The reform charade

Republicans and Democrats alike are touting their pathetic versions of lobbying "reform." Here are five things to look for if you want to know whether they're serious.

By Michael Scherer

Read more: Politics, News, Michael Scherer

Jan. 27, 2006 | Even after pleading guilty to corruption, defrocked lobbyist Jack Abramoff still has a remarkable ability to influence Capitol Hill. Witness in recent weeks the sudden, blustery calls for "reform" by Republican and Democratic leaders alike.

At a press conference last week, endangered Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who bragged last November about his ties to lobbyists, now claimed he had no close ties to lobbyists. Not to be outdone, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who employs a lobbyist to manage his own fundraising, warned the American people that lobbyists "have infiltrated government." Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who funnels millions of dollars in pork barrel projects to his district each year, announced that the process of doling out such lucre needed reform. Meanwhile Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democrat who has taken $146,000 in privately funded junkets, including one arranged by Abramoff, announced he would lead his party's "Clean House Task Force" on ethics reform.

It was enough to make your head spin -- as the printing presses rolled, the pundits stirred and all of Washington gave off the impression of a problem being addressed. "We are in a feeding frenzy right now, folks," declared Thomas Mann, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution. "We have seen in the last few days a veritable arms race of proposals to deal with the Abramoff problem."

But all the pomp obscured the narrow scope, and fuzzy focus, of the indignant lawmakers. Rather than tamperproof legislative language, the leaders of both parties offered nothing more than Boy Scout pledges to tinker with the edges of the pay-to-play system. They vowed to rein in lobbyist gifts and privately funded congressional travel. They promised to slow the revolving door that turns politicians into lobbyists with free passes to the congressional gym. Republicans said they would try to shut down the so-called 527 loophole, a funding mechanism that wealthy Democrats in particular have exploited. In apparent response, Democrats vowed to end no-bid contracts for companies like Halliburton.

As an opening salvo, it was not entirely insignificant. But all the rhetoric hardly provided a blueprint for ending the Capitol's "culture of corruption." To do that, congressional leaders will have to go much further. They can begin by taking a good long look in the mirror at their own ties to K Street, the downtown strip of office buildings bursting with more than 30,000 lobbyists. "It's not K Street that's the problem," explained Scott Lilly, formerly the Democratic chief of staff to the House Appropriations Committee. "It is the politicians who have squeezed every dime that they could out of the interests of this country to strengthen their positions with campaign funds." Republican Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, an appropriations cardinal who is no stranger to the lobbying game, put it a bit more bluntly on Wednesday, "You know part of the problem is us," he told a Senate committee. "We get hooked into this system too."

So what does real reform look like? There is no simple answer or silver bullet. If history is any judge, each round of ethics reforms lasts only a few years before lobbyists, lawyers and lawmakers pierce it full of holes. But ethics crusaders still hope to capitalize on this rare political moment, hurled forth on a powerful wave of corruption scandals plaguing the Republican Party. Lawmakers may just be willing to confront their own failings.

That said, it's still an open question whether the final reforms, which are likely to be passed before the summer, will be anything more than cosmetic. For those keeping score at home, here is a list of five changes to look for in the coming months. If you see some version of them pass the floor of the House or Senate, you will know that the chance for substantial reform has not been wasted on indignant press conferences.

"The Joel Hefley Reform"

Stan Brand, a former Democratic counsel to the House, explains the problem this way: "If people are breaking the speed limit, the way to change that is to give tickets, not change the speed limit."

But in recent years, no one on Capitol Hill, particularly no one on the Ethics Committees, has shown an interest in handing out speeding tickets. With few exceptions, Republicans and Democrats still maintain an unofficial cease-fire, allowing all manner of violations to go unpunished unless federal prosecutors take interest. Part of the problem is that few in Congress want to serve on these enemy-making committees. If they do take the position, they risk banishment for doing their job. No one has forgotten the fate of the last House Ethics Committee chairman, Republican Rep. Joel Hefley of Colorado. A former ranch hand who still raises quarter-horses on the range, he chastised House Majority Leader Tom DeLay for three instances of unethical behavior. Within a year, Hefley was bounced from his chairmanship, though he remains in Congress.

The committees are now entirely AWOL. There have been no ethics inquiries into the Abramoff scandal or into the case of Rep. Duke Cunningham, a Republican of California, who recently pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery. Similarly, Rep. William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat whose aide has also pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting bribery, has yet to face a congressional investigation. In the face of widespread reports of lawmakers failing to disclose foreign trips or receiving inappropriate gifts, the House Ethics Committee does not even employ a chief of staff.

"The thing we need is not rules, but enforcement of rules," says Michael Surrusco, an official at the good-government group Common Cause. For this reason, outside ethics groups have made the creation of a new, independent congressional Office of Public Integrity their top priority. But the leadership -- both Democratic and Republican -- has largely been silent on the issue. Instead, the leaders continue to stoke the expectations of cynics who believe all the recent browbeating is nothing but show. No matter their merits, reforms don't matter if no one enforces them.

Next page: Tom DeLay and Roy Blunt, captains of the Learjet frequent-flier brigade