sub: BAN BRIBERY NOW!
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BAN BRIBERY NOW! September 30, 1994
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Supporting the Levin/Bryant Lobbyist Gift Ban Bill
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EDITORIAL
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With little to do at the end of a long legislative session, the lobbyists have turned their full attention to attacking the gift ban bill. Members of Congress who are the biggest recipients of lush lobbyist-paid vacations and meals are helping the enemies of the common folks by wrapping themselves in the flag.

Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh are mounting a campaign against the gift ban bill, saying that the conference committee stuck in new amendments that will force grassroots people like you and me and religious organizations to register as lobbyists, crippling our first amendment rights. Do they have their facts straight?

I spoke with a legislative analyst for Common Cause. She says Common Cause itself will have to register its grassroots lobbying activities under this bill, and they support the bill 100%. She said that religious organizations are specifically exempted from its requirements.

I spoke with a person in the House Judiciary Committee, which marked up the House's lobbyist bill. He said that the language on grassroots lobbying has been in the bill since it passed his subcommittee on November 22nd, 1993 on a 10-0 bipartisan vote. It was in the bill that passed the House on March 24th, 1994.

He did a computer search through the Congressional Record for the debate on March 24th, searching for the words "grassroots," "grass," and "grass-roots." The words were never uttered that day.

Things seemed quiet until the Thursday debate on the House floor, when Rep. Gingrich made his charges, accompanied by attacks on the Rush Limbaugh show. I hate to tell you, folks, but Rush is listening to the wrong folks on this one, and so is his audience.

I know, because I have the language of the bill in front of me. If anything, it is not strict enough. Under this bill, you could charge $4,999 each to 10 clients, making $49,990 a year as a professional lobbyist AND YOU WOULD NOT EVEN HAVE TO REPORT YOUR ACTIVITIES.

But even if you do qualify as a registered lobbyist, all the bill requires is one more line on your disclosure report: how much you spent trying to generate citizen letters to Congress. Big deal.

The Senate would love to vote this bill down by claiming the citizens are opposed to it. Where were all these phone callers for half a year while you successfully pressed Congress to ban lobbyist gifts? If this campaign succeeds, then I feel bad for all of us who worked so hard to bring it this far.

Please fight back starting Monday. Show Congress that the citizens are smarter and better informed than they give us credit for. To quote Senator Levin, "This reform is too important and we've been working on it for too many years to allow that kind of disinformation to succeed." Ban Bribery Now!

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WHAT THE COSPONSORS ARE SAYING
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If you are ready to take action, then skip to ACTION NOW. If you need more information, here are the texts of two press releases from the cosponsors of the lobbyist gift ban bill.

Portion of a statement by Rep. Bryant of Texas on September 28, 1994:

Dear Colleague:

I was astonished to learn that Rep. Newt Gingrich and others are charging that the Lobbying Disclosure Act Conference Report ... somehow requires people lobbying on behalf of religious organizations to register and report their expenditures, solely on the basis of their grassroots lobbying activities.

As a representative of the Religious Action Center wrote to me today, "Nothing could be farther from the truth."

(skipping detailed references to the bill itself...)

These provisions were approved by the United States Catholic Conference, the Baptist Joint Committee, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. For example, the Baptist Joint Committee wrote me on March 23, 1994 that the language of the bill and the report "substantially satisfies the concerns that we have articulated to your staff."

(skipping details covered in Senator Levin's memo.)

Please don't be swayed by last-minute efforts to derail this important reform initiative. I urge you to vote for the Lobbying Disclosure Act Conference Report and help improve the public's trust in this institution.

Sincerely,

John Bryant

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September 29, 1994

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Statement of Senator Carl Levin

In an attempt to defeat the toughest lobbying disclosure and Congressional gifts reform legislation in our history, Congressman Gingrich has resorted to a disinformation campaign.

There are two issues that Mr. Gingrich addresses on which he is factually wrong.

First, Mr. Gingrich says that persons engaging in grassroots lobbying will be required to register under this law. That is wrong. Only persons who are paid to lobby and who spend over 10% of their professional, not personal, time lobbying will be required to register. No one who calls their Member of Congress on their own behalf would be required to register. No one who publicly demonstrates on an issue would be required to register. Only persons who are paid to lobby on behalf of someone else -- persons who are professional lobbyists -- would be required to register, and then only if they spend 10% of their time doing so.

Once a professional lobbyist registered, there is only one aspect of the registration that pertains to grassroots lobbying. A professional lobbyist must disclose how much he or she is paid to lobby. If some of that amount was spent by the professional lobbyist on a grassroots lobbying campaign, then the professional lobbyist must disclose how much was so spent and, if it was paid to a professional lobbying firm, the name of the firm. The professional lobbyist does not have to disclose nonprofessionals who conducted or participated in the grassroots lobbying or how the grassroots lobbying campaign was carried out. The only item the professional lobbyist has to disclose is the amount of money spent on grassroots lobbying and the name of the professional grassroots lobbying firm, if there is one.

Second, Mr. Gingrich says that the Lobbying Disclosure Act would stifle lobbying by religious organizations. The bill explicitly exempts from registration requirements all religious organizations, even those organizations which have paid lobbyists on staff. If a religious organization hires an outside professional lobbyist, that professional lobbyist would have to register and disclose the religious organization as his/her client, but the religious organization would not be required to register.

In spite of Newt Gingrich's attacks, the House passed the lobbyist gift ban bill 306 yea, 112 nay. The no vote included 92 Republicans and 20 Democrats. 82 Republicans told Newt to stuff it and voted in favor of the bill.

The only barrier is next week's Senate vote on the bill. Expect many of your Senators to vote to send the bill back to committee, killing it.

If you have an ounce of grassroots initiative in you, now is the time to call your Senators and ask them to vote to send the bill to a floor vote and to pass it. They would love to kill it and lie that they did it for you. They want to ski at Snowbird next year, paid for by AT&T.

Please call both your Senators. Do it as soon as you can. Time is critical.

If you are a registered Republican and your Senator is a Republican, please mention that when you call. Tell them you expect real reform, not empty promises.

Congress' phone number is (202) 224-3121 or (800) 768-2221.