January 18, 2006
OBLIGATORY CAPO REFERENCE:
Democrats Unveil Their Own Plan for Rules on Lobbying (CARL HULSE, 1/18/06, NY Times)
With a stinging attack on Republican ethics, Congressional Democrats today proposed a lobbying overhaul they said far exceeds new Republican proposals in limiting the influence of monied special interests on Capitol Hill."Today we as Democrats are declaring our commitment to change - change to a government as good and as honest as the people that we serve," said Senator Harry Reid of the Nevada, the Democratic leader, who compared Republicans to organized crime figures he battled as a state gaming official. [...]
Mr. Reid said on Tuesday that having Republicans rewrite House rules governing lobbying was "like asking John Gotti to do what he can to clean up organized crime."
If onl;y Republicans weren't the Stupid Party they'd just pass the whole Democratic plan tomorrow and watch them splutter. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 18, 2006 10:38 PM
Why not pass something that resembles their plan, but adds in a few conservative policy innovations. The advantage of being a majority is that when the minority does the hard work of whipping up a "must-pass-legislation" fervor, you can exploit it to advance your agenda.
Posted by: pj at January 18, 2006 10:52 PMBecause then they can vote against it. Just pass it whole. There's no better way to screw Reid:
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001193.php
That brings me to the phone encounter with Harry Reid, who was extremely forthcoming by the way. Among the matters he discussed were the Alito confirmation vote and hearing, his new proposal restricting any acceptance of lobbying gifts, the NSA wiretaps, and his Rule 21 effort to compel the Senate Intelligence Committee to move forward on its Phase 2 report.
Senator Reid shared with us that just that day an unnamed Democratic Senator had come to him with a proposal on "ethics reform" ala Abramoff that could be bi-partisan. Reid told this person that this was the wrong time to be engaged in construtive "reform" proposals with the other side. He said that this was the time to draw a line and to show how "our side" differed dramatically from "their side."
Posted by: oj at January 18, 2006 11:00 PMDoes the legislation contain any provisions that would be unconstitutional or potentially harm the Republican party?
If not, pass it and watch the fun.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at January 18, 2006 11:28 PMIt seems to me that the Senator from Nevada should be a little more careful about the Mafia references, no?
Posted by: Timothy at January 19, 2006 12:59 PM