Jun 20, 2007 -- Reform Groups Urge Pelosi and Reid to Ensure Strong ''Bundling'' and Fundraising Disclosure Provisions Are Included in Conference Report

In a letter sent today to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reform groups urged the Speaker to ''ensure that the final conference report on lobbying reform legislation includes strong and effective provisions to provide for the disclosure by lobbyists of the fundraising events they hold and the contributions they 'bundle' for Members.''

A similar letter was sent today by the groups to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

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

The letter to Speaker Pelosi states, ''Our organizations greatly appreciate the outstanding leadership you provided in the recent House passage of strong lobbying disclosure reform legislation and in the earlier House passage of strong ethics rules reforms.''

The letter continues, ''With the House and Senate now having passed important lobbying reform bills, both of which contain strong provisions to require lobbyists to report the contributions they 'bundle' for members of Congress and other recipients, the focus of the lobbying reform effort now moves to conference.''

According to the letter, ''The 'bundling' disclosure provision and the separate requirement [in the Senate bill] that lobbyists disclose the fundraising events they host or co-host for Members are both indispensable and they represent the most critical provisions in the lobbying reform bill. They are the defining issue of the lobbying reform legislation.''

The letter states:

Campaign contributions are an important means used by lobbyists to seek influence with members of Congress whose decisions they are in the business of trying to influence. Lobbyists provide campaign contributions to assist Members by making direct contributions to Members, by hosting fundraising events for Members and by ''bundling'' contributions for Members.

Currently, however, only the direct contributions made by a lobbyist to a Member are disclosed to the public, while the other two means of how a lobbyist provides contributions to assist a Member remain nonpublic and unknown to citizens.

According to the letter, ''Requiring lobbyists to disclose the fundraisers they hold and the contributions they 'bundle' for a Member goes to the heart of the public's right to know about the efforts lobbyists make to advance their lobbying goals. Requiring effective disclosure of this information is an essential element of any new lobbying disclosure reform legislation.''

The letter further states, ''With strong 'bundling' disclosure provisions in both the House and Senate bills, there is simply no basis for the conference report to contain any final 'bundling' language that is weaker than the provisions in either of these bills. Similarly, there is no basis for failing to include in the final conference report the provision requiring lobbyists to disclose the fundraisers they host for Members.''

To read the full letter, click here.