Abramoff prompts lobbying laws States newly aware of public mistrust re-examine influence peddling

BOISE, Idaho – State capitols across America have been hit by “Jack Abramoff-itis,” as scandals surrounding the federal lobbyist prompt legislatures from Idaho to Maine to debate new laws governing their own influence-peddling industries.

Oklahoma lawmakers want pharmaceutical manufacturers to report spending on lobbying to its state ethics commission. Florida has a new law prohibiting lobbyists from giving gifts, including food and drinks, to lawmakers.

Pennsylvania, the only state without a lobbying law, is considering new reporting requirements. Reform fever also has hit cities: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg aims to ban lobbyist gift-giving before “the next Jack Abramoff arrives.”

Just as stock market scandals including WorldCom Corp. and Enron Corp. four years ago prompted reform efforts, Abramoff’s gifts of golfing outings in Scotland and his guilty plea in a Florida fraud case are prompting action at federal, state and local levels.

While lobbyists call for restraint – few break the rules, they say – many lawmakers are eager to ease public mistrust.

“The scandal at the congressional level has received so much publicity, it does permeate down to the state legislative level,” said Peggy Kerns, executive director of the Center for Ethics in Government in Denver. “Legislators will take a look at where their laws may be vulnerable – and what is the public’s expectation of them.”

In Colorado, Gov. Bill Owens is weighing legislation to ban elected officials from taking cash gifts and in-kind donations such as office space and mailings. A year ago, Owens vetoed a similar measure.

The New York State Lobbying Commission may tighten gift restrictions so a lobbyist could give up to $75 worth of gifts to an official during an entire year – down from $75 per item or event. Tennessee last week banned lobbyists from making campaign contributions and banned lobbyist contingency fees.

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, convicted of four misdemeanor ethics violations for unreported gifts last year, has proposed banning any gifts to statewide officials, department heads and their employees from lobbyists seeking to influence state contracts.

And in North Carolina, a group called the Coalition for Lobbying Reform wants to forbid all campaign donations from lobbyists. That’s in addition to separate reforms passed here in 2005. A state House panel was formed after alleged ethics lapses by political appointees to North Carolina’s lottery commission, and it’s now looking into lobbying.

While concern over local scandals plays a role, the spotlight on what’s happening in the nation’s capital has honed public interest, said Bob Phillips, a coalition member and director of Common Cause in Raleigh.

“What’s happening in Washington, D.C., with wealthy special interest money influencing the system, is something the public has increasingly paid attention to,” Phillips said. “It’s a greater challenge when there isn’t an investigation or something in the news driving the issue. We’re all opportunists, and this is a great opportunity.”

Lawmakers in West Virginia, Virginia, Utah, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Montana, Mississippi, Maine, Missouri, Hawaii, Georgia, Arizona and Alabama are also considering lobbying-related reforms.

“More access and more transparency is a better way of doing business,” said Idaho state Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise, one of the sponsors of a bill to revamp lobbying rules that remain virtually unchanged since they were passed by voter initiative in 1974.

Some say legislatures should be wary of crafting laws that go too far.

Lobbyists, they say, perform an important function – especially at the state level, where part-time legislators often lean on their advice and counsel to educate themselves on complicated issues.

“There needs to be a thoughtful process so the ‘Abramoff effect’ doesn’t become wild,” the NCSL’s Kerns said.

For instance, Connecticut, which in December passed one of the nation’s strictest campaign finance laws, now faces a challenge from lobbyists who say rules banning them from making campaign contributions are unconstitutional. Tennessee’s attorney general has similar concerns about his state’s new law.

And Florida lobbyists have filed a lawsuit against legislative leaders to block enforcement of its new law prohibiting them from giving gifts to lawmakers. It violates their free-speech rights, they say.

“A lot of this is an overblown reaction to the Jack Abramoff case – everybody’s trying to blame all lobbyists for the corruption of one man,” said Paul Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists in Washington, D.C. “Not everybody in lobbying is a Jack Abramoff – we don’t lie, cheat and steal. So let’s not blame the entire profession for the action of one man who would have broken those laws anyway.”

State lobbyists say they’re just as outraged by the Abramoff scandal as others in the public. The congressional lobbying furor has given their profession a bad name.

“I’d like to neuter Jack Abramoff and take him out of the gene pool so he can’t reproduce,” said Stan Boyd, a lobbyist for the Idaho Cattle Association, the Idaho Wool Growers Association and the Idaho Elk Breeders Association.