Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Some Hiccups in Implementing New Ethics Law

A National Journal ($$) column titled, "Just The Beginning The Implementation Of Congress' New Ethics Law Has Hit A Number Of Snags," covers some of the various remaining issues of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA). "As difficult as it was for Congress to enact lobbying and ethics changes last year, that may have been the easy part compared with actually carrying out and enforcing the new rules." The column references the letter a group of lawyers wrote to the House clerk and the Senate secretary asserting that the lobbying guidelines "significantly misinterpret" the HLOGA. "The guidelines included overly broad examples of when lobbyists must report donations to organizations controlled by lawmakers, and events that 'honor or recognize' a lawmaker or other official covered by the law, these critics said."

Regulations are overdue, disclosure forms and guidelines have come under fire, and a key congressional ethics office has failed to open on time. [. . .] But House leaders have yet to follow through on those appointments.

And there will be lobbying and ethics issues to be addressed in the future including tighter revolving-door rules, and better disclosure requirements for lawmakers involved private-sector job negotiations.