(cross-posted at
ActForLove.org "Bloggie Style")
Well, less than two days after being selected as GOP majority leader in the House, Rep. John Boehner (stop snickering, it's pronounced "BAY-ner") is already backing up on lobbying reform. And not just any lobbying reform -- the reform package suggested by his own leader, Speaker Dennis Hastert:
Boehner Suggests New Tack on Lobbying
Emphasis Would Be on Disclosure
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 4, 2006; Page A04
House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has begun shifting his party toward an alternative lobbying reform package that stresses disclosure of lobbying contacts rather than the virtual ban on gifts and privately funded trips proposed last month by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).
(full story at Washington Post)
Sigh... already in retreat. Re: "disclosure," if they're going to do it, how about making it real. Not just disclosure in forms hidden somewhere in a basement filing cabinet. How about if each member has to "disclose" these contacts right on the home page of their web sites? Official and campaign sites. Literally -- front page, above the fold, a quick link to all the contacts.
Now that is a proposal I would like to see.