Republicans Want Lobbyist Contact Made Public. (I'll Show You Mine If You'll Show Me Yours.)

On Monday, Senators James Inhofe (R- Oklahoma) and David Vitter (R-Louisiana), neither a supporter of environmental issues, wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency with an interesting proposal.  They now feel that Congress needs to know how organizations like the Sierra Club or Greenpeace effect environmental policy.

"The American people deserve to understand the process EPA follows when crafting the environmental policies under which they must live.

 It is important for Congress to understand the relationship between EPA and nongovernmental organizations, particularly as it relates to the coordination and influence over public policymaking...Accordingly, releasing the correspondence between the EPA and these entities is in the public interest."

what eye thynk:   I am sure that the Sierra Club and Greenpeace both employ lobbyists and those lobbyists undoubtedly contact officials at the EPA as well as members of Congress on a regular basis to promote their positions on environmental issues.  There is nothing nefarious about this.  It is simply government business as usual.

But, maybe these two conservative Senators have a point; and perhaps, to demonstrate how this transparency idea would work, they would like to share the information exchanged when organizations like Exxon or BP send their lobbyists to meet with members of Congress to effect their own "influence over public policymaking"?  

After all, since Senators Inhofe and Vitter are so concerned about protecting the public interest, I'm sure they will want their new transparency standards applied to ALL lobbyists. 

And really,  I'd like to know how much  cash  data was exchanged between my senator and NRA lobbyists before the recent votes on gun control. How about you?