New House Majority Leader Keeps Old Ties to Lobbyists

Representative John A. Boehner won the job of House majority leader amid a post-Abramoff clamor for an overhaul of lobbying and ethics rules. But nearly six months later, the changes are still tied up in Congress. And far from trying to put the brakes on lobbyists and the money they channel into Republican coffers, Mr. Boehner, who has portrayed his ties to Washington lobbyists as something to be proud of, has stepped on the gas. He has been holding fund-raisers at lobbyists’ offices, flying to political events on corporate planes and staying at a golf resort with a business group that has a direct stake in issues before Congress.

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Spitzer and Clinton Lead G.O.P. Rivals by Millions

Showing their fund-raising prowess, the Democrats Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Rodham Clinton have collected millions of dollars in recent months, many times more than their Republican opponents running for governor and United States senator. Mrs. Clinton, who is seeking her second term in the Senate, has about $22 million cash on hand, 100 times the amount for either of her Republican rivals, John Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, and Kathleen Troia McFarland, a Reagan-era Pentagon official, according to numbers provided by their campaigns yesterday.