Posted September 14, 2007 by Meredith McGehee

Lobbying & Ethics Reforms Signed into Law

Late today President Bush signed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 into law.  It has been a long and difficult road that began when the Republican Congressional leadership promised sweeping reforms when the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal began to mushroom in January 2006.   

Passing legislation aimed at altering how Congress goes about its business always entails a bit of alchemy – a good dose of politics, a strong stench of scandal, the catalyst of elections, with a bit of fear mixed in.  But another key ingredient to ensure that reform efforts create real change is leadership.  Without leaders who are committed to substantive reforms, the flurry of pronouncements and activity can degenerate into a cacophony of speechifying and window dressing bills, designed to score partisan points without actually changing the way business is done in Washington.  That is precisely what doomed the reform efforts in the 109^th Congress despite the long shadows of numerous congressional scandals.

As those scandals have continued to play out, the 110^th Congress has produced a legislative response that dared to go beyond over-heated rhetoric and partisan bickering.  New leaders in Congress immediately recognized that the American people’s dismay over the appearance of institutionalized corruption had created an environment in which passage of good policy reform would be good politics.  This fortunate confluence resulted in S. 1, the Honest Government and Open Leadership Act of 2007, a substantively strong measure that surpasses expectations.  Especially notable in this measure are the new, tougher travel and gift rules that are already changing the way business is done in Washington, the requirement for a sortable, searchable and downloadable database for lobby disclosure, the first-ever requirements for bundling disclosure and the extension of meaningful penalties to lobbyists for violations of not only lobby disclosure laws but also congressional ethics rules.

As a rule, Members of Congress much prefer to make rules and laws that apply to others rather than themselves.  As this measure moved forward, it was clear that there is still strong internal resistance to reform from both parties.  However, the commitment by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to pass real reform made the difference.  Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) also played key roles.  On the Senate side, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) recognized this unique opportunity to pass meaningful reform, and with Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Barack Obama (D-IL) passed a bill that meets and surpasses the standard of real reform.  Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also stepped forward at pivotal moments to help pass a strong bill.  And the continuing strong voices of Reps. Chris Shays(R-CT) and Mike Castle (R-DE) showed that reform can and should be a bipartisan endeavor.   

Critics inside and outside of Congress  who have attacked this measure are more interested in scoring political points than in truly assessing the real value of this legislation.  They feign support for an unattainable, stronger bill in order to preserve the sleazy status quo.  Certainly, more can and needs to be done, and we stand ready to work with Congress to pass additional measures in the future.  But S. 1 represents more than a good faith effort to change the atmosphere that has made “inside the beltway” synonymous with corruption for most Americans.  It is real reform.

The next critical step to this bill is strengthening congressional ethics enforcement.  That enforcement must include a significant departure from the current system that has seen the committees too often ignore or at the very least refuse to comment on whether they are even investigating a lengthy series of scandals that continue to be front page news and have landed several Members in jail already.

We commend Speaker Pelosi for naming a task force to study the need to revamp the ethics enforcement system and look forward to action on ethics enforcement reforms before the end of the 110^th Congress.