Time to Drain the Swamp

Time to Drain the Swamp
By: Paul A. Miller
      President

If I were new to the lobbying profession or I didn’t suffer through the Jack Abramoff scandal or even listen to the countless number of candidates over my 20 plus years in this profession tell voters how once elected they were going to drain the swamp in Washington, I might actually be offended.  When I hear these things, I simply shake my head and ask which candidate is running behind and in desperate need of an issue to scare voters with.
 
Donald Trump is just the latest candidate to take this message to the voters.  I won’t criticize candidates who actually live their lives and run their campaigns by these beliefs, but the problem with this is we have yet to find one candidate who meets this standard.  Those who have been in this profession know that these attacks are nothing more than political attacks.  I do find it quite funny how in one hour a candidate can be talking about draining the swamp and in the next hour a fundraising notice crosses my desk asking me to be an important part of the team by donating generously to their campaign.  Again, part of the problem voters have today is they don’t trust Washington.  This annual ritual of hypocrisy is just what voters have come to hate.   Frankly, it should be something all of us in this profession should have had enough with.  I have a solution for anyone running for office this year or in the future.  How about you stop asking lobbyists for money.  How about you return any money you’ve received from lobbyists or PAC’s.  How about you simply stop asking lobbyists to raise money for your re-election.  Problem solved!
 
When the Democrats were on the verge of recapturing the House in 2007, we heard Representative Nancy Pelosi use this exact phrase (Let's drain the swamp).  When then Senator Barack Obama was running for President, we heard this same line of attacks.  President Obama took his dislike for lobbyists further when he issued his Executive Order banning lobbyists from serving in his administration.  The problem with this ban was he immediately went against his own EO when he appointed several top level lobbyists to serve in the White House.  I guess they were the “good” lobbyists.  Then in 2013 President Obama appointed former Senator Chuck Hagel (who I have great respect for) to serve in the position of Secretary of Defense.  Chuck Hagel had been a lobbyist. This is not just Democrats being hypocritical, Republicans do it as well.
 
The closer we get to election day the louder these attacks become.  This isn’t new.  It happens every election cycle like clockwork.  These are and will continue to be hollow comments.  Yes, it may stir up some outside of Washington, but I doubt it rises to the level of concern for most voters.   If you asked the average voter today what is more important to them draining the swamp or jobs, I think the answer is jobs.  This won’t stop candidates from throwing us under the bus in order to take the real attention away from their lack of getting things done. 
 
We are seeing a real anger directed at Washington and it’s not at lobbyists, but rather those on both sides of the aisle we elect to govern this country.  I’ll admit we get thrown into all of this just by the nature of our jobs.  If you’re a candidate or sitting member of Congress the best way to set yourself apart is by pushing the blame onto those dirty corrupt special interests (or my favorite - The Washington Cartel).  It’s great fodder for press releases, campaign literature, fundraising material, the media eats it up, and some voters buy into it, but the reality is it’s not an effective campaign strategy.  This attack line only gets you so much with voters.  Today voters are angry and want results and it’s not us who they have their eyes set on.
 
Donald Trump is getting praise for his pledge to drain the swamp, but let’s be honest, this is nothing more than an effort to strengthen the support he has with new and disenfranchised voters.  This is an effort to tie us to Hillary Clinton and the anti-Washington sentiment.   
 
Let’s breakdown Mr. Trumps plans if he were to be elected President.
 
Let me first say, the National Institute For Lobbying & Ethics has been far ahead of all the candidates on lobbying reform.  Earlier this year we appointed a lobbying task force that has been discussing the state of the lobbying profession and the need to re-evaluate the current rules and regulations.  We plan to issue our own plan in early 2017, which will address a lot of the issues Mr. Trump and others continue to use in their campaign rhetoric.    We will see then how engaged these same candidates are and how supportive they are of our plans.  We’re not looking for more loopholes.  We’re not looking for a system that allows it to be corrupted by some.  So many of us have been very open to having a continued dialogue about our profession and how we strengthen it.    
 
Some of the ideas presented by Mr. Trump have merit (with modifications) and others are just thrown out there with no expectation of anything ever happening.  All smoke and mirrors to take voters focus off the issues that impact their lives each and everyday.
 
Promise #1:  Donald Trump plans to institute a 5-year ban on all executive branch officials lobbying the government after they leave government service.  This sounds good, but the reality is, this would have a chilling effect on our government and any Administration’s ability to fill key positions with the best and the brightest.  You would discourage qualified people from seeking out public service and that’s not what we need today.  Public service shouldn’t be looked at as a negative career path, but with Mr. Trumps proposal it will be.  Public service shouldn’t be a career limiting path.  Mr. Trumps proposal will force people to choose between public service and the private sector and 9 times out of 10 the public sector will win just because salary and benefits tend to be better, not to mention public service can be more demanding than you think.  NILE has a plan in this area it will be offering, which we believe is fair and more balanced (and more realistic) than what Mr. Trump is offering.
 
Promise #2:  Donald Trump will ask Congress to institute its own 5-year ban on lobbying by former members of Congress and their staffs.  Do I even need to say why this will go nowhere?  NILE will also be offering a compromise solution to this issue in its recommendations.
 
Promise #3:  Donald Trump will expand the definition of lobbyist so we close all the loopholes that former government officials use by labeling themselves consultants and advisors when they know they are lobbyists.  With this promise, the devil is in the details and I would be interested in hearing from Mr. Trump on what he has in mind.  NILE has spent the past several months discussing this very issue and our lobbying reform recommendations will address this issue in great detail. We will have specifics on how you approach this issue as it’s not as cut and dried as it may sound, but I for one will agree with Mr. Trump changes need to be made to the current definition.  All you need to do is look at the current lobbying registrations and you will see that we are at an all-time record low in the number of people reporting under the Lobbying Disclosure Act as registered lobbyists and yet I’d argue the number of lobbyists has actually expanded.
 
Promise #4: Donald Trump will issue a lifetime ban against senior executive branch officials lobbying on behalf of foreign governments.  Again, would have a chilling effect on public service, but this is one I would see as unconstitutional.  We don’t prohibit those in public service from entering a certain profession after they leave their service. We don’t tell the federal contracting officer they can’t go work for a Fortune 500 company, whose contracts they have been overseeing for years.  We don’t tell a member of Congress who retires that they can’t go work for a company who had issues before them.  Again, this is an area that needs discussion, but when you start talking lifetime bans we need to save those penalties for those who have broken the law and then go back into public service or the lobbying profession. Again, NILE will be addressing this issue in its reform recommendations.
 
Promise #5: Donald Trump will ask Congress to pass campaign finance reform that prevents registered foreign lobbyists from raising money in American elections.  This is another issue that needs broad discussion and debate, but a different conversation than the other issues.  I for one do believe that although lobbying and campaign finance can be tied closely together, that they are separate issues and need to be addressed separately.  NILE will also be offering recommendations in the area of campaign finance in a separate section from its lobbying reform proposals.
 
Promise #6:  Donald Trump will push for a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.  I would argue we already have term limits – elections.  Today, elections are won by tens, hundreds or even a few thousand votes and not by the large margins you once saw.  Just look at the 2010 elections and the number of new members of Congress that were elected.  Since 2010 I think we have had a turnover in Congress of 2/3.  There’s your term limits.  If more people voted each election, you might see even a higher turnover each election cycle. 
 
Overall, I won’t say Donald Trump’s proposal is awful, but what I will say is that it’s unrealistic in its current form and for me personally, disingenuous.  Donald Trump bragged during the Republican primary about how he used the system; how he used lobbyists; how he gave millions of dollars to elected officials.  Heck, Donald Trump was actually one of us. He has been a registered lobbyist according to reports.  So to now turn around and use the tone he has, just doesn’t ring genuine to me.  Again, this is what a lot of candidates do today, they use smoke and mirrors to divert voters from the real issues.  This is more of the same of that.  Heck, the national media spent all of 5-minutes talking about these reforms.  If these were truly the top issues of the day, we would have seen a week of coverage on them, but we didn’t.
 
Since 2015 there have been over 100 bills introduced in Congress that deal with lobbying reform and/or campaign finance reform.  None of them have gone anywhere.  None have had the input of the lobbying profession. I can tell you NILE has met with various members of Congress who have introduced lobbying reform bills and offered recommendations and changes to their approach and none have been willing to take our recommended changes.  This tells me a lot about motives and why certain members have offered these bills.  They are nothing more than political tools.  I have been open about my position in this area.  I think we are one, if not the most regulated and scrutinized professions in this country.  I for one do believe there needs to be changes to the current lobbying rules, not that we need more rules and regulations, but that we need a better system that gets to the heart of the problems we have seen in the past. 
 
When I served as President of the American League of Lobbyists in 2005-2006, I spent a lot of time working on the issue of lobbying reform.  Heck, I spent those two years getting called every name in the book by members of the public due to the Abramoff scandal.   Now as President of the National Institute For Lobbying & Ethics I am doing the same.  I believe we have a profession we all can and should be proud of and it’s our responsibility to make sure we help close any and all loopholes in the rules. I believe it’s our responsibility to be out front leading on these issues.  We are the ones who live and breathe these rules and we are in the best position to create rules and regulations that are fair, balanced and provide the transparency the public says it wants. 
 
It is going to be incumbent on Congress to bring us to the table if they believe there is a problem with the current lobbying rules and changes need to be made.  Passing objective lobbying and campaign finance rules can only be done with our help.  Anything else is bad policy that will only create more loopholes and lots of unintended consequences.  
 
Let’s not be fooled by the drumbeat for reform.  These are desperate pleas by some struggling in the polls and unable to connect with voters.  This rhetoric does make the case to voters that some candidates are simply out of touch with the needs of their constituents.  Instead of talking about issues impacting their lives, some candidates are focusing on issues most voters know very little about. 
 
Let’s not talk about draining the swamp, but instead, let’s talk about how we make the legislative process open, available to everyone and one that works for all not some.  If that’s the dialogue, count me in!