David Cameron vows to tackle 'secret corporate lobbying'

David Cameron today claimed that "secret corporate lobbying" was undermining public confidence in the political system.


In a speech at the University of East London, which he also used to attack Gordon Brown personally over his handling of the MPs' expenses controversy, the Conservative leader said he would force ex-ministers to wait two years before they are allowed to take a job lobbying government.


Cameron said lobbying was an issue that "has tainted our politics for too long".


He went on: "We all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisers for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way. In this party, we believe in competition, not cronyism.


"So we must be the party that sorts all this out. Today it is a £2bn industry that has a huge presence in parliament. The Hansard Society has estimated that some MPs are approached over 100 times a week by lobbyists.


"I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics. It arouses people's worst fears and suspicions about how our political system works."


Under the current rules ex-ministers have to wait a year after they leave office before they can take a job lobbying government. Cameron said he would double this quarantine period and force ex-ministers to wait two years.


Ex-ministers also have to seek the advice of the advisory committee on business appointments if they want to take a private sector job in the first two years after they leave office.


Cameron said he would make rulings from the committee binding, not advisory, as they are now. He also said that ex-ministers who defied the committee would lose part of their ministerial pension.

Source:guardian.co.uk/

Indianapolis adopts stricter rules for lobbyists

The city on Wednesday unveiled new reporting requirements for lobbyists who target its officials and employees, and they're stricter than the standards for lobbying state lawmakers.

The new policies take effect Jan. 1 and will require lobbyists to register in a public database. Starting in January 2011, they also must file annual reports with the city that detail what they were paid for each meeting with elected officials, board members and city employees.






Lobbyists also must log how much they spent on meals and gifts for members of those groups and, for expenditures of $25 or more, for whom they were purchased.

The requirements apply to anyone who makes more than $1,000 a year from lobbying activities. They are part of a lobbying reform proposal passed earlier this year by the City-County Council and a citywide ethics initiative pushed by Mayor Greg Ballard.

Ballard said the changes would provide a "window for taxpayers to better understand how decisions that affect them are made."

"Citizens deserve to know who these (lobbyists) are and who they're talking to," he said. "We knew this needed to be done to make everything as transparent as possible."

The new rules are stricter than those for state-level lobbyists, who must report expenditures and gifts twice a year but need only itemize expenses by lawmakers' names if they exceed $100 a day or $500 a year.

Single gifts of more than $100, or $250 worth of gifts in a year, to a state lawmaker must be reported separately by the legislator's name within seven days.

Like the state, the city doesn't limit how much local elected officials may accept from lobbyists. That has raised criticism at the state level in light of the $25.8 million lobbyists invested to woo state lawmakers during the most recent annual reporting period.

The extent to which local elected officials are lobbied varies, but some on the council say it's not as often as at the state level.

Bob Cockrum, a Republican who serves as the council president, said he gets about 10 meals a year from various groups, including businesses and nonprofits, and they vary from simple breakfasts to dinners at upscale restaurants.

Source:indystar.com/