Tuesday, February 07, 2012

How to cut the power of Lobbyists. By Geniusofdespair

Recently out of jail, lobbyist Jack Abramoff (once with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig) offered some suggestions for curtailing lobbyist activities. I like the first one:

"Abramoff's drastic prescription for setting things straight: no campaign donations from lobbyists or anyone receiving federal contracts, term limits and a life-time lobbying ban on lawmakers and congressional staff.

Another much-needed change: Congress should widen the definition of lobbyist to include the kind of work that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich did for Freddie Mac, said Abramoff.

"Clearly people who are involved in strategic planning for lobbying campaigns, public affairs campaigns, any activity designed to impact legislation" should register as lobbyists, said Abramoff."

Actually, if the county followed Miami Beach's example, it would go a long way towards curing what ails the county. How about a reform of the county lobbyist rules in your campaign promises Mayor Gimenez? Promise to adopt the Miami Beach model.

Can someone post the Miami Beach rules on campaign contributions and disclosing compensation in comments? My computer is in the hospital. This is all I can muster on my IPhone. However, when the news of the day is whether there should be a baby changing station in the men's room at Miami City Hall - you know there isn't much going on locally.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are long PDFs on it...

Vendors:
http://bit.ly/wrbm2g

Real Estate Developers
http://bit.ly/wtHsiV

Anonymous said...

How about electing people who are intelligent enough to make a decision based on the idea, as opposed to how many campaign checks they get?
How about electing people who read about a variety of issues, and do their due diligence, instead of just looking at their campaign coffers.

How about eliminating private funding of campaigns entirely? This is the best way. Genius of Despair, no offense, but I don't think you really have a good understanding of the political process. If you did, you would know that the lobbyists aren't the problem, the problem is the system, and the caliber of people we elect.

Anonymous said...

There is plenty going on in the city of Miami,but no one wants to run with the stories.
Why in a city that is already 35 million dollars in the hole are commissioners spending precious dollars on a campaign that is a direct ripoff of the Romney believe campaign? And why are the cosponsors fuel and outdoor advertising? Ok ,I know the answer is corruption.
Why are they also wasting dollars on baby changing stations?
Why push for longer terms for the worst mayor in history?
Why won't the dread Rick Scott appoint an oversight board?
So many more questions but no one to ask them...

Geniusofdespair said...

Spoken like a lobbyist. Jack Abramoff believes lobbyists are a problem so don't try to say I don't know the problem. Your own kind is asking for reform.

An uninformed electorate swayed by TV ads is certainly a problem but you can't fix stupid people and stop them from putting bad candidates in office. Your saying eliminate private funding from campaigns would limit free speech in the supreme court's eyes.

Anonymous said...

Got your call about Miami Beach's rules...today's nuts so i don't have time to get into it, but here's a link to our code and the lobbyist log that includes what they make: http://web.miamibeachfl.gov/cityclerk/scroll.aspx?id=14052

rw

Alberto said...

Anonymous said, Genius doesn't have a good understanding of the political process

Isn't that insulting the blogger? How come you posted him and not me?

Geniusofdespair said...

Yes I took that as an insult, shouldn't have bothered with an answer.

I am in a piss poor mood without a computer. Do not test my limits today -- not in the mood for having my buttons pushed. When you have your own blog the one saving grace is you get to delete smart ass comments from people whose only motive is to annoy/feel superior. You can disagree without jabbing me. As you might have guessed I deleted his/her follow up.

Anonymous said...

Lobbyists = Losers

Anonymous said...

3rd Anon: How about people going to the polls and voting instead of 13% and lower showing up after all the work many of us who work on campaigns do?

Cut the complaints and tell us how to get people to the polls and we will listen.

The biggest reason why we are so pathetic is that the people have no idea of the political process. Genius knows it and I know it, but how do we get the knowledge to the people? How do we put it in their heads? HOW DO WE CONVINCE THEM TO VOTE?

Who is willing to start the education?

Who will say to the millions of immigrants entering our country over the years to forget the politics of your mother country and learn how politics are conducted in the US?

We have dozens of cultures wanting to get their way and how the hell do we sit them down and tell them to STOP? You live in America now and we have our own laws, our own systems developed by our forefathers. You came here to get away from your mother countries so learn the damn laws, rules and regulations of the political process and follow them.

Learn that you cannot simply elect your ignorant friends and relations who have no concept of the United States' political system and expect to get anywhere other than where you came from.

I am an immigrant also but I had the good sense to know I could not bring the laws I ran from here plus I had the good fortune of being taught the political process by some of the best political minds America had to offer at the time whom I sought out because I wanted to learn. It was an education I could not buy and I did everything I could do to learn.

Go to the library and get a book or books that will at least give you ideas and knowledge you can build on. I am so sick of all the complaints from people who are too lazy to get up and do something about it.

COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, and then insult those of us who are trying.

Every time I listen to those jokers on the County Commission I want to throw up. These people don't have a clue how it is done or what they are doing. They are nothing more than a bunch of losers who couldn't find anything else to do and took the easy way out. They ran for election and we fools elected them! And what did we get in return? They brought their ignorant friends, relations and wannabees into the county and gave them the jobs instead of seeking out people with strong minds and ethics, people with related education who could show them the way.

I stopped listening to County Commission meetings. They have their hand-picked staff running around pretending to give advice
when all they do is tell is tell the commissioner everything they want to hear which is how to be corrupt, how to get something for nothing, and work the streets.

The fact is that unless you are prepared to come to the table with ideas and is ready to do the grunt work, to get in the trenches, sit at your computer and write and plan all day and all night, to bring in your neighbors and TRY TO PUT SOME SENSE INTO THE HEADS OF YOUR IGNORANT FRIENDS AND RELATIONS and everyone else
you can get to help, DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD!

Anonymous said...

What's all the fuzz about Anon above. Education? Game plan? What to do? Ideas? Brother please. This is an age old problem. Can it be possible that people just don't give a shit? No matter what you say or do. Human nature...

Anonymous said...

G.O.D.
Someone just told me you're a man! Really? I've always imagined you as a woman. Wow! Gotta change my mental image now!

Geniusofdespair said...

Hmmm. Interesting. I like the option of being either.

Anonymous said...

Anon & Anon (from above), I don't buy the no solution argument Re: age old problem.

Why not try to shift the "human nature" perception that Miamians don't give a crap. Yes they do! I've seen hundreds of them in action doing some amazing things at the community level. But take it up a notch to county commissions and there's no purity of agenda there, thanks to the system aka lobbyists. Amen to the Miami Beach finance limits (though I haven't read them, good to know something like that actually exists).

What's up with our local ad Talent?? PRINT and DISTRIBUTE those lobbyist playing cards! Where are all the badass "change Miami for the better" ads? Public sentiment is just too deep in the hole. Props to the team who finally digs it out and instills hope.

Use art forums like Basel to spread the word on the scumbags, spread some shame where it is due, and highlight what's in it for NON-VOTERS if they actually turn up at the polls. It's Miami - if there's no hot sex happening at the poll station, you know our bitter Cuban grandparents are the only ones turning up!

Miami needs an indie PRINT publisher focused on cracking corruption, a sexy Miami-Herald to make voting hot, and an organized brand campaign bent on taking Miami back for those who truly love it.

Just take a page out of the GOP's national campaigning handbook. Miami-Dade game-changers need a unified brand to create one voice with a clear message that will PENETRATE ;-), and allow us to attract and hire some incorruptibly ethical finance managers (yes they do exist) with a few head-cracking auditors, along with a real mayor/city mgr combo.

Thanks again Gimlet and Genius for all you do!
-Fanforyears

Geniusofdespair said...

What ever you did to pump it up...I want some! Thanks for an inspiring comment!

Anonymous said...

thanks Genius,

btw RW-

I read the City of Miami Beach lobbyist sections listed on the municode wesite you posted, nice ordinance but I'm imagining how many fun ways to get around these. Sec. 2-485.1. on Penalties: if a lobbyist gets caught being naughty, seems like: oh no, slap on the wrist badboy and your contract or proposal is voided, and you get publicly shamed, ohhh nooo! (read: resubmit proposals under different entity, building contractor-style).

Not much of a shenanigan deterrent. This CMB lobbyist PENALTY section references Metro Date County Code and the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. I know little about these public bodies, but can venture a guess as to the strength and resources available for actual ENFORCEMENT.

And the code states that the lobbyist who commits violations has THREE chances before loosing their license!? Corrupt Miamians aren't lacking in imagination and creativity.

Also, I only saw hourly compensation rates for lobbyists - no totals. Is anyone tracking or ranking the highest earners per city? Would be fun to know so we can give their offices a call - and we can all know their "official" positions and see if they square with what's actually passing; some stats for the backs of the playing cards.

Maybe we can work on strengthening the penalties for the madmen, and bring them into the 21st century.

Sincerely,
VivaLaRebublica (Banana)

Lobby This! said...

let me come right out and identify myself as a lobbyist who is very familiar with miami beach and other local governments.

i have no problems with disclosure in general, and the miami beach ordinances in particular. just keep in mind what they can and can't do. and in miami beach's case, they drove a lot of the money underground, completely out of site.

here are some highlights:

--the prohibition against certain entities from contributing "campaign" contributions lead to an onslaught of soft-money contributions, a lot of it completely out of site. lobbyists, vendors and a few other people can NOT give hard money contributions. so they give to CCEs, which are commingled and don't have to file that often. ECOs, which are commingled but do disclose more offten. or "527s" -- which do NOT disclose donors to ANYONE if they keep contributions under $25k/year.

certain commissioners there, namely Jonah Wolfson, is the king of soft money. i've given, as haave my clients. we have to.

is this better than the old system, where there was disclsoure? i will leave that to you.

--the disclsoure of lobbying fees is full of loopholes. it's very easy to LEGALLY get around reporting the true dollar value of the lobbying work. i won't divulge details, but it's just a fact of life.

that said, it's generally pretty good. most of the lawyer-lobbyists over there -- and they are the ones who make out the best because of the many quasi-judicial land-use boards there -- report straight hourly fees, and everything i've heard says they are being honest.

--the Beach's "cone of silence" is very strict. but it actually makes things WORSE for commissioners to sort out the truth. it gives way too much power to the city manager, who controls everything right up until the commissioners vote. if you have a city mger whom you trust, and everyone generally agrees with, then fine. if not, he/she can easily play favorites and the public will have absolutely no idea until just before the cone of silence is lifted at the city commission meeting.

there you go. everything you need to know aobut miami beach's ethics/campaign finance regulations.