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.Castle supports lobbying bill that Democrats and activists call “a farce”
NEWARK, Del. – Dennis Spivack, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, today voiced his disappointment with Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., for voting to bring House Resolution 4975, the so-called Lobbyist Reform Bill, up for a vote.
Castle voted with 215 other Republicans on Thursday to send the bill to the floor for consideration; 207 members of Congress, including all House Democrats and 12 House Republicans who split from their party, voted no.
“This bill is a joke, an absolute insult to Americans who are looking for our lawmakers to limit the amount of influence now more than everthat money has on how our nation is governed,” Spivack said. “But Mike Castle was there, and he voted with the rest of the Republicans to protect big business and other special interest groups who rely on lobbyists like Jack Abramaoff to buy their influence. This is the same Mike Castle who earlier in the year voted with the Republicans to relax the House rules to allow Tom Delay to remain in a House leadership position after being indicted.”
Among its inadequacies, H.R. 4975 does not include provisions requiring lobbyists to keep track of their contacts with lawmakers and report fundraising activities. Democrats and activists say the bill is now too weak to change the money culture in Washington.
"It is an embarrassingly trivial response to the culture of corruption that has thrived under this Republican Congress," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California told The Washington Post Friday.
“This is classic Mike Castle,” said Spivack, who also pointed to The Post’s April 25 editorial calling the bill “Sham Lobbying Reform.” “He pretends to be a moderate, but when it comes right down to it, he votes with the likes of Tom Delay and George Bush’s other legislative minions. If Castle were a real moderate, he would have voted against this resolution and called for a bill that would provide for real lobbyist reform.”
Spivack, a native Delawarean and Vietnam veteran, is a Wilmington attorney who has been involved in Democratic politics for more than 25 years. For more information about Dennis Spivack, visit www.spivackforcongress.org.
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