By T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

U.S. Senator-elect Amy Klobuchar on Monday, Dec. 18, renewed her call for ethics reform in Washington, saying she personally will operate under more stringent state ethic codes that guides Minnesota lawmakers.

"I'm not going to be accepting privately funded travel, and I hope they'll be changes in Congress," said Klobuchar, speaking on a conference call from Washington.

Klobuchar noted a restriction does exist on lobbyist-funded travel but she wants the restriction expanded to people with business before Congress.

She wants more severe limitations on gifts and meals to lawmakers.

"Lobbyists can still pay for gifts and meals in Congress and I think that's wrong," she said. "If it's good enough in our state I don't see why they can't do it in Washington," she said.

Klobuchar also wants an independent ethics committee to enforce and investigate ethics complaints against lawmakers.

While not expecting ethics legislation to pass within the first 100 hours, Klobuchar hopes to see it pass at last within the first six month of the new 110th Congress.

Klobuchar also speaks in favor of interrupting the "revolving door" between Congress and lobbying firms.

"I will tell you there are a lot of people in our freshman class who are interested in this," she said.

That's 20 percent of the Senate Democrat caucus — a force to be reckoned with, said Klobuchar.

"I truly believe there will be movement on this," she said, though adding the final result may not exactly be like Minnesota's ethics laws.

"Is everyone happy with change, no. But I think they realize the people of this country have spoken," she said.

Besides ethics reform guiding the personal conduct of lawmakers, Klobuchar also argued institutional ethics reform.

Specifically, the senator-elect points to local projects — pork, to some — that are slipped into larger bills with little debate or notice.

Klobuchar argues for more open, public debate of these "earmarks" — standby your projects, she said.

She fully intends to go after projects for the state.

"I'm not going to quit doing something for Minnesota and then everyone else gets things for their state," she said.

"Never would I do that," said Klobuchar.

But she wants more public debate on these projects.

Klobuchar apparently has Republican company in seeking ethics reform.

Coleman Minnesota Press Secretary Luke Friedrich said the senator has been at the forefront of the ethics reform in Washington.

"His bipartisan Commission to Strengthen Confidence in Congress was a hallmark piece of the ethics reform bill that passed the Senate last year, and he is the first - and might still be the only - member of Congress to disclose all private travel on his Senate Web site," said Friedrich.

"The senator is fully committed to transparency in every part of the legislative process," he said.

On other issues, Klobuchar spoke against sending more U.S. troops to Iraq, arguing instead for the redeployment some of troops already there.

"The solution is not more boots on the ground but that it's a political and diplomatic solution," she said.

Klobuchar said she had spoken to Minnesota senior U.S. Senator Norm Coleman several times in Washington.

She has not yet spoken to him yet about her ethics proposal, she said.

Klobuchar said her days in Washington have taught her there are a lot of good people who want to get things done.

There's a lot of energy.

But she also tells of attending a Senate luncheon where she picked up a salad and what she thought was a cup of tomato soup and brought it back to the table where she was seating with eight senators.

One of the senators grabbed her arm.

She hadn't taken soup but the Thousand Island dressing.

"So I've learned very important things as well as small things," she said.

Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, who carried state ethics reform legislation in the 1990s, is "hopeful but not optimistic" that Congress will pass an ethics reform bill.

Marty believes Klobuchar is sincere in her call for ethics reform. Minnesota ethics law is "significantly tougher" than federal ethics laws, though Marty cautioned that state ethics law are not as stringent as some might believe.

The reason ethics reform occurred in Minnesota, explained Marty, was because the voters wanted it.

Members of Congress are perhaps sensing that same sentiment nationally, he said.