Boehner Desires Lobbyist Booty
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
(SNN Washington) The new Republican leader in the House of Representatives, John Boehner, ran a campaign of cleaning up lobbyist contributions. Now he has thrown out most of his colleagues recommendations, and he has submitted his own.
After representing himself as a reform leader, Boehner says no reforms are really necessary. "Understand that all the activities associated with Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, former member who resigned in disgrace, and other members who have problems -- they've already violated the law and/or they violated the rules of the House," he said. Basically what Boehner is saying is that the existing rules would be very effective if his party would have chosen to enforce them.
One of the ways that Boehner wishes to reform House rules is to place no cap on travel. And Boehner knows a thing or two about the importance of travel. He has taken trips valued at more than $157,000 since 2000, which were paid for by nonprofit trade organizations and think tanks.
Boehner told NBC, "sunlight is the best disinfectant." Basically he means that members of the House should make publicly available the money that they take from lobbyists. This would allow constituents and corporations to easily determine the prices expected for various types of legislation.
