While the perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good, Sen. Elizabeth Warren needs to get her own act together before lecturing all of Washington, D.C.

The Massachusetts Democrat made a big show unveiling anti-corruption legislation that would, among other things, ban direct political donations from lobbyists to politicians. Warren was ready to lead by example, a spokeswoman seemed to say, telling me that her boss “doesn’t take PAC money or money from federal lobbyists.”

If only that was true.

A quick review of Federal Election Commission filings cross-checked with Senate lobbying disclosures returns at least four different federal lobbyists who cut checks to the progressive champion. Warren took:



Following up, Warren's office hedged — hard. The senator only recently learned to just say no to lobbying money, the spokeswoman said. “The line in her speech is ‘I do what I can by not taking any PAC money or any money from federal lobbyists’ and we adopted the federal lobbyist donation ban late last year.” The spokeswoman would not say whether or not Warren would return the money.

It is not like Warren would have to pay back a kingly sum. But it is significant. If Warren wants to lead her colleagues away from the corporate trough, she needs to go completely cold turkey once and for all. Her current standard already has a huge loophole. As I pointed out the other day, she has taken more than $20,000 from a Bain Capital executive and local lobbyists.

Warren is doing a good thing by pushing back against the ugly influence of money in politics. She might have a better chance convincing Capitol Hill to follow her example, and voters to join her presidential cause for, that matter, if she owned up to the lobbying cash in her past and pledged never to take it again.