Congressional aide Letitia White whirled through the revolving door one day in 2003 and came out a partner in a well-connected lobbying firm the next. Within two years, her lobbying fees had topped $3.5 million.

The secret to success for the one-time congressional receptionist?

White's last job on Capitol Hill was as a top aide to Rep. Jerry Lewis (news, bio, voting record), R-Calif., now chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff used to call the "favor factory." As a lobbyist, White became adept at getting her clients "earmarks" - government funds directed by lawmakers to specific projects or specific contractors.

In a Congress better known for corruption than legislating, earmarks are one of the seamiest parts of a broken process. Lobbyists channel campaign funds from their clients to lawmakers. And lawmakers earmark money to projects that benefit those clients.

The losers are companies that refuse to "pay to play" and the public, which gets stuck with the bills.

Earmarks themselves are nothing new. But they used to involve mostly pork-barrel public-works projects that lawmakers steered to their home districts. These days, they have become expensive favors for well-connected industries and companies. Earmarks topped $60 billion in this fiscal year's 11 regular spending bills, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, triple the total when Republicans took control of Congress in 1994.

At the beginning of this year, GOP congressional leaders vowed to curb influence-peddling, including the use of earmarks. Their zeal was fueled by the Abramoff scandal and a bribery case involving Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif. The latest chapter of the Abramoff scandal played out Friday, when Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. Ney accepted luxury trips and other benefits in return for helping Abramoff's clients.

While this latest criminal case underscores the need for wholesale lobbying reform, Congress has opted for minimalism.

Last week, the House took the tiniest step imaginable to deal with earmarks. One of the worst aspects of earmarking is that lawmakers often do it secretly. Under a new rule, hailed by Rep. Brian Bilbray and other sponsors as a big deal, members will have to own up to earmarks they sponsor.

Wow. It took nearly nine months for the House to make members do what they should have been doing all along. And even this rule is riddled with loopholes: It doesn't apply to 10 spending bills already passed by the House this year. Nor does it do anything to lock the revolving door that allows people like White to get rich selling access to the people they used to work for.

A spokesman for White says there is no reason to single her out from among the many Appropriations Committee staffers who become lobbyists, lobby their former committee and find financial rewards.

That is precisely the problem.

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