THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The NY Times has an article about 'moderate' GOP congressmoops and their method of choice for hustling the lobbyists. In essence they dress their pig in something less whorish.

For $5,000, a lobbyist can join lawmakers and staff members of the alliance, the Republican Main Street Partnership, for a lunchtime policy briefing by an outside expert. For $15,000, the lobbyist can attend four lunches, two of them with briefings by an outside expert and two with briefings from members of Congress.

And for $25,000, the lobbyist can have three lunch briefings with lawmakers, not to mention V.I.P. seating for eight at a black-tie dinner for the moderates' coalition....

.....Until last year, the partnership's corporate fund-raising appeal also included an "annual trip with members" and an "annual trip with staff" for donors who gave $25,000 or more. The group canceled those events in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal,

Business as usual you might say were it not for some of the members of this group.

Offering special access to lawmakers in exchange for financial contributions is hardly uncommon on Capitol Hill, and the Main Street Partnership is well within the law in seeking such donations. But under the reforms the group helped pass four years ago, soliciting corporate or unrestricted individual contributions is illegal for political candidates or the national political parties.

The partnership can seek unlimited and undisclosed corporate donations because it is organized as a nonprofit advocacy group. Other groups of that type, like People for the American Way or the National Rifle Association, can do the same thing, but the partnership is a rare example of one that is dominated by elected officials and operates outside campaign finance rules to promote its agenda.

Its fund-raising tactics are especially notable because the group includes Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, two lawmakers who have led the calls to tighten lobbying and campaign finance rules.

Now that they have checked the pulse of the home district and found little flak from Casino Jack, it is back to the good old days with a little more discretion for now.