Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-13
LEGISLATION &A1 ST LOBBYING.


g for the punishment of this crime" The
Constitution declares that any person
who seeks to influence the vote OF
g member of the Legislature by bribery,
promise of reward, intimidation or any
"5ther dishonest means, shall be guilty OF
lobbying" Assemblyman Braunhart has,
"a pursuance of this constitutional direc-
ton, drafted a bill to punish the crime of
lobbying. 1t covers more ground than the
constitutional clause upon which it is
ostensibly based, for whereas the latter
d fines lobbying as the influencing of men,
oers of the Legislature BY improper means,
Sir. Braunhart has extended it so as to
include not only legislators, but all public
officers, State, county and municipal. We
observe in much of the new legislation
now being introduced a disposition to
| Ignore the limits of constitutional pre-
scription. Members appear to imagine
t4at the Constitution is merely an
outline or skeleton framework, which
they are at liberty to fill up,
to amplify, and to extend or
alter, as they please. Mr.. Braunharts bill,
however, declares that "any person or per-
sons, who shall directly or indirectly, by
3. offer or promise of money, Office, appoint
"ment, employment, or other thing of any
''value; or who shall by threats or intimida-
& ton endeavor to influence any member of
50 the Legislature, or other public officer,
g whether State, county or municipal, in
90 the discharge, performance or non per-
performance Of any act, duty or obfiga-
g ton pertaining to such office, shall be
deemed guilty of the offense of lobbying,
90 and be liable to indictment for felony
''ald on conviction thereof shall be SEN
g fenced to Imprisonment in the State
Prison for not less than one, nor more
than five years" It will be observed
that this ingenious and sweeping measure
not only aims at the suppression of lobby
ing as it is generally understood, but con-
templates a veritable revolution in Ameri-
can politics, and practical regeneration of
the whole business from beginning to end
The Legislature, when called upon to pass
this BILL must, if satisfied of its
constitutionality, experience considerable
those in which members, however pure
their motives, can hardly escape calumny
if they oppose the measure. Opposition
to it is tolerably certain to brand those
who take that ground, as defenders of the
lobby and though it is very well known
that the relations usually existing between
the members of the three houses are the !
reverse of hostile, it will require much |
moral courage to offer any resistance to a |
law which is supposed to possess so strong |
q popular Endorsement. 1t is said that |
hey have In Pennsylvania law some
what. similar to this one That being the |
case it would be both interesting and i'm
portant to ascertain whether the thing |
called lobbying has been eliminated by the
passage of the statute.
As the Constitution has decreed it, of |
course there must be legislation in the |
premises, and we do not suppose that any
factious opposition to it will be offered.
Mr. Braunharts bill may not be quite the |
right measure, but some law on the subject |
must be enacted, and it really does not |
greatly matter what it is. For no leglsla-
ton can put stop to lobbying, and every
man capable of reflection knows this to be
true. Legislation may render the business
more difficult and dangerous; may drive
it from the open daylight, and compel it to
burrow underground but statutes are
powerless to control a practice which has
been engendered in the venality and cor
ruptness of human nature. Given a per-
fectly pure and incorruptible Legislature
and lobbying would die Of inanition, with
out any legislation at all. But perfectly
pure and incorruptible Legislatures never
assemble. All such bodies have their
black sheep, and wherever there are black |
sheep there will be found means to pur-
suppress lobbying are in the nature of eff
forts to cure wounds by putting medica-
ments on the weapons with which they
were inflicted. That sort of vicarious sur
gerry was commonly practiced during TIE
Middle Ages, but it has been abandoned
now for several centuries. Laws against
IL,
spects to render it more dangerous, by Civ
ing to it the cover of deeper secrecy.
Under such a law the professional lobbyists
would cease to be seen in their old
haunts. They would no longer be
regular attendants at legislative sessions.
To all outward semblance they would
have withdrawn. But the motives which
bring them here would be as strong as
ever, and unless the yenal members were
all regenerated by the operation of the
statute, there would be no difficulty in
bringing together the itching palms and
that g Balm of Gilead which is supposed
to possess such sovereign virtue in allaying
this kind of irritation. The proposal to
put down lobbying by legislation was one
of those attempts to solve difficult problems
by sheer force, which are very apt to be
made by ignorant men who find themselves
confronted by such difficulties when they
have the power to legislate. Such people
commonly believe that if abuses and evils
exist it is only because they have not been
attacked with sufficient vigor and violence,
and their first impulse always is to solve
the Gordian knot by cutting it.
We anticipate no substantial benefits
from the legislation proposed in this direc-.
ton, because we know that human nature
cannot be nodded by statutes. The only
infallible method for doing away with lob
byipg is to see to it that none but honest
and intelligent and fair-minded men are
elected to the Legislature. So long as this
cannot be done, or is not done, there will
be as much lobbying as there has ever
been, no matter what laws are enacted