"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
...

"HeyBub" wrote

The lobbyists are the experts on proposed legislation. Even a congressman
with a huge staff cannot be expected to know all the ramifications of
pending legislation. Do you really want a congress-critter to determine
the railroad tariff on hydrogenated yak-fat with no input from the yak
industry?

Tough call. You are right that the lobbyist may be the expert, but they
are out to sell, not just inform. I'm not sure how you can control that.
The Yak Fat lobby is always trying to get the ear of a congress person,
wanted or not. Far better would be to seek them out on an "as needed"
basis.

Disallow any contact with legislators except that initiated by private
individuals. If a company wants to talk with a congress critter, let the CEO
get in line with everyone else. If a congress critter wants information, the
critter should initiate the contact. ALL contacts between ALL congress
critters and anyone else should be logged and the information publicly
available. If the contact is with anyone other than a Constituent, the
purpose of the contact should be logged, taped, and publicly available.
Nothing other than full transparency is acceptable.