Inside the Beltway. . . and Out

Insight magazine, sister publication to the conservative Washington Times, says the White House is bracing for impeachment over Bush's warrantless spying on U.S. citizens.

The magazine cites an Administration source as saying "A coalition in Congress is being formed to support impeachment." The article also quotes this source saying "Our arithmetic shows that a majority of the committee could vote against the president."

Remarkable -- in more ways than one.

It is remarkable that a right-wing magazine like Insight would run this story, since it is being picked up and circulated by blogs and others, and making people think about how Bush has violated the law with his secret spying program.

But it also is remarkable that the White House -- specifically Karl Rove -- would let this happen. Unless it's a roundabout way to pressure Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and other Committee members not to dig too deeply during the hearings Specter has announced he will hold.

Maybe Rove and others in the White House are floating this to show Specter that impeachment may be an unintended consequence of his hearings. But that's too much conspiracy theory for me.

Today House and Senate Democrats unveiled a lobbying reform package promoting honest leadership and open government.

The Democratic proposal would ban gifts and travel for lawmakers WITHOUT the loophole in the Republican "reform" proposal released yesterday that would permit travel if the lobbyist providing the travel also provided a campaign contribution at the time of the travel. (See previousl post.) It also would require increased disclosure of campaign contributions and disclosure by lawmakers when they are negotiating for private sector jobs.

The Democrats also proposed non-lobbying-related reforms, including a requirement that anyone appointed to a position involving public safety actually be qualified -- unlike FEMA head Mike Brown, who before taking over FEMA was a Republican contributor and an executive at a horsebreeder association.

Republicans in the House want to ram through their measure as soon as they get back to work next month. The Senate may take a bit more time.

Republicans are falling all over themselves to "reform" lobbying and put some distance between themselves and, well, themselves.

The Republicans are rushing to put together a new "reform" law. Lots of them have been on TV saying how they want to clean the place up.

The Republican bill the House will vote on as soon as they return to work next month has a big loophole. They say the bill would ban meals and travel for lawmakers, but the "reform" bill would actually permit meals and travel with lobbyists if the lobbyist also gives the lawmaker a campaign contribution at the same time.

Republican hypocricy knows no bounds.

Republicans caught up in the Jack Abramoff / Tom DeLay scandals are falling all over themselves to put together a "reform" package they can pass as soon as possible. They want to declare "Problem Solved" well before the November elections.

One of the current proposals is to ban lobbyist-funded trips -- the kind DeLay loves so much. Another would require lobbyists to disclose all campaign contributions. (Technically, campaign contributions are public, but it takes lots of work to put the pieces together.)

Most of us on the corporate lobbying side are not as caught up in the Abramoff / DeLay fundraising scandals. The contract lobbyists -- the lobbying firms -- have much greater exposure, since they depend much more on fundraising as a means of access.

Lobbyists inside the Beltway are going through a difficult time now, and the new "reform" measures -- if and when enacted -- may change the way things are done.

Let's hope.

Those of us who live in and around Washington know that the security lines at National Airport can be ridiculously long, mostly because the security folks are so slow -- chatting among themselves, inspecting, chatting among themselves, admonishing everyone to take their laptops out, chatting among themselves, etc.

Now, as Wayan at Metroblogging DC points out, the new "puffer" machines, designed to catch bombers, likely will delay us even further.

Alexander Strategy Group, which built its business off its close ties to Tom DeLay, is shutting down at the end of the month.

The firm employed Tom DeLay's wife and Tony Rudy, DeLay's deputy chief of staff, who was cited in Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's plea bargain as "Staffer A." In the plea deal, Abramoff admitted paying the wife of "Staffer A" in exchange for official actions Rudy took while working for DeLay.

Republicans are trying their best to distance themselves from Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Speaker Dennis Hastert, who gave some of the money Abramoff gave him to charity, has appointed Republican David Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee, to draft new lobbying rules so they can put the scandals behind them before the elections.

Conventional wisdom is that Republican Rep. Bob Ney (named as "Representative #1" in Abramoff's plea deal) will be indicted soon. Also to be indicted soon likely will be Tom DeLay's deputy chief of staff Tony Rudy, whose wife received $50,000 from Abramoff in return for favors from Rudy. (Abramoff pled guilty to making the payment in return for the favors as part of his plea deal.)

But who will follow? What other Republicans are sweating right now?

And what rules will the Republican majority now impose? Republicans seem hot to trot now that Abramoff has done his plea deal and the indictments are coming. They were very cool to the idea late last year when Democrats Marty Meehan (Massachusetts) and Rahm Emanuel (Illinois) and Republican Chris Shays (Connecticut) proposed increased disclosure and a ban on lobbyist sponsored trips.

Republicans will pass some new rules, likely with substantial loopholes (because, after all, lobbying is constitutionally protected), declare the problem cleaned up, and start campaigning for re-election.

America deserves better. Maybe the voters will clean house in November.

Republicans are really worried what their fellow Republican Jack Abramoff will tell prosecutors. They are falling all over themselves to get rid of campaign contributions he made to them.

One of my colleagues, who is not in government relations, hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that if you rob a bank, you are not declared innocent if you give the money back.

bush is giving back just $6,000, even though Abramoff raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for him. Abramoff was a "Pioneer" for Bush, which meant he raised over $100,000 for him. But Republicans stopped worrying about being hypocritical a long time ago.

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's actions are the worst I have ever seen.

All lobbyists inside the Beltway know about the intersection of money and politics. We are all aware of the entertaining that goes on. And we are all aware of campaign contributions, and the strong arm tactics some Members and staffers use to raise money (DeLay wrote the book). But I have never seen anything as bad as what Abramoff apparently has done.

Bribing a Member of Congress is a tough crime to prove, but when the briber is willing to cooperate and tell how he did the bribing, the case gets alot easier. Republican Rep. Bob Ney (Ohio), named as "Representative #1" in Abramoff's plea bargain, likely will be indicted soon. And we are waiting for the other shoes to drop.

Lots of Republicans close to Abramoff are worried. House Speaker Dennis Hastert last night announced he is giving the money Abramoff gave him to charity, as if that will somehow make him clean.

We likely will see increased calls from public interest groups for greater restrictions on lobbying and more disclosure. And that is not necessarily a bad thing.

But we also likely will see reluctance by Members of Congress even to meet with lobbyists -- and certainly reluctance to be seen at upscale restaurants with lobbyists. And this will be unfortunate.

The vast majority of lobbyists are nothing at all like Jack Abramoff. We are going into a period of greater public focus on our profession, and not everything will be pretty. But in the long run, getting rid of the current culture of corruption inside the Beltway will be good for the profession, and for the country.

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whom Tom DeLay described as "one of my closest and dearest friends," will plead guilty today to corruption charges in a plea bargain deal that could get him to testify against Members of Congress.

MSBNC is reporting that up to 20 lawmakers could be snared. Abramoff is a Republican with close ties to DeLay and Republican Members, but they will probably throw a Democrat into the mix to make Abramoff seem bipartisan in his corruption.

It's too early to tell for sure what impact Abramoff's plea and subsequent testimony may have on the November elections, where every House member and 1/3 of the Senate are up for election, but it may well turn out that the general public is really tired of Republican arrogance and corruption at every level of government, and may just throw them all out.