Former lobbyist, now jailbird, Kevin A. Ring shared some valuable words of wisdom in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post this week [1].

He says that the gift limit should be zero, because any other limit will be abused (what he doesn't say is that any exception will also be abused). He also notes that "Numerous psychologists and behavioral economists have confirmed the principle of reciprocity: People are hard-wired to repay even small favors or gifts. For officeholders, this benign, evolutionary instinct could come back to hurt them."

Ring also notes that all rules that apply to officials should also apply to lobbyists (he should have added, "and their principals or clients"), because "Every lobbyist knows that conflicted feeling when a lawmaker whose help you need asks you for something you know he or she probably should not take. You want to say 'yes' for your and your client’s benefit. And, let’s face it, if a gift prohibition applies only to the officeholder, a lobbyist will find it easy to do the wrong thing." In other words, gift bans protect lobbyists from pay to play.

Ring then points out one problem for officials in depending on criminal enforcement to deal with ethical misconduct:

If [state legislatures] don’t act, the feds will. A career-climbing federal prosecutor enjoys nothing so much as playing white knight to the scourge of public corruption, especially the corruption found in an opposing political party.

Ring realizes that it's how the public thinks — the appearance of impropriety — that counts. He knows that all the insistence that "I can't be bought" is meaningless, and only adds to the public's cynicism. And with respect to criminal enforcement, officials and lobbyists are in trouble because "Most employees (read: prospective jurors) are not offered free meals, tickets and trips at their jobs and see no reason that public servants deserve such freebies." In other words, no one sympathizes with elected officials who want to be allowed to accept gifts.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research, City Ethics

203-230-2548