From the Chicago Tribune:

Congress sidetracks lobbying reform

By Richard Clough
Washington Bureau

September 14, 2006

WASHINGTON -- As the final weeks of the 109th Congress tick away,
lawmakers have not enacted the wide-ranging lobbying reforms promised
this year and appear increasingly content to maintain the status quo.

After the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal rocked Capitol Hill in
January and subsequent controversies shook the public's fragile
opinion of congressional ethics, members of Congress pledged to pass
sweeping changes that would clean up Washington's lobbying system. But
nine months later, lawmakers have stalled in their efforts, and no
resolution is in sight.

"I don't think there's any doubt that this has not been a priority for
the House and Senate leadership," said Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), one
of the leaders in the push for reform. "I think many of the leaders
are comfortable with business as usual."

Congress isn't completely ignoring the issue, though. The House could
vote as early as Thursday on a measure to require identification of
lawmakers who seek to attach spending earmarks--often pork-barrel
funding for specific projects in their congressional districts or
states. The Senate passed a bill last week that would simplify the
tracking of congressional spending habits.

But until Congress sends a comprehensive lobbying reform package to
the president's desk, lawmakers seem content to chip away at a problem
they had pledged to wipe out.

After Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to fraud and conspiracy
charges and Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) was imprisoned in
March for bribery and tax evasion, congressional leaders declared
their commitment to reforming the system that enabled these disgraces.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) proclaimed the need to "regain
the trust of the American people" while Sen. Joseph Lieberman
(D-Conn.) spoke of "significant reform" that Congress would enact.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly in March to pass the Legislative
Transparency and Accountability Act. But two champions of reform,
Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), voted against the bill because
they--and numerous watchdog groups--said it was insufficient to deal
with the problems.

The House narrowly approved a similar bill in May.

Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.), who introduced his own lobbying reform
legislation, called the House bill "a sham" when it was passed.

Some lawmakers have defended the bill and hope that it might yet pass.
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) called the bill "very strong."

But the legislation has been in limbo for four months after the Senate
resisted a portion of the House measure that would increase regulation
on so-called 527 political groups, referring to the part of the tax
law that allows organizations to raise money to influence political
races independent of the candidates themselves. The House hasn't yet
named conferees to negotiate with the Senate, and some believe this
may be the death knell for the package.

"That's not a good sign," said Douglas Pinkham, president of the
Public Affairs Council, a non-partisan group for public affairs
professionals. "At this point, I would not expect lobbying reform to
pass this year."

Pinkham said that as public outrage faded, Congress no longer felt
obligated to reform.

"Members of Congress don't want to upset the status quo of how things
get done," he said.

A coalition of six reform-oriented groups sent a letter last week to
lawmakers castigating them for their failure to "take any meaningful
steps to deal with the extraordinary congressional corruption scandals
that have occurred."

Though congressional leaders have left the centerpiece reform package
on the shelf for months, many have pointed to this week's discussion
on earmarks as a sign that Congress has not forgotten about the
commitment to reform.

Hastert issued a statement with Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio)
and Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) saying they want the earmark changes
immediately "to ensure these new rules apply to all spending and tax
measures that will go to the president's desk this fall."

Amid the debate over ethics, lawmakers and lobbyists maintain that,
despite what the majority of Americans may believe, most lobbying in
Washington is beyond reproach.

"The vast majority of lobbyists in Washington are just representing
their clients," Obama said.

A Pew Research Center survey this year indicated that 81 percent of
Americans believe it is common for lobbyists to bribe members of
Congress.

Lobbyists, for their part, have made some independent efforts to clean
up their image. The Public Affairs Council is developing an online
ethical training program for lobbyists.

But the prospects for a lobbying reform bill are not bright.

"It's conceivable that we may see a watered-down bill at the last
moment, but I'm not wildly optimistic," Obama said.