Charlie Bakst has an interesting piece in today’s Projo in which he tries to get an answer out of Senate candidates Matt Brown and Stephen Laffey on what they would do to stop corporate welfare and lobbying scandals like the Abramoff debacle. Of Laffey’s response, Bakst writes:

[Laffey] said, “Well, there’s an enormous amount of campaign donations from mega-business special interests. You hear of Jack Ambramoff? . . .” But when I asked how Laffey would combat the cozy contribution game that fuels the favor factory, he was — rare for him — at a loss for words.

And on Brown, Bakst got some analysis from Phil West of Common Cause, who noted some “oddities” on the issue:

…in 2004, Brown, based on legal advice, stunned West by advising lobbyists they no longer had to report the big bucks they and their clients were shelling out on advertising. Legislation had to be passed to fix the problem. And in 2005, House Finance Chairman Steve Costantino scolded Brown for being AWOL in the debate over other aspects of lobby reporting law.

You have to wonder just how earnest our Senate candidates are about coming up with ideas to reform lobby contributions and influence. Any idea they put out, after all, may scare off lobbyists!