LOBBYING YOUR RELATIVES.

LOBBYING YOUR RELATIVES. David S. Fallis and Dan Keating had an article in the Washington Post (December 29) about lobbying of Congress by relatives of lawmakers (link via Instapundit). Their research shows that 56 relatives have been paid to lobby Congress since 2007, when Congress purported to have cleaned up the lobbying process. Further, “more than 500 firms have spent more than $400 million on lobbying teams that include the relatives of members.” All of this is legal under the 2007 rules. This is outrageous. My other reactions: 1. Given the position of the Washington Post as the leading newspaper in Washington, the Post should have a special responsibility to report on improprieties in government, so it’s good that the Post has finally taken notice of this. 2. The proper test for a conflict of interest should always be “the appearance of impropriety”; requiring the showing of actual influence means in practice that anything goes. 3.Lobbying by a relative (or by a firm where the relative is a lobbyist) always has the appearance of impropriety. 4. If relatives have a talent for lobbying, they can always turn those talents to use in lobbying state and local governments rather than the federal government.