News Journal: Time to close loopholes lobbyists use

I have said some negative things about certain lobbying efforts in these columns, but the fact is registered lobbyists can and do perform a useful function in our government. By definition they have agendas, of course, but they also often have a lot of in-depth knowledge about the industries or special interest groups they represent that can be helpful to legislators.
Lobbying is specifically protected in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which says in part, “Congress shall make no law … prohibiting … the right of the people … to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” But as lobbying became a major force in Washington during the second half of the last century, it became clear that there were too many instances of outright corruption when it was done in secret. There was a need for transparency, and that was codified into federal law in 1995 and amended and strengthened in 2007.
The law defines a lobbyist as “Any individual (1) who is either employed or retained by a client for financial or other compensation (2) whose services include more than one lobbying contact; and (3) whose lobbying activities constitute 20 percent or more of his or her services’ time on behalf of that client during any three-month period.”
Federal law also places restrictions, including “cooling off” periods of time, on a federal employee going directly into a private sector job that in effect “switches sides,” that is one that works to influence the government in an area that he or she had responsibility for within government.
It is a very complicated law, with different cooling off periods for “very senior” officials, lots of rather elastic definitions, and more than a few loopholes that are being exploited by too many people. In fact, we are seeing more and more cases of people leaving government, claiming they are not registered lobbyists, and – you guessed it – getting paid huge sums to lobby.
I’ll give you just two egregious examples, and it is very easy to do so in a bipartisan way.
Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle withdrew in 2008 from consideration to be Secretary of Health and Human Services because of some tax problems. But the side story at the time was that Daschle is considered by one and all to be one of the top lobbyists in Washington, with a large portfolio of major health care corporations. That “20 percent of time in any three-month period” is a loophole you can drive a truck through, and Daschle has. Time summed up his situation by saying, “Although he never registered, Daschle, in fact, made millions of dollars after he left government doing stuff that looks, smells and tastes a lot like lobbying.”
One of the memorable moments of the last presidential campaign was when former House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared with a straight face that he did not have to register as a lobbyist for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., which had paid him about $1.7 million, because he worked for Freddie Mac as a “historian.” As reported in The Nation, Gingrich also developed a health care institute that offered draft legislation, meetings with lawmakers, and other benefits to member corporations including AstraZeneca and WellPoint. This institute, which also invited Daschle to some events, did not register any of its advocacies as lobbying.
Just about everybody got a good laugh over Gingrich’s “historian” claim, and many ethics watchdogs, including Public Citizen’s Craig Holman, regard Daschle’s failure to disclose as a clear “flouting” of the law. “But,” he rightly says, “their behavior has become the norm.”
OpenSecrets.org, a nonpartisan and nonprofit research group, reports that since 2000, even though lobbying activity has exploded, the number of registered lobbyists has shrunk from 12,536 to 12,341. They estimate that in that period, the amount of money spent on lobbying has doubled from $1.57 billion to $3.23 billion.
American University Professor James Thurber, the founder and director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, thinks those numbers are much higher. He estimates the actual amount spent annually on lobbying is closer to $9 billion. He also thinks the government influence industry is the third largest business in Washington, after government and tourism. “I think there’s probably 100,000 people in the industry – not lobbyists specifically, but in the industry.”
It is long past time to revisit the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and a bill recently introduced by Sens. Michael Bennett (D-Colorado) and Jon Tester (D-Montana) does just that. It would close the lobbyist loophole and institute a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress. It deserves support.
Ted Kaufman is a former U.S. senator from Delaware.

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