Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994 TAG: 9405120187
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated PresS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
On a vote of 95-4, senators adopted a sweeping set of restrictions that was bitterly debated over three days last week.
The bill's primary sponsor, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the action ``will help restore confidence ... that we are not too cozy with paid lobbyists.''
The bill would amend House and Senate rules to bar lawmakers and their staffs from accepting virtually anything - including meals, travel, and entertainment - from registered lobbyists. It also would ban most gifts from non-lobbyists.
It was aimed particularly at eliminating corporate-sponsored golf, ski and tennis trips and lobbyist-paid retreats, which have been highlighted in television exposes.
The bill did contain a list of exceptions, including for meals and entertainment offered in a lawmaker's home state, and for gifts motivated by ``personal friendship.''
It also included a provision doubling to two years the cooling-off period in which former top-level congressional and executive branch officials would be barred from lobbying their former colleagues. For top federal trade negotiators, the ban would be 10 years.
``There is far too much money flowing from far too many interest groups,'' said Fred Wertheimer, president of the self-styled citizens lobby, Common Cause. ``This closes down one central form of the spigot.''
The gifts issue was sent to a House-Senate conference committee to work out differences with a far milder gift ban adopted by the House, and to meld it with a broader bill that would tighten the registration and disclosure of lobbying activities.
by CNB