Travelobbying
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"A fast-growing trend in the business of influencing government is corporate-funded trips," reports the Wall Street Journal. "Because the trips are paid for by corporations and trade associations - and not the hired guns who lobby for them - such trips are permitted under House and Senate rules," unless the sponsors are registered lobbyists or foreign agents. The number of junkets increased from 1,400 in 2000 to 1,900 in 2004; their cost increased 50% over the same period, to $3 million in 2004.