Lobbyists to Have Wrists Firmly Slapped

A major step forward in Legislative ethics was taken Wednesday. And I'm ethically bound to admit that's not true.

The House Ethics Committe  wants the Legislature to consider a measure creating an online list of Statehouse lobbyists who break ethics rules.  And it would be all public and stuff. Take that. 

From The Des Moines Register:

"This is kind of like the scarlet letter," said Chief Clerk of the House Mark Brandsgard. "We think, to a large extent, this will force compliance because no one wants to have an ethics complaint against them."

Dozens of special interest groups this year have failed to file reports after they held functions during the legislative session and invited all legislative members. Reports are to be filed within five days of a reception, according to state law.

Brandsgard outlined seven suggested changes that would require all lobbyists to file reports electronically and would automatically post online the names of lobbyists who fail to file reports on time

So how many Scarlet letters can an average lobbyist wear?

I mean, you get one big red "L" from society at large just for being a lobbyist in the first place. And maybe you also represent tobacco companies or polluters or heartless insurers etc., so there's a few more marks. But hey, it's a living.

At what point do multiple scarlet letters cease being a punishment and instead become a fashionable necktie pattern?

In other words, this "ethics reform" is a funny ha, ha.

This whole thing came up because the Iowa Pharmacy Association threw a reception for lawmakers in February and failed to file a timely report. We know this only because one guzzler of liquid freebies, state Rep. Kerry Burt, D-Waterloo, was arrested later that night for driving drunk in Ankeny. Shhhhh. He was drinking with the governor.  

The pharmacy association was just one among many special interest groups who blew off the filing rules. Groups spent $260,000 last session wining and dining legislators. They just do it for fun. They don't expect anything in return. Honest.

So Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement filed an ethics complaint, which was "addressed" Wednesday by the ethics committee.

From Radio Iowa:

A spokesman for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement sees hopeful signs in the group's push to get better oversight of groups which lobby the Iowa Legislature. Adam Mason is state policy organizing director for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. “We were encouraged by the House Ethics Committee review today. They were very thorough in their review of our ethics complaint,” Mason says.

“They acknowledged that not only the Iowa Pharmacy Association had filed their function report late, but a number of other groups had also done that and that without our complaint they would not have had the authority to review these late filings.” The Ethics Committee in the Iowa House today decided to send a letter to the lobbying group, outlining its failure to disclose details of its legislative reception in February until news reports of the evening were linked to a lawmaker's drunken driving arrest.

But the panel stopped short of issuing any sort of reprimand of the Iowa Pharmacy Association.

Essentially, the pharmacy association will get a strongly worded letter and ICCI gets free tickets to a place called Hope. And maybe, someday, there will be a website viewed by tens of Iowans.

Instead, here's what I want.

Any group that blew off the reporting requirements should be barred from holding a legislative reception in 2010.

And here's what those reporting requirements should include:

Standard info about the reception, sponsor, location and date etc.

An itemized breakdown of what was spent and exactly what the money was spent on. I don't want "food." I want "prime rib and petit fours."

A list of legislation that the sponsor group is lobbying on or monitoring.

A list of lawmakers and other state officials who attended, when they arrived and when they departed. Surely they won't mind checking in and out.

Really, all I want to do is be able to pick up the newspaper and read a sentence like this:

"Sen. Fatso strenuously insisted that his vote against tighter pollution regulations had nothing to do with the four hours he spent eating prime rib and petit fours with the Iowa Association of Polluters Tuesday night."

A little more accountability. A few more connected dots. Let the scarlet letters fall where they may.

Lawmakers need to pay their own way to these receptions. It can come out of their wallet or out of their political hide. They need to choose.