Friday, March 02, 2007

Grassroots Lobbying Center Point of Lobby Reform Hearing

Yesterday the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held a hearing on the lobby reform measures included in S.1. The heated discussion on the issue of grassroots lobbying disclosure has not gone unnoticed. A BNA Money and Politics ($$) points out the undeniable prominence the issue had during the session. The hearing was intended to focus on the ethics and lobby changes passed in S.1, but instead focused mostly on a measure that was voted out of the bill. Republican members present were clearly opposed to grassroots lobbying disclosure and repeatedly expressed concern that it will hurt homegrown citizen to lawmaker communication and have a chilling effect on speech. Yet these remarks missed the point some witnesses were making; that grassroots lobbying disclosure will not impact homegrown campaigns, it is meant to target the major lobbyists. For example, when a firm is hired to generate communications to Congress, often the public has no idea who is paying for the campaign.

Roll Call ($$) reported that Representative Martin Meehan (D-MA) is planning on introducing a scaled back version of the grassroots lobbying disclosure provision. "As opposed to the Senate measure, the Meehan version would not require organizations that hire firms to help stimulate grass-roots activity to disclose those efforts. Instead, the measure focuses on the firms themselves." At the hearing yesterday Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) had planned on Rep. Meehan's presence to ask questions considering that he is working on the related proposal. However, the ranking member Trent Franks (R-AZ) objected, and a few minutes later Meehan left the room.