From TruthDig
.com
Dated Monday May 1The No-Reform Lobby Reform Bill
By Molly Ivins
Either the so-called “lobby reform bill” is the contemptible, cheesy, shoddy piece of hypocrisy it appears to be ... or the Republicans have a sense of humor.
The “lobby reform” bill does show, one could argue, a sort of cheerful, defiant, flipping-the-bird-at-the-public attitude that could pass for humor. You have to admit that calling this an “ethics bill’ requires brass bravura.
House Republicans returned last week from a two-week recess prepared to vote for “a relatively tepid ethics bill,” as The Washington Post put it, because they said their constituents rarely mentioned the issue.
Forget all that talk back in January when Jack Abramoff was indicted. What restrictions on meals and gifts from lobbyists? More golfing trips! According to Rep. Nancy L. Johnson of Connecticut, former chair of the House Ethic Committee, passage of the bill will have no political consequences “because people are quite convinced that the rhetoric of reform is just political.”
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