Influence
February 7, 2008
Carry Levine
It’s all enough to stymie Miss Manners.
The Senate Ethics Committee last week came out with guidance for senators hoping to attend lobbyist-sponsored parties at the national political conventions. The Senate’s guidelines are, naturally, slightly different from those issued late last year by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct—just to make it all a little more complicated for party hosts who don’t want to violate ethics etiquette.
The House committee had ruled that such parties are allowed, as long as they meet other rules governing events that lawmakers may attend (finger food only, folks!) and don’t honor a specific member—though they could honor delegations or caucuses, for instance. The Senate has gone a step further, asserting that the senators also can’t attend parties where the honorees are solely members of Congress.
Stefan Passantino, a partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge who advises members of Congress and outside groups on ethics, says he’s warned clients to avoid any perception that they’re violating the spirit of the law. For instance, he says, it could cross a line “to have a major party honoring a member the Sunday night” before the convention starts—even though it would be technically allowed. Watchdog groups objected to the House ruling, saying it left too many loopholes. Still, the further guidance was enough to spur lobbyists to start planning parties. Now, in the wake of the Senate ruling, lobbyists have to avoid honoring groups of lawmakers—something Passantino says many of his clients were going to avoid anyway. And the Senate ruling explicitly notes that honoring “Nevada Republican Officials” as opposed to the “Nevada Congressional Delegation” would be fine.
Of course, all the other ethics rules still apply to the event. That means no pricey gift bags, and no sit-down six-course meals.
And expect the party police to be out in force.