Look on the Bright Side

Well, at least the House got some lobbying and ethics legislation passed.

The House voted Thursday to drag into public view the role that registered lobbyists play in soliciting and collecting contributions for political campaigns, exposing for the first time one of the most effective ways that influence-seekers ingratiate themselves with lawmakers and presidents.

The measure goes to the heart of how Washington does business by uncovering a hidden practice that sprang up as an unintended consequence of restrictions imposed by campaign finance laws. Because those laws cap individual contributions — now $2,300 per campaign — candidates have been turning to well-connected lobbyists to bundle stacks of checks to make up the millions they need to run their campaigns.

Washington lobbyists hoping for access to lawmakers have the greatest incentive to shoulder such fund-raising burdens. But previous election rules required campaigns to disclose only their individual contributors, not the intermediaries who may have bundled them.

This "bundling" practice looked like it was going to be saved in the final legislation, but they did ban it. The rest of the bill would "penalize lawmakers that receive a wide amount of favors from special interests."

So, see? We just delivered billions of taxpayer dollars to Iraq, but lobbyists won't be able to give $100,000 to legislators anymore! They'll just have to collect the money individually!