Dear Representative Hastert,
On behalf of the millions of taxpayers represented by our organizations, we urge you to support the closure of the loophole in House Ethics Rule 25 (Clause 5(a)(3)(O)) that exempts lobbyists for federal, state and local government agencies from the gift limits that private-sector and not-for-profit lobbyists must obey.
As you know, House Ethics Rules currently limit the acceptance of most individual gifts to $50 per Member of Congress or staffer, with an annual limit of $100 per recipient from any single source. However, Clause 5(a)(3)(O) offers this loophole: "Anything that is paid for by the Federal Government, by a State or local government, or secured by the Government under a Government contract is acceptable."
This curious exemption allows lobbyists for entities like public universities and city governments to ignore the typical gift limits and shower Members of Congress and their staff with free luxury skybox tickets to the biggest football games or free front-row tickets to the most popular concerts. While this kind of unlimited gift-giving is considered unethical if it is done by lobbyists representing private companies or not-for-profit groups like ours, for some reason it is considered perfectly fine when it is done by taxpayer-funded government lobbyists, who are usually lobbying for additional federal funding at the expense of the taxpayer.
This loophole is extraordinarily unfair to the American taxpayer. It grants these taxpayer-funded lobbyists an exclusive right to ignore the House gift limits and theoretically spend an unlimited amount of taxpayer money trying to convince Members of Congress to earmark even more taxpayer money for their pet projects.
We believe you and your distinguished colleagues are serious about reforming lobbying rules and curbing pork-barrel spending, which is why we are asking you to immediately close this loophole as soon as the 109th Congress begins its second session later this month.
Sincerely,
Michelle Korsmo
Executive Vice President
Americans for Prosperity
Ryan Ellis
Federal Affairs Manager
Americans for Tax Reform
Thomas Schatz
President
Citizens Against Government Waste
Dan Clifton
Executive Director
American Shareholders Association
John Berthoud
President
National Taxpayers Union
E. O'Brien Murray
Executive Director
Free Enterprise Fund
Jim Martin
President
60 Plus Association