Bloomberg.com: McCain Moves to Tighten Lobbying Laws as Abramoff Probe Spreads

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senators John McCain and Russell Feingold, who led the drive to ban unlimited corporate and union donations to political parties, will make the first bipartisan effort in a decade to strengthen lobbying laws. Their legislation comes as a scandal threatens to ensnare some colleagues.

The lawmakers will introduce a measure as early as today that would require lobbyists to disclose through quarterly electronic reports all the contributions they make, the fund- raisers they arrange and the amount they spend on behalf of candidates and political parties, according to a person who has seen a draft. The legislation would require disclosure of all grass-roots activities and double to two years the waiting period before a lawmaker-turned-lobbyist could lobby a former colleague.

McCain, an Arizona Republican, said he was spurred to act after hearings by his Indian Affairs Committee showed that lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partner, Michael Scanlon, had charged Indian clients more than $80 million and directed the tribes to donate money to politicians and pet projects.

``It's obvious why it's needed,'' McCain told reporters at the Capitol yesterday. ``One word: Abramoff.''

Abramoff is at the center of a Justice Department-led investigation. Scanlon, a former aide to Representative Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty on Nov. 21 to conspiring to corrupt public officials and defraud clients and agreed to cooperate in the probe. Separately, Abramoff has been indicted in Florida on wire-fraud charges while buying a casino-ship company.

Money for Lawmakers

McCain joined with Democrat Feingold in championing a 2002 law banning unlimited ``soft money'' donations to parties. This latest legislation seeks to overhaul a 1995 measure that required more lobbyists to register and provide more information about issues they were discussing and agencies they were contacting.

It may stand a good chance of passing as an election year approaches, amid revelations about Abramoff's lobbying activity. Abramoff, Scanlon and their tribal clients contributed $1.4 million to members of Congress between 2001 and 2004, a review of Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records shows. Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana received the most money, at least $136,500.

Representative Robert Ney, an Ohio Republican, received $54,500. His lawyer, Mark Tuohey, said last month that Ney was the unnamed ``Representative #1'' mentioned in the plea agreement that Scanlon reached with the Justice Department. The agreement charged that Ney was offered ``a stream of things of value,'' such as a 2002 trip to Scotland, and that he provided assistance in return, such as inserting statements into the Congressional Record. Ney has denied wrongdoing.

Democrats, Too

The Abramoff-linked donations spread to Democrats as well. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, the top Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, got $67,000. Dorgan said this week he was returning the donations.

Dorgan, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Interior subcommittee, signed onto legislation in October 2003 that provided $3 million for one of Abramoff's clients, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, one of the wealthiest in the country because of its casino business. Congress acted after the Interior Department rejected the tribe's grant request.

`Close Nexus'

Companies, industry leaders and other interest groups spent a record $2.14 billion to influence legislation and federal policy in 2004, $670 million more than five years earlier, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a Washington-based company that tracks lobbying spending.

``There's a very close nexus between lobbying activity and the money officeholders need for election,'' said Craig Holman, a campaign-finance lobbyist for Public Citizen's Congress Watch, a watchdog group founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader. ``It breeds the potential for corruption, which we've seen with Abramoff and Scanlon.''

The 26,932 registered lobbyists operating in Washington now are only required to file reports twice a year, by paper, with the Senate and House of Representatives.

The reports detail the issues they are working on and the money spent to influence Congress and federal agencies. Lobbyists are allowed to engage in practices such as arranging trips for lawmakers and their staffs, and lawmakers can negotiate for lobbying jobs while still in office.

Earlier Proposal

McCain, who declined to discuss what he will be proposing, is the first Republican to sponsor lobbying legislation. Two Democrats, Feingold of Wisconsin and Representative Martin Meehan of Massachusetts, introduced legislation earlier this year to require lobbyists to disclose anyone they contact on behalf of clients and to extend the waiting period before lawmakers-turned-lobbyists can be in touch with their former colleagues.

The Democratic proposals also would prevent lobbyists from organizing trips for lawmakers and increase requirements for disclosure.

Feingold spokesman Zach Lowe did not return a call seeking comment on the new legislation.

Herbert Alexander, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said next year's congressional elections will put pressure on Congress to pass lobbying legislation. ``Given the extent to which there have been scandals relating to lobbying, I think it has a fairly good chance of passage,'' Alexander said.