John Edwards and Barack Obama have been the most vocal among the Democratic presidential hopefuls in decrying the influence of lobbyists on government, to the point of both men declaring they will not take campaign contributions from federal lobbyists or political action committees.
“It’s time to tell the big corporations and the lobbyists who have been running things for too long that their time is over,” Edwards said last month in New Hampshire. Obama has joined in the condemnation of lobbyist money and influence in politics, running television ads highlighting his stance and earning a standing ovation at the YearlyKos presidential candidate forum in Chicago for attacking New York Hillary Rodham Clinton’s defense of the lobbying sector.
Edwards has gone so far as to publicly challenge his fellow presidential candidates, as well as both the Democratic and Republican parties, to forgo donations from lobbyists. Except for Obama, all have demurred.
But for all the rhetoric, that doesn’t mean the pair aren’t taking money from lobbyists.
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Officials with the Edwards and Obama campaign organizations declined to comment publicly on the precise methods they use to detect and deflect donations from lobbyists, which they say they attempt to do before any check hits their bank accounts. But an analysis of FEC filings from the candidates covering financial activity through June 30 reveals that both lean toward a narrow definition of lobbyist contributions.
Both Edwards and Obama have accepted significant amounts in donations from employees of firms that maintain the top 15 federal lobbying practices based on 2006 receipts. Edwards — formerly a highly successful North Carolina trial lawyer who received many campaign contributions from legal professionals during each of his campaigns — accepted approximately $20,000 in donations from self-reported attorneys and staff at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Hogan & Hartson LLP, The PMA Group, DLA Piper, Covington & Burling LLP, and K&L Gates. None was found to be registered as lobbyists with the Senate Office of Public Records.
Edwards’ totals are peanuts, though, compared with those of Obama’s, who also practiced law before entering politics. Obama has received more than $160,000 in contributions from employees at the Akin Gump, Hogan, DLA Piper, and Covington & Burling firms, as well as at Patton Boggs LLP, Dutko Worldwide, and Holland & Knight. Though none of these contributors was registered as lobbyists in 2007, at least 10 were registered as recently as last year.
Contributions such as those are what fog the “no lobbyist money” policy. When individuals work for firms that earn millions each year lobbying the federal government or have themselves built up lobbying practices, even if they aren’t registered as such in the current year, it at least raises the question of whether the donations are entirely divorced from any association with lobbying.
Are the Obama and Edwards pledges mere window-dressing as some critics say, or do they represent a meaningful effort to throttle the influence of lobbyist money?
Congressional Quarterly 9/10/07
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/09/the_race_for_president_saying.html
