House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi is deftly setting up her agenda for the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress on some issues – notably on earmark reform – but then there is the question of ethics reform. Pelosi has set herself and her Democrat colleagues up for an embarrassment on this one. Unfortunately, those like Pelosi who want more regulation of lobbyists on the Hill but fail to appreciate the serious threat to the First Amendment in going too far with such requirements. Pelosi has turned to Joan Claybrook – longtime head of Public Citizen and former head of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration – for help in drafting a legislative proposal designed to prevent future Jack Abramoffs from getting away with their influence-peddling and other scandalous activities. The problem is the proposal as it currently stands appears to be far more likely to snare Mr. Smith who goes to Washington as rarely as possible than to keep the Abramoffs from profiting off their contacts. Put another way, the Pelosi-Claybrook approach seems guaranteed to protect lobbyists for Big Business, Big Labor and other special interests that love Big Government, while imposing a massive new bureaucratic reporting regimen on citizens at the grassroots. If you haven’t read my column on the issue, check it out here. You can also find an excellent description of the many flaws in the Pelosi-Claybrook bill at Human Events Online, written by Amanda Carpenter, here.
