A Lobbying Pledge

A Portland, OR mayoral candidate made an interesting pledge in September, according to an article in the Portland Tribune:

I will not permit any individual who was a paid member of my campaign or my mayoral staff to lobby me or my office on behalf of a private entity. This prohibition will extend through my full four-year term in office.

He asked that the incumbent mayor make the same pledge, but a few weeks later the incumbent announced that he would not be running for a second term.

Unfortunately, pledges are more a campaign tactic than a good way to prevent conflicts of interest. Laws, and independent ethics and lobbying programs to interpret, advise, and enforce the laws, are a better way of doing this. The best pledges are those that either (1) include a pledge to propose specific ethics or lobbying reforms or (2) do what cannot be done by law, for constitutional reasons, such as the so-called People's Pledge regarding independent spending (see my blog post on this sort of pledge).

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics