Sunlight Foundation

Congressional Bribery?

Jon Henke , one of the founding editors at The Next Right, wrote an interesting post comparing the bribes Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is accused of soliciting and the give-and-take "bribery" of Congress and its "cash constituents." Jon writes, "Gov. Blagojevich merely did what our US Congress does as a matter of routine." In one sense, I can see his point. While it doesn't appear to be quite as direct is what Blagojevich is accused of, we often speculate that both Democrats and Republicans exchange campaign contributions for favors. But Blagojevich is accused of soliciting money for himself personally. That's not quite what Congress does routinely, though there are certainly some examples of it.

There are lawmakers who have been accused (William Jefferson ) and convicted (Randy "Duke" Cunningham ) of similar types of bribery. And there was the 1980 Abscam where FBI agents dressed up as Middle Eastern sheiks willing to bribe politicians. The sting netted scores of pols, leading to19 people (including seven members of Congress) being convicted of bribery or related charges in the case. But does the horse trading Congress conducts, often unseemly as it is, reach that level of crude bribery? It might be close, but I don't think it's quite the same kettle of fish.

This is where more transparency is key to combating corruption. Openness is not only the cure for the sickness; it's a prophylactic that åcould prevent the illness in the first place.

Take Jon's hobbyhorse  --  earmarks. The practice of earmarks might not be a problem...or the problem just might be the lack of transparency. Suspicions of quid pro quos is all too strong where the process is opaque and there is huge potential for corruption. If the decisions were made in the light of day, I suspect there would be far less abuse.

International Sunlight

Riffing off of the estimable Nisha Thompson's Local Sunlight feature, there are a couple of Sunlight related stories happening across our northern border and across the pond in Europe. First, our friends in Europe are taking after our Congress and considering passing sweeping lobbying disclosure for the EU for the very first time:

The European Commission has proposed new rules that could require European Union lobbyists to register for the first time, as part of a new transparency effort spawned after news reports of Abramoff’s activities broke.

Read more

Lobbyist Trent Lott Under Federal Investigation

After the President signed his name to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, members of Congress had until January 1st to vacacte their seats if they wanted to trade the black suit and American flag lapel of Capitol Hill for the black suit and American flag lapel of K Street. The ethics reform bill extended the "cooling off" period for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists from one year to two years, which would leave retired members of Congress with 2 years to find something to do - write your memoirs or teach a class at the university that got so many earmarks they named a building after you - before they can make the big bucks on K Street. When Sen. Trent Lott announced his sudden retirement before the "cooling off" extension took effect it was clear that he wasn't looking to settle down at the Trent Lott Leadership Institute at Ole Miss. No, Lott was getting out early to work with his old bipartisan pal John Breaux on K Street.

There were, however, rumors that avoiding the "cooling off" extension was not the exact reason for Lott's early exit from his long congressional career. The Wall Street Journal puts those rumors to rest by publishing details of a federal investigation into Lott's possible role in a case involving the bribing of Mississippi judges by his half-brother Richard "Dickie" Scruggs:

Read more