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From the CNS Archive:

Common Cause, Lobbyist Group Testify Before Commission

By Katherine Blok
Capital News Service
Thursday, September 30, 1999

ANNAPOLIS - Even after misunderstandings about his testimony were ironed out, lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano did not testify before a legislative panel Wednesday as he promised last week.

The panel's chairman, Donald B. Robertson, said Bereano called him Wednesday morning to say he would not be able to testify due to the constraints of his probation on a mail fraud conviction. Robertson said the panel still wants to hear from Bereano and would welcome a written statement instead.

Bereano did not return calls Thursday seeking comment. Robertson did not know the specifics of Bereano's probation that prohibited him from speaking to the panel.

Last week, the Study Commission on Lobbyist Ethics said it would only hear from Bereano during the public comment section of its meeting - rather than calling him as a witness - because he was not a "group with known interest" in the panel's work. The panel did, however, say it wanted to hear from Bereano.

When Bereano heard he would not be called as a witness, he reportedly threatened not to testify at all, Robertson has said.

Bereano is under house arrest for a 1994 mail fraud conviction. He is allowed to lobby from his Annapolis law office, but may not roam the halls of the General Assembly. The ethics panel meets in the Lowe House Office Building.

Bereano also was removed from the District of Columbia bar, and is fighting to keep his Maryland law license.

Also Wednesday, the commission decided to devote its next meeting to public testimony. Several lobbyists and former legislators have asked to speak to the commission, Robertson said.

Robertson said he wants to hear from as many people as possible. The watchdog group Common Cause Maryland and the Maryland Government Relations Association spoke Wednesday.

Janet Levine, Common Cause board president, said the public must have faith in a "fair and open process of legislative discussion and lawmaking."

"To ensure this public trust, we need legislation not only to guard against the opportunity for abuse ... but also to guard against the perception of abuse," Levine said.

Levine proposed requiring all types of lobbyists to register with the state, not just those who meet face-to-face with legislators, as the law now requires.

The State Ethics Commission, Levine said, also should get enough funding to do its job properly.

Lobbying is a complicated profession and every lobbyist is different, three board members of the MGRA said.

J. William Pitcher, immediate past president of the MGRA and a commission member, said lobbying is not a "one-size-fits-all profession."

Money, huge amounts of it, has changed the practice of lobbying for the worse, he said, although most lobbyists still have good intentions.

"I can detect a fairly large change in civility," he said. "I think it mirrors an awful lot of that's going on around. You don't see it in the law profession like you used to, you don't see it in other professions and you certainly don't see it in politics."

Panel member and lobbyist James J. Doyle Jr. said the panel must do something to alter the public's perception of the relationship between lobbyists and legislators.

"The feeling is all legislators are for sale and all lobbyists are buying," Doyle said. "I don't think the system works very well down here and those of us involved with it know it."