Congressional Circumvention of Lobbying Laws

Although new lobbying payment rules are in place for the 110th Congress, senators and representatives are still using freedom of association to get quality time with their lobbyists. Despite lobbyists being unable to directly fund congressmen’s social outings, lobbyists may donate to their congressman’s political action committee, which then foots the bill. This is important for centralizing control of lobbying activities closer towards the purview of the political action committee (hence making that PAC’s oversight of lobbying activities easier and more comprehensive) as well as for increasing turnout at expensive fundraising dinners and luncheons that lobbyists might otherwise discount as a diminishing return on assets. Some have criticized this mere shifting of donations from politician to PAC as a token accountability measure, but at least it encourages lobbyists and politicians to keep their relationships and funding activities in the open. If restrictions were to become more draconian, the integrity of the official lobbying-campaign funding system would be further jeopardized.