Today’s Must Read

I can’t count how many times I read stories last year about the new culture of fear on K Street. In the wake of the Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham prosecutions, the story went, lobbyists were now shifty-eyed, hunted creatures. Suddenly their every move was suspect. Even an innocent campaign contribution could be construed as a crime.

But, with the Republican Congress in power, the reforms never came. And all in all, 2006 was a banner year for lobbyists. According to Political Money Line, special interests spent nearly $2.6 billion on lobbying last year, $229 million more than 2005.

But now the reforms have come, courtesy of the Democratic Congress. And while it’s unclear whether they will really change the culture of Washington, one thing is clear: they will make lobbying a lot less fun.

No gifts, no meals, no sports tickets, no trips from lobbyists are allowed anymore. And breaking that ban could land a lobbyist with up to five years in prison. Witness, courtesy of The New York Times, what a sad state this has put influence peddling in:

….[W]orse still for [veteran lobbyist H. Stewart Van Scoyoc], under the new law he is required to certify each quarter that none of the 50 lobbyists in his firm bought so much as a burger or cigar for someone on a lawmaker’s staff….

Another lobbyist recently scaled back the menu at a breakfast briefing for lawmakers, offering bagels and cream cheese instead of ham and eggs. The rules permit lobbyists to provide refreshment of “only nominal value.” The House ethics committee guidelines suggest “light appetizers and drinks, or soda and cookies,” a standard that is known as “the toothpick test.”….

Lobbyists complain that Congress is unfairly punishing them for the misdeeds of its own members, not to mention ruining the social lives of innocent and underpaid staff members.

“All those people who grew up in the system — who aren’t evil-doers, just good people — used to be able to entertain and have fun,” lamented Jim Ervin, a veteran military industry lobbyist.

No more sushi (a favorite of ex-Rep. Bob Ney’s, a “sushiholic”), no more well-done filet mignon (Duke Cunningham’s preference), not even ham and eggs. Bagels (and probably plain ones at that). How’s a lobbyist supposed to get anything done?

Well, it’s not so bleak, it turns out. While lobbyists are prevented from their more traditional avenues of access, they can still throw political fund-raisers — in fact the new bill may have the perverse effect of increasing the importance of those events. And the requirements melt away when lawmakers and lobbyists find themselves side by side at “widely attended events” — then the lawmakers can be made more comfortable.

Furthermore, all these requirements might serve to professionalize influence peddling even more, since corporations might be unsure of how to comply with the new laws. Rather than risk going to jail for buying a representative a cheeseburger, why not hire someone who knows the loopholes?

Even the “bundling” provision of the new bill, which will require that lawmakers disclose when lobbyists solicit and provide a group of individual contributions (as, for instance, from company executives), might not turn out to be a bad thing, the Times points out:

But lobbyists say the recognition may only encourage them to bundle. Ties to lawmakers are calling cards for clients.

“That is not going to be viewed as the mark of Cain or anything,” Lawrence O’Brien III, a Democratic lobbyist and fund-raiser, said dryly. “It could be perceived as bragging rights.”

But if there’s one group for whom this bill is plainly good news, it’s muckrakers. The bundling provision allows a journalist to keep tabs as to who’s bragging about access to a lawmaker, and the earmark provisions make it much easier to follow an earmark from the lobbyist to the lawmaker:

A self-described “earmarks guy” who specializes in spending items, [James Dyer] said the new rules were an invitation to scandal hunters. For the first time, the law will require disclosure of both the lawmakers who sponsor such items and the campaign contributions of the lobbyists who seek them.

“It is a road map that says, ‘Hey, come look at me; I have got my name against an earmark,’ ” he said.

Update: Actually, as The Washington Post points out, it’s unclear who will be supervising all these new filings. So we’ll have to wait and see whether the new system of disclosure is what it’s cracked up to be.