BYRON YORK ON ABRAMOFF AND “REFORM:”

The one sure bet in all this is that lobbying reform laws are going to pass. Even before Mr. Abramoff, the public thought the influence-buying game was sleazy. Now, well, who would oppose reform? Mr. McCain, who faced years of opposition to campaign finance reform, knows this one will be much easier. “I don’t think it would offend very many people except those in the lobbying community,” he told me in November.

Senator McCain was right; just look at who is already on the reform bandwagon. The first senator to sign on as a co-sponsor to Mr. McCain’s bill was none other than Conrad Burns, Republican of Montana, who is also the senator most frequently linked to the Abramoff matter. When it comes to lobbying in this post-Abramoff world, everyone’s a reformer – and that could be a problem.

I think that every member of Congress and the press should have to read and understand this vital book before opining on the subject. And in making this assertion, I’m just as unbiased and disinterested as everyone else making proposals for reform . . . .