Take heed, Democrats. Do not miss this golden opportunity to separate yourselves from the "culture of corruption" in Washington that you decry!
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1964851.
Reform the Ethics Process Create an Independent Ethics Commission to investigate congressional ethics misconduct.
For decades, the ethics process in Congress has been stymied by the fact that it is very difficult for Members to judge their colleagues. Peer review simply is not the answer when it comes to a fair, firm process that ensures that Members live by ethics rules on the books. Building on our 1997 proposal to create an Independent Office of Ethics Council, an Independent Ethics Commission would have two main functions. It would have the power to launch an investigation of an ethics complaint, or an allegation of an ethics impropriety, and then present its findings to the respective Ethics Committees of either the House or Senate. The committees would decide the final outcome of the investigation, either voting to take no action or to impose a range of penalties on the Member.
2.
Impose an effective gift and travel ban Ban registered lobbyists from giving gifts to members of Congress and their staffs, and prohibit Members of Congress and their staffs from accepting gifts from registered lobbyists. (Gifts are anything of value including dinners and trips.) Also ban all privately financed congressional travel.
For too long, Congress has winked at the gift ban, which restricts the value of gifts and hospitality Members can accept from one source at $50, or a total aggregate annual value of $100. Gifts from registered lobbyists offer the greatest potential for harm, by providing lobbyists with an avenue for building and maintaining the relationships that advance their agendas. When Congress makes decisions affecting all of us, those decisions should be based on serving constituents, not helping a lobbyist-benefactor.
If a trip is important enough for a Member to make, it is important enough to be publicly financed. While there are good and valid reasons for congressional travel, current travel rules enable lobbyists to gain special access to Members and offer the opportunity to indirectly fund vacation junkets through trip sponsorship by lobbyist-funded nonprofits.
3.
End the campaign money chase Attack the root of the problem: The campaign money that makes lobbyists and the contributions they solicit from their clients so invaluable. As long as congressional races costs hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars, elected officials will rely on lobbyists to help them raise the campaign cash they need. Jack Abramoff and his lobbying colleagues raised more than $5.3 million from their clients, including a few Indian tribes, and gave to 364 federal candidates between 1999 and 2004, according to The Washington Post. All these millions gave Abramoff unprecedented power and access, and put the priorities of his clients above the priorities of the average American.
Common Cause long has advocated clean campaigns for federal and state elections, permitting candidates to run for office, agree to voluntary spending limits, and receive public funds for their races. In 1974, the Watergate scandal spurred Congress to create the Presidential Public Financing system. This year, a scandal spurred Connecticut to approve public financing for its state executive and legislative races. The Abramoff scandal should be the catalyst for enactment of publicly-funded campaigns for Members of Congress, and a revamped and strengthened public financing program for presidential campaigns.
4.
Slow the revolving door Extend the moratorium on taking jobs as lobbyists for members of Congress and senior staff from one year to two years, and expand the definition of lobbying to include providing strategic advice on legislation, Members of Congress, and the legislative process.
Increasingly, Members of Congress look to lobbying as their post-government profession, trading on their friendships and understanding of the legislative process to earn salaries that often dwarf what they earned as elected officials. A two-year ban will do more to discourage a practice of looking at service on the senior staff or as a Member of Congress as merely a steppingstone to the more lucrative job of influence peddling. Expanding the definition of lobbying will capture those Members of Congress who join lobbying/law firms and who do not register as lobbyists, but who share their invaluable experience they have had as elected officials with lobbyists in the firm.
Require Members to report negotiation of future employment with any corporation, organization or other entity that has legislative issues pending before Congress. At the very least, the public ought to know when a Member of Congress or congressional staff are discussing future jobs with the very special interests they are supposed to oversee.
Eliminate floor privileges and other special access to former lawmakers, like use of the Congressional dining room and gym, for former members of Congress who are registered lobbyists.
Prohibit registered lobbyists from acting as fundraisers and campaign treasurers for federal elected officials. According to the Center for Public Integrity, 79 Members of Congress have named lobbyists to serve as treasurers of their campaign committees. Hundreds more lobbyists have become effective fundraisers for presidential campaigns, pulling in contributions from clients or corporate political action committees. Indeed, Abramoff raised $100,000 for the Bush campaign in 2004 and was designated a Pioneer. Lobbyists raise campaign funds because they want to become indispensable to people in power, knowing that the services they perform will be rewarded by the access and influence they gain.
5.
Shine a light on lobbying activities Real-time reporting of lobbying contacts and real enforcement of disclosure rules
The multi-billion-dollar lobbying industry operates almost entirely in secret. Lobby reports are filed on paper in Washington, and housed in the offices of the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate. The Clerk and Secretary were designed to be repositories for the forms, but have no powers to enforce that they are filed on time, completely, and by all those who register. This must change. The American public has a right to know who is lobbying their elected officials. They also have a right to know when those contacts are made in real time, so they can assess the impact of lobbying on public policy decisions.
Move the responsibility for receiving and accounting for lobby disclosure forms from the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate to the newly created Office of Ethics Counsel. Give the office the authority to enforce the Lobby Disclosure Act, and to make lobby reports publicly available.
Mandate electronic filing of quarterly lobby disclosure reports, available online and searchable, with a sortable database that lets the public know the name of the lobbyists, the official who was lobbied, and what specific legislation was discussed.
Direct the Office of Ethics Counsel to conduct random audits of lobbying reports and publish quarterly a list of filers who submitted late or incomplete reports or failed to report.
Require lobbyists to report within 48 hours each contact with a Member of Congress and Congressional staff, including the date of contact, the staff member contacted, and the legislative issue discussed. The Federal Communications Commission has successfully imposed a similar rule for communications with FCC decision-makers about pending regulatory issues. This public disclosure has given the public valuable insights about the special interests and their issues at the FCC. We should expect as good, if not better, disclosure from the lobbyists influencing public policy on Capitol Hill.
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