Congress Finds Ways
to Avoid Lobbyist Limits
By DAVID D.
KIRKPATRICK, from the NYTimes on the Web, February 10, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The 110th
Congress opened with the passage of new rules intended to curb the influence of
lobbyists by prohibiting them from treating lawmakers to meals, trips, stadium
box seats or the discounted use of private jets.
But it did not take long for lawmakers to find ways to keep having
lobbyist-financed fun.
In just the last two months, lawmakers invited lobbyists to help pay for a
catalog of outings: lavish birthday parties in a lawmaker’s honor ($1,000
a lobbyist), martinis and margaritas at Washington restaurants (at least
$1,000), a California wine-tasting tour (all donors welcome), hunting and
fishing trips (typically $5,000), weekend golf tournaments ($2,500 and up), a
Presidents’ Day weekend at Disney World ($5,000), parties in South Beach in
Miami ($5,000), concerts by the Who or Bob Seger ($2,500 for two seats), and
even Broadway shows like “Mary Poppins” and “The Drowsy Chaperone” (also $2,500
for two).
The lobbyists and their employers typically end up paying for the events, but
within the new rules.
Instead of picking up the lawmaker’s tab, lobbyists pay a political fund-raising
committee set up by the lawmaker. In turn, the committee pays the
legislator’s way.
Lobbyists and fund-raisers say such trips are becoming increasingly popular,
partly as a quirky consequence of the new ethics rules.
By barring lobbyists from mingling with a lawmaker or his staff for the cost of
a steak dinner, the restrictions have stirred new demand for pricier tickets to
social fund-raising events.
Lobbyists say that the rules might even increase the volume of contributions
flowing to Congress from K Street, where many lobbying firms have their offices.
Some lawmakers acknowledge that some fund-raising trips resemble the
lobbyist-paid junkets that Congress voted to prohibit.
Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee, said its leaders had decided to stop holding fund-raising events for
lobbyists with political action committees because of the seeming inconsistency.
So the committee canceled its annual Colorado ski weekend for lobbyists and
lawmakers to raise money for the next campaign. Gone, too, is its Maryland
hunting trip with Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, the avid hunter
who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
But other Congressional party campaign committees have not stopped their events,
including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s annual Nantucket
weekend for donors who contribute $25,000. And individual lawmakers are
still playing host to plenty of events themselves.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who sometimes invites
lobbyists to join him for fund-raising hunting trips, called such events an
innocuous fact of life.
“If you are not going to have publicly financed elections and you are getting
your support from private individuals — which I believe in — I don’t see any
problem with having events where private individuals who give you money can talk
to you,” said Mr. Graham, who like the other senators quoted in this article
voted for the ethics reform. He added, “Hunting is a very popular
attraction in South Carolina.”
Representatives John R. Kuhl Jr. of New York and Greg Walden of Oregon, both
Republicans, each recently invited lobbyists to a rock concert by Bob Seger and
the Silver Bullet Band. And three Republican lawmakers, Mr. Walden and
Representatives Darrell Issa and Mary Bono of California, have invited lobbyists
to join them next month at a Who concert in Washington.
“They’re her favorite rock ’n’ roll band,” said Frank Cullen, Ms. Bono’s chief
of staff.
Among Democrats, Senator Thomas R. Carper of Delaware recently returned from his
annual ski trip to the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch in Beaver Creek, Colo.
Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, just got back from a skiing and
snowmobiling trip to his state and has planned two golfing and fly-fishing
weekends as well. Expeditions of lobbyists attend each trip. The top
prices for the events are meant for lobbyists with political action committees.
Meredith McGehee, policy director of the Campaign Legal Center, which advocates
for tighter campaign finance rules, said that organizing a fund-raising trip was
not the same as accepting a free vacation. But she added: “At the
end of the day, it is the same thing.”
Representative Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican famous on K Street for his
annual fund-raising weekends in Beverly Hills and South Beach, has recently
invited lobbyists to join him for some expensive cups of coffee. A $2,500
contribution from a lobbyist’s political action committee entitles the company’s
lobbyist to join Mr. Cantor at a Starbucks near his Capitol Hill office four
times this spring.
“What’s next? Come help me pick up my dry cleaning?” said Massie Ritsch,
spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks political
fund-raising.
The excursions would be illegal under the new ethics rules if lobbyists or their
employers paid for them directly. (The rules, passed by both houses in
early January, have already taken effect in the House and are expected to take
effect in the Senate later this spring.) And some outings involving
personal entertainment or recreation for lawmakers could also run afoul of legal
restrictions on the personal use of campaign money if they were paid for by a
lawmaker’s re-election campaign.
But they are allowed, and increasingly common, because of a combination of
loopholes. First, the ethics rules restrict personal gifts but not
political contributions, so paying to attend a fund-raiser is still legitimate.
Second, the “personal use” restrictions apply to lawmakers’ re-election
campaigns but not to their personal political action committees, which can spend
money on almost anything. Lawmakers use their personal PACs to sponsor
most of the events. (Lawyers disagree about whether Congressional ethics
rules restrict personal use of members’ PACs.)
The lawmakers’ so-called leadership PACs began proliferating about two decades
ago, initially as vehicles for senior members of Congress to build loyalty among
their colleagues by funneling money to their campaigns.
These days, however, even the newest members of Congress usually start them.
Two newly elected Democratic senators, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Jim Webb
of Virginia, already have. And many use them mainly to pay for travel or
miscellaneous other costs.
Over the last two years, the roughly 300 PACs controlled by lawmakers raised a
total of about $156 million and used only about a third of that on federal
campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a group
that tracks political fund-raising.
Vacation-like fund-raising events with lobbyists are not new. Former
Representative Tom DeLay’s trips to Puerto Rico were legendary on K Street, for
example. But the new ethics rules barring lobbyists from treating
lawmakers to less-expensive amusements have given new importance to such
getaways.
“I have to have some personal contacts to be a lobbyist,” said James Dyer, a
lobbyist at the firm of Clark & Weinstock. “If the only ticket in terms of
contact is these fund-raising events, it is going to be costly,” Mr. Dyer said.
“The fund-raising part of our lives is a very expensive tool.”
Thomas Susman, a lawyer who was an editor of the American Bar Association
lobbying manual, said that at a recent presentation about the new rules to the
lobbyists trade group, “the biggest question was, Is this going to drive
everything to the fund-raising side? Is that going to be the way to have
social contact with members?”
Some members of Congress said it would not bother them if the upshot of the new
rules turned out to be more contributions.
“I am not going to hide from the fact that we have to raise money,” said
Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican who has invited donors to
his political action committee on a wine-tasting tour in June, modeled after the
movie “Sideways.” “Only a moron would sell a vote for a $2,000
contribution,” Mr. Nunes said.
Fund-raising consultants for both parties said they saw a golden opportunity.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in the number of events across the board,”
said Dana Harris of Bellwether Consulting, a Republican firm that specializes in
courting lobbyists’ political action committees. “Fund-raising events will
provide a safe haven for lobbyists to talk to members.”
Among the coming events Ms. Harris’s firm helped organize: a trip this
month to the Yacht and Beach Club Resort at Disney World for Senator Mel
Martinez of Florida, for a $5,000 PAC contribution, and a May trip to the Robert
Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia for Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina,
for $2,500 a head.
Some private jet companies are trying to capitalize on the rules as well.
Lawmakers can no longer fly on a company’s corporate jet and then reimburse the
owner at a discount. But lawmakers can still use their PACs to pay the
actual cost for the use of jets, as Mr. Cantor and others have done.
Marco Larsen, vice president for publicity at Blue Star Jets, a broker that
sells single flights on private planes, said his company planned to hold an
event in Washington to promote its services to members of Congress.
Because of concerns about appearances, Mr. Larsen said, “We wanted to stay away
right after the rules were passed, but I think it is a better time now.”
Lawmakers are usually reluctant to talk about their fund-raising events.
Asked in an interview in the Capitol why he was taking lobbyists on a Montana
hunting trip, Mr. Baucus said only, “To show off the beauty of our state,” then
retreated behind a guarded door.
Mr. Martinez, who will be spending next weekend with lobbyists at Disney World,
said, “I’ve heard from many other members that they have had very successful
weekend events.” He added, “People can bring their families to it and
bring their children, and it’s going to be fun.”
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