Ex-lawmakers trade legislation for lobbying

They leave Congress but stick around town for influence and big money.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- For many congressmen and senators, Congress is something like the Eagles' song "Hotel California": Members check out, but they never really leave.
With the 108th Congress now passed into history, another Washington tradition is playing out this month as departing members of Congress, rather than returning home, trade their years of service for big paychecks from lobbying groups, investment banks and law firms.
Divided opinion
Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., is sifting among offers. Rep. Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., will join one of Washington's top lobbying firms. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., who helped write the prescription drug law that Congress passed last year, will become president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a powerful drug-industry trade association.
Critics call the moves exemplary of what's wrong with a Washington culture of insiders that mainly benefits deep-pocketed special interests; others say lobbying is an important part of congressional accountability to society's various interests and that former lawmakers bring needed expertise.
Big money and more
Former members of Congress decide to stick around for many reasons beyond money: They've made friends here. Their kids are in school here. And for many, it's hard to let go of the heady Washington life.
"I met with Dick Cheney yesterday and we talked about the Ukraine presidential election," said Jack Buechner, a former Missouri Republican congressman who lobbied for a few years and now runs a Washington-area nonprofit. "That's not a conversation you're going to have at the Silver Dollar diner in Maplewood."
To be sure, one of the biggest pulls is the big pay. A typical member of Congress makes $158,100 a year (party leaders and the speaker of the House of Representatives earn more). As lobbyists and rainmakers for banks and law firms, they can make millions. Tauzin, for instance, is said to be receiving a salary of $2 million. The rules say you can't lobby your former colleagues for one year after you leave office.
Even so, 272 former members of Congress have registered as lobbyists since 1995, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.com.
Among the more famous to make the move in recent years is former Kansas Republican Sen. Bob Dole, who lobbies as Bob Dole Enterprises and is special counsel with Alston & amp; Bird, an Atlanta-based law firm. Dole's former Kansas colleague, longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Glickman, recently landed one of Washington's most prestigious lobbying gigs as president of the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents Hollywood's major studios.
Others have taken lower-profile but still-lucrative jobs around town, opening doors and providing counsel, but not lobbying directly. That's the course that Gephardt and ousted Sen. Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, are considering.
Big business
Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said such a revolving door led to a system in which members of Congress could be making policy decisions not on what they see as the public good, but on self-interest.
In many cases, lobbyists write language that's inserted directly into legislation, and in all cases they help guide how legislation is framed and interpreted.
"Being able to influence 10 votes in the Senate or 25 votes in the House can be worth billions," said Alex Knott of the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity.
Lobbying is a big and important business in Washington, so big that it dwarfs what many see as the main money stream in American politics, campaign contributions.
The Center for Public Integrity estimates that between 1998 and mid-2004, campaign contributions totaled $4.7 billion. During the same period, lobbying expenditures totaled nearly $12 billion.
Defenders of the system point out that the founding fathers meant for the people to petition Congress, and lobbyists simply fill that role for every imaginable side of an issue.