Opponents say Nancy Pelosi’s “swamp-draining” ethics pledge of 2007 seems to be a low priority for the embattled speaker.

The State Department has rolled out new per diem rules after a series of lawmakers admitted to keeping excess funds from overseas travel.

More on the mid-term problem for some candidates of having to “overcome” lobbyist ties. (From Open Secrets)

Following up on reports that lobby shops are beefing up their Republican practices in anticipation of a heavily-favored GOP mid-term season, The Hill reports on K St. firms making advances towards Democratic lawmakers in danger of losing their seats.

The House has passed a bill to resolve conflicts between states’ pay to play laws, according to LobbyComply blog. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), sponsored the bill; Rep. Quigley is a legislator who is noted for his work toward continuing ethical best practices (his Transparency in Government Act included new disclosure requirements for lobbyists).

Congressional cage match! It’s the Rahalls v. the lobbying firm that used to employ Tanya Rahall (sister of Congressman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.). The firm (which hasn’t done much lobbying in recent years, according to their Senate LDA filings) claims that Ms. Rahall improperly used client data.

I’m a little foggy on the details of public pensions placement agents, but if that phrase makes any sense to you, you may want to read this report from Pay to Play Law Blog on California’s new lobbyist registration law.

Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center has an interesting look at the OCE’s recent cases, and what the outcome “should have been.” Worth a read!

The Onion riffs off those press releases you see all the time about such and such organization hiring so and so to advance their lobbying goals. (And their fictional lobbyist “Jack Weldon” works for Patton Boggs.)   “American People Hire High-Powered Lobbyist to Push Interests in Congress.”

Quote of the Week

“[CDFPAC] policy dinners are ‘one of the best things that happen in Washington… [they’re] a little bastion of enlightenment and intellectual discourse… If I’m gonna give money, I’d rather have it go to this than to some inane TV commercial,’” Former Rep. Toby Moffett, a Democratic consultant, Politico, 10/5/2010