ''The current rules establish a one-year period in which former Members, senior executive branch officials and senior congressional staff cannot lobby their former colleagues. The breadth of former colleagues who cannot be lobbied during this period varies depending on the group of former officials involved.''

The letter adds, ''Our organizations strongly urge you to support increasing the one-year revolving door ban to two years for all officials covered by the restriction, as the Senate-passed bill does.''

The letter also points out that ''while the current revolving door restrictions for Members prohibit them from having direct lobbying contacts with Congress for pay for one year after they leave their jobs, they allow Members to engage in other lobbying activities to influence Congress for pay during this period, including planning and directing lobbying campaigns, and participating in lobbying strategy sessions. This means that Members can immediately undertake for pay extensive 'lobbying activities' to influence decisions in Congress, despite the fact that the revolving door rules are intended to establish a 'cooling off' period between the time a Member leaves Congress and the time the Member starts lobbying Congress for pay.''

The letter states, ''Our organizations strongly urge you to support a provision to close this serious loophole by extending the revolving door ban to cover lobbying activities, not just lobbying contacts, by former Members to influence Congress, as the Senate-passed bill does. The House should not backtrack on the position taken by the Senate on this issue. A similar restriction should be enacted for senior executive branch officials. In addition, the rules that apply to senior congressional staff should be strengthened.''

Prohibit Lobbyist-Funded Parties at National Conventions to ''Honor'' Members

The letter states, ''Our organizations strongly urge you to support a provision, similar to the provision in the Senate-passed bill, which would prohibit lobbyists and lobbying organizations from paying for parties to 'honor' Members at the national conventions.''

The letter continues, ''These parties often involve lobbyists and lobbying organizations paying for an expensive party to 'honor' a Committee Chairman or the members of a powerful Committee with jurisdiction over legislation being sought by the lobbyist or lobbying organization.''

The letter adds, ''These lobbyist-funded parties result from a gaping loophole in the current congressional gift rules that allow lobbyists and lobbying organizations to pay unlimited amounts for a party to 'honor' a member of Congress. With the new ban on gifts from lobbyists and lobbying organization to members of Congress, this huge loophole becomes even more evident. Under the new House ethics rules a lobbyist or lobbying organization is prohibited by the gift ban from paying for a meal for a Member but the same lobbyist or lobbying organization can pay $25,000, $50,000 or more to throw an expensive party for the same Member at a national convention.''

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