RALEIGH – On Thursday morning, members of two Senate committees will reportedly consider a bill to reform North Carolina’s lobbying laws.
This is real news. Just weeks ago, the proposal – which would put limits on personal gifts to lawmakers and administrative officials from lobbyists and require all lobbying expenditures to be reported, not just those facilitating a direct pitch on a specific bill – wasn’t seen by some political observers I talked to as having much of a chance of making it through the legislative gauntlet.
Now, however, the measure appears to have momentum, at least in one of the chambers. What’s going on?
I’m a supporter of lobbying reform, so perhaps I’m biased in my judgment on this, but I never bought the “dead-on-arrival” line peddled by some. I thought it had a good chance of passage, and still do. Yes, a similar push fell short last year. The situation has changed, however. There is a heightened sense of concern about the legislative process, for a variety of reasons. Lawmakers have good reason to share that concern, and to want to do something to allay it.
Folks on both sides of the issue sometimes portray it simplistically as an “attack” on the current General Assembly and its leadership. That’s not true – or, at least, it doesn’t have to be so. In other states, lobbying reforms have typically followed investigations, and in some cases prosecutions. Obviously, it’s not likely to be in the interest of North Carolina leaders to let problems fester until they become scandals here. It’s better to take preemptive action that protects legislators and lobbyists alike from the inevitable temptations that come with power, access to power, and shadows.
Clearer laws would give lobbyists a good reason not to throw so many expensive parties or retreats – and a good reason not to fear that an unwillingness to throw them will harm their clients’ interests. Similarly, clearer laws would give conscientious lawmakers a good reason not to attend such events, or accept expensive gifts or meals – and a good reason not to expect their unwillingness to “play the game” to harm their future prospects or constituents’ interests.
More generally, both legislative- and executive-branch leaders need to consider the potentially deleterious consequences of perpetuating the current system. Average North Carolinians may not pay a great deal of daily attention to the workings of state government, but they sense that something isn’t quite right. They smell smoke, perhaps even see it billowing around, and figure there must be a fire burning somewhere, or someone.
Perhaps there isn’t. The political class in Raleigh is prone to gossip, I have found, often turning a few simple facts into many elaborate fictions through a not-so-grown-up version of the old kids’ game of telephone. In a sense, it really doesn’t matter at this point if stories of state-government corruption are overblown. They have traveled far enough to take on a political significance. Those in charge of state government, if they are wise, will recognize the value of lobbying reform in dispelling at least the appearance of impropriety, if not the purported impropriety itself.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.