Congressional Crackdown on Lobbying Is Already Showing Cracks

From The New York Times:

A broad new Congressional lobbying and ethics law . . . took effect on New Year’s Day . . . .

Congressional Democrats like to boast that the rules, in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, will go a long way toward ending the influence-peddling that has become common in American politics. But writing a strong law does not necessarily mean that strict interpretation and robust enforcement will follow.

“Just like the campaign finance rules, the ethics laws mean little unless they are effectively enforced,” said Don Simon, a Washington election lawyer who is counsel to the group Democracy 21. “And just as with the campaign finance laws where there has been a longstanding problem with lack of enforcement, so too, with the ethics rules.”

Mr. Simon said that appearances seem to matter more than anything when it comes to ethics rules. He said, “Congress wants to take credit for passing reforms but then go into the back rooms and gut the reforms at the level of interpretation, implementation and enforcement.”