Classic Washington regulation: Lobbyists must "register" but there doesn't appear to be an easy way to check that register:
Lobbyist Paid by Pakistan Led U.S. Delegation There
By PHILIP SHENON and ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: May 8, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 7 - Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of a federal corruption investigation, led a Congressional delegation to Pakistan in 1997 but failed to tell the group's sponsor or the lawmakers that he was a registered lobbyist for the Pakistani government, according to the sponsor and the two House members on the trip.
Easy enough to design a database to hold all this data - I could design one myself for about $10,000 total and I'm not much of a database designer.
I also find it difficult to believe our Congresscritters are so naive as to blindly trust a lobbyist's unsupported word. Can you say "deniability???"
(Cross-posted from Republicans Anonymous)