Thursday, December 13, 2007

Ethics Committee sets guidelines on attendance to convention events

WE’VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com

The House Ethics Committee released their guidelines on convention events on Tuesday.
The sweeping new rules should make lobbyists rethink their extravagant plans.

Most important, lobbyists or organizations that employ lobbyists cannot underwrite parties that honor a member or members of Congress by name.

“Thus, an event that is organized to honor a delegation or caucus, without naming any specific Member or the delegation or caucus, or providing any special benefit or opportunity to a particular Member, would be an event that Members may participate in,” the House ethics advisory opinion states.

But ethics experts hired to interpret the rules for lobbyists or their parent organizations are not crying in their beers.- The Hill

Shocking isn’t it? They won’t be able to say their party is for a specific member or members only for a group (as long as said members of that group are not named).

You can read the entire list of rules here

Posted by Oreo at 11:08 AM

Ethics Committee sets guidelines on attendance to convention events2007-12-13T11:08:00-05:00Oreo