THE CONVICTION of lobbyist Bruce Bereano on such dippy charges as mail fraud raises the question: If he'd used FedEx or UPS would there have been grounds for indictment?
How a judge viewed the presentation of evidence one way and the jury another is one of the great bafflements of Bereano's plight. But for a good night's sleep on the part of U. S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson, Bereano almost beat the rap. Judge Nickerson was about to toss the case and the prosecutors out of his courtroom for lack of evidence.
But blue-collar juries bristle when they hear talk of big money. And Bereano's predicament is not so much the prospect of working in a federal laundry but rather what other lobbyists will do to his client list. Nothing comes between good friends like good money.
What Bereano has done for Maryland, however, is something Common Cause and 188 members of the General Assembly have been unable to do. Because of his conviction, the rules of politics may no longer be the rules of the marketplace. His conviction will help rewrite the laws of lobbying that he fought to protect.
The next General Assembly is likely to tighten the screws in three broad areas affecting lobbyists and legislators alike -- gift disclosure, the role of lobbyists in campaign financing and fund-raising and a lengthening of the statute of limitations on campaign contributions violations.
One area of action is the proposal to force more accountability in lobbyists' gift-giving to legislators. It would apply the same reporting procedures to lobbyists as to lawmakers and eliminate the $15 loophole from the present law whereby lobbyists are not required to report any gift under that amount. A competing idea is to eliminate gifts altogether.
In the catchpenny world of politics, another area of attention is the role of lobbyists in campaign fund-raising. Under present law, lobbyists are prohibited from establishing political action committees or advising other PACs on the distribution of largess to legislators and candidates.
But the reverse of the order is the complaint by lobbyists that legislators send them swatches of fund-raising tickets. So there's a move to prevent lawmakers from sending fund-raising tickets to registered lobbyists.
Bereano avoided prosecution by the state because the one-year statute of limitations on campaign contributions. The limit should be extended to, say, three or five years.
