Let Them East Steak

Let Them Eat Steak

… According to lobbyists and ethics experts, even
if Hastert’s proposal is enacted, members of Congress and their staffs could
still travel the world on an interest group’s expense and eat steak on a lobbyist’s
account at the priciest restaurants in Washington.

The only requirement would be that whenever
a lobbyist pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a campaign
contribution. Then the transaction would be perfectly okay.

"That’s a big hole if they don’t address campaign
finance," said Joel Jankowsky, the lobbying chief of Akin Gump Strauss
Hauer & Feld, one of the capital’s largest lobbying outfits.

The plans offered by Republican leaders yesterday would
change two of the three areas of law or regulation that govern lobbyists’
behavior: the congressional rules that limit gifts to lawmakers and the laws
that dictate the amount of disclosure that lobbyists must give the public.

A third major area — campaign finance laws — would
go untouched, an omission that amounts to a gaping loophole in efforts to
distance lobbyists from the people they are paid to influence. …

Loophole
in Lobbying Bill

Forgive me for stating the obvious about this loophole business
but duh. And may the gods help us if John McCain gets his mitts in
the campaign finance aspect of it again. This current mess is partly the result of a bad law that
other lawmakers aren’t going to let have any teeth.

I know Democrats get all exorcised about campaign financing, however,
I’m just not one of them. I could give a crap if some congressperson eats at
an expensive restaurant. As for the expensive wine, who cares? You think this
is the problem? If you do, you’re more naive than my cat.

But handing your dinner partner a campaign contribution to make
it okay to sit down? Now that’s outrageous. It’s worse than before and only being considered because it will cut down on how much time the lawmakers have to spend raising money, while also offering them a chance to do business for their favorite interest group.

What we need is 100% disclosure of all gifts, trips and whatever
else these people come up with, on both sides, lawmaker and lobbyist. Anything
less should carry a very heavy fine and banishment from the Hill, lobbying job
history.

Then we need the one thing that matters, go after "earmarks."
Those little set asides that allow lawmakers to hide money from the budget
for their favorite projects at home. Just think "the bridge to nowhere."

Another idea would be to get rid of, for good, 3:00 a.m. votes
on bills House members have never seen, let alone read, on both sides. A majority party shouldn’t be able to bamboozle the minority. And these guys and gals say they are patriotic? If they were they’d care more about our country than their political party.

But as for meals, let them eat steak. That’s not the problem, people.