1995 Bill Clinton - Lobbying Disclosure Act

In 1987, a major scandal involving a South Bronx military contractor broke out. Prosecutors charged that executives of the company forged $6 million worth of Government invoices, bribed auditors, stole $2 million from stockholders, and used fraud and deception to qualify for Federal contracts set aside for minority-owned businesses. In addition, a former top political aide to President Reagan was accused of improperly lobbying the White House after leaving office. By 1988. the crimes of Wedtech had become too numerous to hide, and independent counsel was appointed by Congress to investigate.  In the end, more than 20 state, local and federal government officials were convicted of crimes in connection to the scandal. The investigation noted that all of the lobbying activity went unreported, and even involved bringing government officials. The investigation highlighted holes in the current lobbying laws and prompted a hearing on lobbying registration and reporting problems. This hearing led to congress, for the first time in 50 years making a real attempt at closing the many loopholes of the 1946 Lobbying Disclosure Act. Finally in 1995, President Clinton worked with House Speaker Newt Gingrich to find bi-partisan support for congress to pass a fairly sweeping Lobbying Disclosure Act, and on December 19, 1995 it was signed by President Clinton.

The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 required that any individual lobbyist register with the secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives within 45 days after making any contact with the President, Vice-President, member of congress or any Federal officer. The Lobbying Disclosure Act defined a lobbyist as one who meets these three tests:

1. Do you make more than $3,000 over three months from lobbying? 
2. Have you had more than one lobbying contact? 
3. Have you spent more than 20 percent of your time lobbying for a single client over three months?

In his 1995 State of the Union, President Bill Clinton urged congress to take action. Not only legislative action, but personal action. He began by saying " that we cannot ask Americans to be better citizens if we are not better servants". He reminded them that there were three times more lobbyists in Washington in 1995, then there were in 1975. Clinton urged congress to pass a bill that would "require lobbyists to tell the people for whom they work what they're spending, what they want". But more than that, he asked congress to "Just stop". Just stop taking the lobbyists' perks.  No need to wait for a legislation to pass, just stop.

"Let me begin by saying that we cannot ask Americans to be better citizens if we are not better servants. You made a good start by passing that law which applies to Congress all the laws you put on the private sector, and I was proud to sign it yesterday. But we have a lot more to do before people really trust the way things work around here. Three times as many lobbyists are in the streets and corridors of Washington as were here 20 years ago. The American people look at their Capital, and they see a city where the well-connected and the well-protected can work the system, but the interests of ordinary citizens are often left out.

As the new Congress opened its doors, lobbyists were still doing business as usual; the gifts, the trips, all the things that people are concerned about haven't stopped. Twice this month you missed opportunities to stop these practices. I know there were other considerations in those votes, but I want to use something that I've heard my Republican friends say from time to time, "There doesn't have to be a law for everything." So tonight I ask you to just stop taking the lobbyists' perks. Just stop. We don't have to wait for legislation to pass to send a strong signal to the American people that things are really changing. But I also hope you will send me the strongest possible lobby reform bill, and I'll sign that, too.

We should require lobbyists to tell the people for whom they work what they're spending, what they want. We should also curb the role of big money in elections by capping the cost of campaigns and limiting the influence of PAC's. And as I have said for 3 years, we should work to open the airwaves so that they can be an instrument of democracy, not a weapon of destruction, by giving free TV time to candidates for public office."

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. 2021. Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-11> [Accessed 20 May 2021].

En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying_Disclosure_Act_of_1995> [Accessed 20 May 2021].

En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Wedtech scandal - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedtech_scandal> [Accessed 20 May 2021].

Nytimes.com. 2021. Opinion | So Who’s a Lobbyist? (Published 2012). [online] Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/opinion/so-whos-a-lobbyist.html> [Accessed 20 May 2021].

Nytimes.com. 2021. The Trail of Influence: 21 Key Figures in the Wedtech Scandal (Published 1987). [online] Available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/31/nyregion/the-trail-of-influence-21-key-figures-in-the-wedtech-scandal.html> [Accessed 20 May 2021].