House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert’s plan for lobbyist "reform" would ban meals and travel for lawmakers paid by lobbyists.
Goodness, what an ardous burden that would be to the grasping class, er, Congress. Imagine, no freebie $200 meals in exclusive restaurants. Truly, we can not ask them to suffer such indignities.
Ah, you didn’t actually think Congress would police themselves, even this teensy little bit, did you?
According to lobbyists and ethics experts, even if Hastert’s proposal is enacted, members of Congress and their staffs could still travel the world on an interest group’s expense and eat steak on a lobbyist’s account at the priciest restaurants in Washington.
The only requirement would be that whenever a lobbyist pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a campaign contribution. Then the transaction would be perfectly okay.
So, they get the golf trip to Scotland AND a contribution. Plus they can now say their ethics are squeaky clean too!
In other words, they are so corrupt and uncaring of public opinion they barely try to pretend they will reform themselves.