February 29, 2008

Contact: Naomi Seligman Steiner 202.408.5565 nseligman@citizensforethics.org

29 Feb 2008 // Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a brief as amicus curiae supporting the constitutionality of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA). HLOGA imposes a new disclosure requirement that applies to lobbyists who are hired by coalitions and associations to pursue the interests of association members before executive and legislative branch officials. Under HLOGA, lobbyists and lobbyist employers are required to disclose the identities of coalition and association members that contribute a threshold minimum dollar amount ($5,000 during a quarterly period) and "actively participate" in the planning, supervision, or control of the lobbyist's activities.

HLOGA seeks to pierce the veil of secrecy that surrounds stealth coalitions that lobby Congress and the federal executive branch on behalf of coalition members.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has challenged HLOGA's new disclosure provision as overbroad, and has claimed that the required disclosures will infringe on the First Amendment interests of its members. Nat’l Ass’n of Mfrs. v. Taylor, 08cv208 (D.D.C.).

With its brief opposing NAM's complaint, CREW supports the government's efforts to curb both actual undue influence by lobbyists and the appearance of such undue influence.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett, speaking on the House floor in May 2007 in favor of HLOGA, explained the necessity of HLOGA's lobbying disclosure requirement: "[o]f course, [as] President Harry Truman said, 'The buck stops here.' But with stealth lobbying we don't know where 'here' is or whose buck it is."

As argued by CREW in its brief, HLOGA clearly withstands First Amendment scrutiny, and the district court should accordingly deny NAM's challenge to the statute.