Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Still Struggling With Lobbying Reform

BNA Money and Politics ($$) envisions an intense conflict over lobby reform, warning that a "battle is heating up in the House over disclosure requirements for paid grass-roots lobbying, with opponents criticizing a new proposal (H.R. 2093)." The article describes the outpouring of opposition to the bill (H.R. 2093), which would only require disclosure by grassroots lobbying firms that that receive more than $100,000 a quarter. The bill was introduced so that it could be offered as an amendment if such language is not included in the overall lobbying and ethics bill. And still we wait for the leadership to move forward.

A column in the National Journal ($$) expresses frustration with the House for taking this long to produce lobby reform legislation.

Amid all this whining and foot-dragging, it's time for House Democrats to take some substantive action on lobbying reform. Lawmakers may complain that the changes on the table go too far. Most voters, however, would probably argue that they don't go far enough.

Amidst such noise of opposition, we are reminded why grassroots lobbying disclosure is so important. Even though it may not seem related at first, consider the case of possible corruption within the Department of Justice in regards to rooting out voter fraud in Missouri. A posting at Brad Blog explains the case in great detail.

Filled with unsubstantiated claims and anecdotal reports of widespread Democratic "voter fraud", the GOP site for the tax-exempt Republican front [American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR)] served as a clearinghouse for their lengthy reports, slick spin and cherry-picked media headlines (often spurred by ACVR's own disinformation campaign) portending to support their charges.

ACVR pushed stories of voter fraud into the media, and yet very little was known about the group itself, where it got its information and funding. Even though the issue discussed in the above blog doesn't describe an effort of explicit grassroots lobbying, it highlights the importance of transparency. And many times the public does in fact need to know who is at the heart of a campaign, in this case a campaign to get voter identification laws in place.

OMB Watch has sent a letter to House members urging them to support disclosure of federal grassroots lobbying expenditures. Sensibly for-profit businesses should have to disclose their funding of lobbying campaigns, just as 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations must already disclose to the IRS.