<b>Campaign Vendors Lobbying Their Candidates</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/government/ph-ac-cn-aaco-registered-…
article in the Capital (of DE) <i>Gazette</i></a>, an assistant
state's attorney for Anne Arundel County, whose political firm was
paid $200,000 by the successful candidate for county executive, is
also a lobbyist for a company involved in a stormwater pilot program
for the county. Since the state's attorney office is a state office,
even though the county office is paid for by the county government,
there is no issue of a county employee lobbying the county.<br>
<br>
Also,
few jurisdictions consider it a conflict of interest for a campaign
vendor to lobby the candidate he worked for. However, the county council chair is quoted as saying that a
change may be needed in the county ethics code. These sorts of
technical loopholes in laws cause citizens to think the laws aren't
worth that much, but are written to help officials and contractors.
Below is language in the City Ethics Model Lobbying Code which deals
with the issue of lobbying an official one consulted to as a
candidate:<blockquote>
<br>
<i>Political Activity</i>. ... No campaign consultant or
employee of a campaign consultant may lobby any official or employee
who is a current or former client of the campaign consultant or
whose superior is a current or former client of the campaign
consultant. “Former” in this provision means within the past
two election cycles.</blockquote>
<br>
<b>Lobbying Registries: Visits Aren't Enough</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.saintpetersblog.com/archives/242126">a post on
the Saint Peters Blog</a>, the Hillsborough County (FL) council
voted unanimously to have the county attorney draft a law creating a
lobbying registry for the disclosure of all visits to county
officials and their staff. As a commenter to the post says, such a
law would not disclose text messages, nor would it disclose phone
calls, letters, or e-mails, or meetings outside county offices. Disclosing office visits is insufficient and will favor those with special access through phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and social engagements, whose contacts will not be recorded.<br>
<br>
<b>Lobbyists as Experts on Boards</b><br>
According to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/if-youre-not-concerned-about-behind…
article in <i>The Independent</i> (U.K.) this week</a>,
representatives of Volkswagen sit on 14 European Commission Expert
Groups on topics relevant to their products. While doing this, the
company has made misrepresentations relating to the majority of its
cars in Europe, causing huge amounts of air pollution and
fraudulently inducing people to buy cars that get worse gas
mileage than they thought. Should companies with such strong
interests, fraudulent or not, sit on government bodies that make
policy recommendations?<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br />
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br />
</p>