...If Democrats gain the 15 seats they need to win control of the House -- and most analysts think they will -- one of the first things the new House will do is restrict or end outright a slew of lobbying practices.
In a little-publicized statement, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the House Democratic leader, has promised to change the chamber's rules to reflect the provisions of her not-so-modestly-named Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2006. The months-old measure would, among other things, prohibit House members from accepting gifts and travel from lobbyists or from organizations that employ lobbyists.
The Pelosi bill includes changes not only to House rules but also to federal laws. Any changes in law would have to be approved by the Senate and the president before they could take effect...
The author points out that many previous attempts at reform have fallen flat. Apparently, they've died because those in Congress somehow got the impression that voters did not really care.
But I've not seen any serious consideration of the only reform that I think would really do the job.
What I would like to see would be, in fact, something like what I wrote about in my recent post (on MyLifeBits.) Lobbyists would be required to hire a Congressional stenographer to record the entire interaction, every single time they interact with someone in Congress. The transcript would then go on the Internet.
Better yet, the whole thing also would be videotaped, and the recording would then become public information.
