Money, influence and power.
These were the targets of an eight-month old law in which Congress aimed to curb the $1.47 billion lobbying industry.
So far, at least one lobbyist, Benjamin Lieber of the Carmen Group in Washington, D.C., does not see any big changes from the new law or any effects on the way lobbyists do their job.
“For us, the most immediate affect has been the increased filing requirement that’s more of a burden of compliance than used to be the case,” said Lieber in a phone interview.
Before this law, lobbying firms such as the Carmen Group had to file semi-annual reports that disclosed all of their lobbying costs, explained Lieber. Now, lobbying firms must file those reports four times a year.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., spearheaded the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. The law’s main goal was to reduce the amount of influence lobbyists had over politicians.
Here are highlights from the law:
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It requires retired senators to wait two years before they can lobby in Congress.
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It prohibits senior officials from lobbying in the department or agency that they had previously worked in.
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It requires lobbyists to file quarterly reports of all fundraisers, events, meetings and retreats they sponsor and/or pay for on behalf of lawmakers.
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It requires candidates, other than those running for a seat in the House, to pay fair-market value for their flights on private aircraft flights.
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It denies Congressional benefits to any member of Congress who is convicted of bribery, perjury, conspiracy or any other related crimes.
It’s not yet clear whether the law will have long-lasting effects. But Lieber of the Carmen Group says that the firm has cut back on taking members of Congress out for lunch and dinner.
“Some of the stuff on the fringes, I think we’ve cut back on, and I think everyone else has too,” he said. “On the gifts, mostly in the form of meals, it’s just not as prevalent as it used to be.”
Lobbyists and firms can still hold holiday parties and take members of Congress out to lunch or for drinks. But now the spending limit is lower.
“We can still do those things, but we have to be more careful how we do it,” Lieber said.
Bob McClure, the Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, is “skeptical” on the bill’s effectiveness or purpose.
Lobbying and the right to petition the government are protected under the First Amendment. The new law, said McClure, is unlikely to change much.
“It’s just trying to make pretty the messiness of democratic politics,” said McClure. “It’s a very messy process.”
(Bryan Young is a sophomore magazine major.)
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