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Michael Tantum
Florida Democrat
Notre Dame High School
Rutgers Model Congress Senate Select Committee on Ethics
19-22 April 2007
Regulation of Gift Contributions to Elected Officials
Unfortunately, lobbyists, soft money, hard money, and scandals involving high ranking officials
in the Federal Government have become all too common(Yang, 3). Today, lobbyists play an extensive
role in shaping the policy of many of our lawmakers, even more than the constituents they represent.
Usually the representatives in the House of Representatives and Senate need to constantly raise money
for their next campaign. To whom do they turn? The lobbyists, who treat lawmakers to expensive
dinners, sporting trips and vacations (3). In return the representatives change or alter their positions to
suit the needs of the lobbyists. Today, lobbyist and lawmakers are regulated tightly through a variety of
legislation, but scandals still occur, defacing the ideals of the United States of America. In order to
prevent further scandals, there must be more stringent legislation passed to limit the power of lobbyists
and political action groups.
In the past 20 years, a variety of acts have been passed in an attempt to regulate lobbyists, and
bribes. One such act the Lobbying Disclosure act of 1995 (LDA), was enacted to regulate and classify
all lobbyist (Lobbying Disclosure 1 of 1). Furthermore, members of the Senate were required to provide
a list, which can be found in the Electronic catalog database, of all the lobbyists (1 of 1). This act was
key in further regulating and identifying lobbyist, holding both lawmakers and members of the Senate
accountable for their actions. Additionally, this act also required new lobbyists to register with the
electronic database (Yang, 8). Qualifications included that anyone who in a six month period who had
earned $5,000 dollars lobbying, spent $20,000 dollars lobbying, or devoted more than twenty percent of
his or her time to lobbying to register as a lobbyist (9). Today, estimates of the number of actual
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lobbyist in the District of Columbia range from 10,000 to 50,000 people (9). It is clear; a more
defined policy on who is a lobbyist must be outlined.
Secondly, in 2002 Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) wrote a
bill to reform campaign finance (9). This bill further strengthens contribution laws regulating soft and
hard money contributions (10). However, a variety of public interest groups and watchdog groups have
alerted Congress about hard money contributions given directly to congressmen with no punishment
(10). Conversely, members of Congress feel that there has already been enough regulation on
contributions including travel expenses and gifts (10). So, another key problem that needs to be
addressed is the congress men and women’s clientele and associates.
With the onset of a new Democratic Senate and House of Representatives, the Democratic Party
is pledged to ethics reform. Some Democrats in Congress have even proposed a bill that would ban all
gifts, meals, and travel contributions (14). However, if this bill comes to law the Democrats must
consider the repercussions of their own actions, with members such as Harry Reid (D-Nevada) who had
close ties to Jack Abramoff a Nevada Republican who pleaded guilty to a variety of fraud charges(14).
It is of the opinion of Florida Democrats, that a stronger more all encompassing bill must be
passed to further regulate contributions to elected officials. First, candidates need to be held more
accountable for their actions. To do this, a piece of legislation should be proposed that requires all
elected officials to provide a detailed report of financial dealings to the federal government and to their
constituents of that elected official. This will provide a detailed account of the lawmakers dealings
regarding hard and soft money, campaign contributions, and all other expenses paid for by an outside
source. This report will be mailed annually by the officials to the constituents. This report allows the
voters to understand where and how tax money is spent on a local and federal budget, and which
lobbyist are affecting the positions of these peoples senators, or other representatives.
Furthermore, more extensive laws regarding the registration of lobbyists must be enacted. First,
all registered lobbyists will be required to give the government a detailed expense report to the federal
government in which all money spent lobbying lawmakers will be classified by type of expense, i.e.-
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gifts travel expenses, sporting events, golf trips, dinners, and lunches. Furthermore, if Lobbyist
fails to provide expenses reports to the government, they will face prosecution by the Senate Ethics
committee. If convicted, they could face possible jail time, of stiff fines. In addition, if a person is
found to have given a contribution to a member of congress who is not a registered lobbyist and is found
to be in anyway affiliated with a political action or lobbyist group, those people will also face
prosecution by the senate committee on Ethics. Lastly, members of Congress found to be affiliated with
such persons will also face prosecution by the Senate committee on Ethics.
In summary, these new pieces of legislation will improve the Democratic process. With the
passing of more stringent laws regarding hard and soft money, members of Congress will be held more
accountable to their actions. In addition, the stronger laws involving registration of lobbyist will also
hold both congressmen and lobbyist more accountable for their actions. Lastly, making congressmen
provide detailed expense reports to their constituents will provide voters with more knowledge about the
candidates they vote for. This legislation, if passed, will be effective in combating contribution
problems in the future.
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Works Cited
"Lobbying Disclosure." United States Senate. United States Senate. 25 Mar 2007
<http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/g_three_sections_with_teasers/lobbyingdisc.htm>.
Yang, Mike. “Regulation of Gift Contributions to Elected Officials.” Rutgers Model Congress Director’s Brief
for the Senate Committee on Ethics. The Institute for Domestic and Internal Affairs. 2007. 22 March,
2007 <www.idia.net>