Posted December 6, 2006 by CLC Staff

Keeping Track of Lobbying & Ethics Reform

Public outrage over congressional scandals played a big roll at the polls on Election Day and Capitol Hill has been abuzz with talk of reforms ever since.  Yesterday reformers in Congress outlined their own agenda, including the long-overdue creation of an independent Office of Public Integrity, and spoke of the difficulties of actually pushing through reforms with teeth.  The Campaign Legal Center has created a detailed side-by-side comparing existing lobbying laws and ethics rules with various reform proposals currently being considered by leadership and offered by reformers.  At the midway point in the two months separating Election Day from the start of the 110th Congress, there are already clear indications that leadership will face stiff opposition in fulfilling promises to “drain the swamp” in Washington.  As the rhetoric, smoke and mirrors begin to distort what’s actually being proposed, we hope you will find the comparison document helpful in keeping track of “who’s on first,” when it comes to cleaning up the “culture of corruption” in the nation’s capital.