Word: earmarking
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...revolving door that helps perpetuate the cozy world of lobbying for such favors as earmarks-the suddenly controversial system by which the House and Senate Appropriations Committees dish out tens of billions of dollars in pork from the $843 billion a year in discretionary spending they doled out for this year. President Bush and new House Majority Leader John Boehner are now calling for reform of the clubby earmark game. But Appropriations Committee members and the many other pork enthusiasts in Congress have long staved off such change-partly because constituents have seldom got mad at their own representatives...
...House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; House panel members Patrick Kennedy and John Murtha, who would later lambast President Bush over the Iraq war; and Senator Diane Feinstein-along with the many more thousands he showered on GOP members. "This ethically challenged behavior should speak volumes about the need for earmark reform," says Naomi Steiner of Citizens for Responsiblity and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group...
...million in illegal gifts to Appropriations Committee member Duke Cunningham, who late last year resigned and pleaded guilty to taking bribes. Scofield, backed by disclosure filings, says Shockey did not lobby for ADCS. In fact, Scofield and Shockey?s attorney, Oldaker, insist Shockey plays no role in earmark decisions...
...recent weeks, Oldaker-also an earmark specialist who was recently dropped as treasurer for the political action committees of several senior Democratic senators, including Minority Leader Harry Reid, after articles drew attention to his lobbying activity-said Shockey has recused himself from any matter involving any of Copeland, Lowery?s 100 or so clients, though they haven?t put it in writing. "We probably, if we'd fast-forwarded to the current time, would have done that" a year ago, Oldaker said, referring to the ethics climate fostered by the Abramoff scandal. What remains to be seen is whether...
...Despite these distractions, the House and Senate seem likely to eventually pass some limited changes: greater transparency of which members of Congress have put an earmark into a bill, more disclosure of gifts and contacts of lobbyists with lawmakers, and stricter rules on former congressional staffers or members taking lobbying jobs. But the more dramatic reforms being discussed immediately post-Abramoff, like stopping lawmakers from using corporate jets and "leadership PACs"-which aspiring congressional leaders use to dole out money to and curry favor with other members, and often have lobbyists serving as treasurers-now have a much smaller chance...