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The Scarlet "L": Lobbying Reform And The First Amendment, Mona Sheth
The Scarlet "L": Lobbying Reform And The First Amendment, Mona Sheth
Legislation and Policy Brief
While the enactment of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA) in Congress shifted the lobbying industry towards heightened transparency and stronger ethics, future reforms of the executive branch threatened the constitutional rights of lobbyists. As the following pages summarize, the collective forces of the 2008 presidential campaign, executive ethics order, and stimulus restrictions also endangered the success of the congressional response. An examination of the Obama Administration’s executive directives and an exploration of the constitutional issues implicated in the ARRA guidance on stimulus funds reveal that disclosure and enforcement are more effective (and constitutional) methods to …
Why The Honest Leadership And Open Government Act Of 2007 Falls Short, And How It Could Be Improved, Rand Robins
Why The Honest Leadership And Open Government Act Of 2007 Falls Short, And How It Could Be Improved, Rand Robins
Legislation and Policy Brief
This paper will examine the track record of federal and state lobbying and campaign finance laws, as well as related First Amendment litigation, and propose alternative regulatory regimes accounting for the concerns raised when lobbying and campaign finance intersect. The scope of this paper will be limited in large measure by focusing on the HLOGA registration and disclosure provisions, and addressing campaign finance law tangentially where appropriate. Intended to bring greater transparency to the inner-workings of government, some of these provisions actually facilitate the potential of a small number of lobbyists to distort the political process.