Interesting Story that I heard this morning, only kind of on-topic: Congressman Ted Poe (pretty pitiful pseudo-conservative Congressman who represents Beaumont, Baytown, Kingwood), introduced the bill banning acceptance of gifts by lobbyists. It never got to a vote, but Poe claimed it was because Democrats (and some Republicans) refused to vote for it. The exact same bill passed easily when resubmitted by Democrats as part of the 100-hours agenda. It never ceases to amaze me how anything good is shot down by partisanship.
So when did Poe submit it? Was it really the exact language? If it was, then by your own post, it got passed, so technically, partisanship did not shoot down this good thing.