‘The Last Christmas’? As Lawmakers Ban Gifts, Lobbyists Search For Ways To Skirt New Law
On Capitol Hill, they’re calling this “The Last Christmas.”
Each holiday season, lawmakers could anticipate such goodies as wooden barrels full of snacks from RJR Nabisco, bottles of chardonnay wine from the Securities Industry Association and pewter serving plates from the United Transportation Union.
As of Jan. 1, those gifts will be banned in the House.
The birthday cakes that retail giant Sears sends to every member of Congress? Gone.
The annual trips to the Danny Thompson Open in Sun Valley, Idaho, for three days of golf and a grab-bag of clothing and equipment, in the name of charity? Gone, too.
And, beginning in the new year, those armies of expensive lobbyists who have worked Capitol Hill so quietly for years will have to disclose who they work for, what they do and how much they’re paid.
All of this comes in reaction to public anger and disgust.
The House, pushed by reform-minded freshmen, has banned most gifts; the Senate has limited them to $50. Both passed a lobbying disclosure law closing gaping loopholes that evaded change for nearly five decades.
Life is certain to change on Capitol Hill. How much remains to be seen.
Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., a backer of the changes, acknowledges “tradition dies slowly.”
“We’ll have the ‘old drinking buddy’ phenomenon,” Goss predicted. “You invite me out for a beer, and that makes us old drinking buddies. Then I can take you out for dinner.
“Influence peddling is not going to change. Those determined to skirt the rules still will.”
Wright Andrews, president of the American League of Lobbyists, says his colleagues are already looking for ways around the new rules.
“Those with the biggest bucks will have even more disproportionate influence,” Andrews said.
Special interests could simply use their political action committees to schmooze politicians, calling the expenses “campaign contributions” instead of lobbying expenses. The line between the two already is blurred.
“The world is unfair,” Andrews said. “The reality is, any big interest is always going to have more influence than the citizen on the street because it has the interest, it has the money, it has the sophistication.”
Still, lawmakers hope they will have mollified a public outraged by TV clips of senators and House members frolicking with lobbyists on all-expense paid trips to the Caribbean.
“Lobbyists’ contacts with members will have to take place in a businesslike setting, rather than in an atmosphere of entertainment,” said Rep. John Bryant, D-Texas, a leading advocate of both reforms.”It’s going to be a hell of a hit on the restaurants,” Andrews said.
Andrews predicted powerful interests will pour even more money into grass-roots lobbying, which isn’t regulated under the new disclosure law - such as using phone banks, advertising and computer-generated mail to solicit public calls and letters to Congress.
And he noted that exemptions for gifts from “personal friends,” or for “fact-finding” trips to sunny destinations still can occur.”On the midrange issues, ones where there is an economic interest at stake and no pressing public opinion, it will diminish the influence that money has in those areas,” Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said.
Reform advocates welcomed the changes, but said more needs to be done.
“Now that the special interests will lose their ability to influence the legislative process in secret, it is time to remove their purchasing power as well” by passing campaign finance reform next year, said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen.
Other lawmakers believe Congress has gone too far.
“It means members aren’t going to be able to have a hot dog with somebody,” groused Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., who made no secret of his support for charity golf tournaments. “It’s going to cut off access with constituents.”
xxxx GIFT LIST Examples of gifts distributed by special interests to members of Congress last holiday season: A two-compact-disc set of Barbra Streisand’s concert at Madison Square Garden from the Recording Industry Association of America. An 8-gallon tin of flavored popcorn from Ameritech, the regional telephone company. Four-pound boxes of candy from long-distance company MCI. Belgian chocolates from General Instrument Corp. Tote bags stuffed with food from the National Food Processors Association. Gift boxes of sample products, including toilet paper, from Kimberly-Clark. Toy earthmovers from Caterpillar Inc. Christmas wreaths from Weyerhaeuser Corp. Gourmet fruit selections from Trinity Marine Group of Gulfport, Miss., and drug maker Merck & Co. - Associated Press