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The New York Times
Opinion
The Truth About
Ethics Reform
EDITORIAL,
nytimes.com January 21, 2008
We’ve long grown used to candidates’
cherry-picking each other’s records to score points in a campaign. But the
new Congressional ethics law, and the role Senator Barack Obama played in
passing it, have been belittled in troubling ways that are worth noting.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton voted for the ethics measure, but has lately
suggested that it was neither a landmark change nor particularly controversial.
Wrong on both counts.
No ethics law is perfect, and much depends on the vigor with which the changes
are enforced. But there was a big cultural shift in the legislation’s ban
on gifts, meals and travel paid for by lobbyists, and provisions requiring
greater disclosure of lawmakers’ pet projects and making it harder for former
lawmakers to capitalize on their Capitol Hill connections.
The measure ultimately passed the Senate by a lopsided 83-to-14 vote, hardly
surprising because few lawmakers want to go on record against cleaning up
Congress, especially in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff scandal. The
hard part was assembling and passing a strong package of rules against intense
resistance within Congress and from lobbyists.
With Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, Mr. Obama played a central
role in this effort. Forcing fellow members of Congress to disclose the
names of lobbyists who bundle campaign donations is not the sort of thing that
endears you to your colleagues.
At a debate before the New Hampshire primary, Charles Gibson, the news anchor,
and former Senator John Edwards poked fun at the fact that the ban on lobbyists’
buying meals does not prevent lobbyists from providing food and drinks to
lawmakers at stand-up receptions. Mrs. Clinton cited that comment
approvingly last week on “Meet the Press.” As they all surely know, there
is a big difference between attending a crowded reception and pressing a cause
at intimate sit-down meals.
Mocking the ethics law simply fuels a cynicism that can only make future ethics
battles harder.
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