Historic Opportunity For Lobby Reform

"Voter anger about Washington corruption on both sides of the aisle was the public’s way of saying that we expect our elected officials to pass laws, not break them."

Wow! Voters certainly sent a message to Congress with the fall elections. The war in Iraq was certainly a big factor in the results, and exit polling suggests that the other big issue was corruption.

People were disgusted by the shenanigans of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. We were sickened by Abramoff’s dealings with California’s own “Duke” Cunningham and other members of Congress. Voter anger about Washington corruption on both sides of the aisle was the public’s way of saying that we expect our elected officials to pass laws, not break them.

The question now is whether members of Congress will heed the concerns of their constituents or settle for toothless regulations that don’t fully address political corruption.

While talk isn’t enough, the talk so far has been good. San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi announced that in the first 100 hours of Congress, House Democrats will break the link between lobbyists and legislation. CALPIRG’s democracy advocate in Washington, D.C., Gary Kalman, will work with members of both parties to make it happen. See the story on page 1 for more about our efforts.

Another issue on the Pelosi 100-hour list is ending the Medicare prescription drug “no negotiating” provision. When Congress passed the Medicare prescription drug bill, pharmaceutical industry lobbyists inserted language to block the government from negotiating discounts on drug prices.

Such a loophole is bad economic policy, bad politics, and an absurd giveaway to one of the world’s most profitable industries. Doing away with the loophole will save taxpayers money and ensure the long-term viability of the program. CALPIRG’s Paul Brown will be prioritizing this in Washington, D.C., and will be calling on Congress to do even more to lower the costs and improve the safety of our medicine.

Finally, the Pelosi list also says that they “will broaden college opportunity, and … will begin by cutting interest rates for student loans in half.” It’s a good idea. We’ve been working for years to pass legislation with bipartisan support that will steer more student loans toward direct student loan programs where banks don’t take their cut out of the middle.

Doing all this won’t be easy. We’ll have to take on the drug companies, banks, and scores of lobbyists. And we’re grateful to have your support along the way.

On a separate election note, I am pleased to inform you that Sacramento voters rejected Measures Q and R, which asked taxpayers to finance a new sports arena. I’m a basketball fan and love the idea of redeveloping downtown Sacramento, but this deal was too one-sided, too heavily tilted toward the Kings owners at the expense of Sacramento residents. If you’re outside of Sacramento, this may seem like a local issue at first blush, but had the deal passed, it would have allowed sports owners everywhere to demand that local taxpayers pony up or face losing a sports franchise.

CALPIRG opposed the proposal, working alongside local Assemblymember Dave Jones, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and others in opposing the deal.

I could go on with thoughts about the election, but now it’s time to go out and make sure our state and federal legislators make good on their campaign promises of reform.

Sincerely,

Steve Blackledge
Legislative Director