US Features
Lobbyist scandal exposes shady side of U.S. politics
By Klaus Marre
Jan 16, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - German statesman Otto von Bismarck once likened laws to sausages, saying it's better not to see them being made. These days, the U.S. may be witnessing more than it can stomach as a major political scandal unfolds in Washington.

A high-flying lobbyist's fall from grace is one reason a recent poll found that a majority of Americans suspect 'widespread corruption' in their capital - which also is the capital of the nation's paid influence peddlers.

The case of Jack Abramoff, who dispensed favours to lawmakers and allegedly defrauded his clients, has raised questions about the role of a 2.1 billion-dollar-a-year lobbying industry.

For every member of Congress, there are about 50 Washington lobbyists trying to influence lawmakers to favour their clients - from big corporations to farmers to Indian tribes.

Abramoff had close ties to majority Republicans. Since he pledged this month to work with prosecutors in exchange for leniency, it's likely that one or more members of Congress will be indicted.

Already, Tom DeLay, the former majority leader of the House of Representatives, who pushed through President George W. Bush's agenda in Congress, last week gave up efforts to regain his post.

DeLay also helped launch the 'K Street Project' to expand Republican influence among lobbyists, hoping to match the party's dominance of Congress since 1994.

Named after the wide Washington street where major lobbying firms are housed, the project aimed to pressure the firms into hiring Republican-minded staffers. In return for getting plush jobs, Republican lobbyists are expected to help their party raise funds.

The scheme is one sign of the close links between lobbyists and Congress, often viewed in Washington as a revolving door. When retiring from Congress, many lawmakers use their access and name recognition to get lucrative jobs with lobbying firms.

'Lobbyists are paid for one thing - to influence legislation and regulation,' said Alex Knott of the government watchdog group Center for Public Integrity.

He said today's lobbying industry is richer and more powerful than in the past, with some lobbyists now actually writing legislation.

Lobbying, sometimes called the fourth branch of government, is not illegal. In fact, it is a right written into the U.S. constitution, but lobbyists are worried that the Abramoff case and other ethics scandals will give the profession a bad name.

'All of us in the profession are as disgusted as the public,' said Paul Miller, the president of the American League of Lobbyists (ALL).

Miller and other lobbyists seek to counter the public image that their job is about bribing officials in cigar smoke-filled backrooms. Lobbyists, Miller said, provide a service to lawmakers by lending expertise, helping research issues and presenting alternate viewpoints.

But the Abramoff case will have consequences, as lawmakers will be eager to show they are not controlled by special interests. With mid- term Congressional elections due in November, the scent of sleaze is especially unwelcome.

Several proposals have been floated to change the Congressional rules on lobbyists, which currently are poorly enforced and often ignored.

House Republicans, politically most exposed in the scandal, are considering drastic changes, such as barring privately funded travel for lawmakers.

In the Senate, Republican John McCain, who also spearheaded campaign finance reform and advocates 'taking the money out of politics,' has also introduced clean-up legislation.

'We must act now to ensure that the erosion we see today in the public's confidence in Congress does not become a collapse of confidence,' he said recently.

Lobbyists fear a backlash and insist that lawmakers share the blame for any shadiness.

'There is plenty of blame to go around and we all have a lot of work to do,' says Miller, the lobbyists' lobbyist.