The CS Monitor finally begins catching up on the K-Street project, recognizing that this isn’t your daddy’s political corruption. While the make the key association, their “endorsment” of action at the end is weak.
The question around town now is what should be done to clean up lobbying? But the moment after it is asked there are a series of provisos about how Abramoff is a rare case and most lobbyists are honest and play by the rules. And since what Abramoff did was against the law already, what more can be done?
There’s something of a point there. Lobbying isn’t a dirty profession by definition, after all. It is an established part of the political process that helps groups and individuals get what they want from the system. But because of what they do, lobbyists naturally dance on a fine line, and it is guaranteed they will step over it from time to time.
That’s all true, of course. It’s just that they probably tend to go a lot further over the line when the political parties give them a push.