June 25, 2007 – Page 1900
Months before Democrats recaptured control of Congress, some Washington lobbying firms sensed the way the wind was blowing and started hiring more Democrats to represent their clients.
In fact, even as Democrats campaigned on a promise to reduce the influence of lobbyists at the Capitol — in response to the Jack Abramoff case and similar influence scandals — several of their old congressional colleagues were picking up choice new K Street jobs.
Former House members Chris John of Louisiana and Max Sandlin of Texas, for instance, both of whom lost races in 2004, were among the first wave of beneficiaries. John was picked in March 2006 to be managing director of Ogilvy Government Services; Sandlin became co-chairman of Fleishman-Hillard’s Washington lobbying office in November, a few days before the midterm election. “There’s a new dynamic in Congress under the new Democratic majority, and it has been good for Democrats working on K Street,” said John.
But it hasn’t been good for the party leadership’s efforts to enact stricter lobbying legislation that might, in the words of House Speaker
In particular, the Democratic joining of the K Street gold rush has helped to undermine Pelosi’s bid to create a two-year “cooling off period” before departed members of Congress and senior staff members may begin directly lobbying their former colleagues at the Capitol. The current waiting period is half as long, which ex-lawmakers find annoying but not debilitating to their lobbying careers.
The Senate passed the longer ban at the start of the year, but the House spurned the idea last month after a chorus of Democrats balked, with many of them stating openly that they did not want to harm their prospects for a lucrative career after lawmaking. (Instead, the House bill would require members of Congress to disclose any negotiations for lobbying jobs and recuse themselves from issues that would aid potential employers.)
That opposition to lengthening the cooling-off period has remained so implacable in the House that the final version of the bill, which negotiators could unveil as soon as this week, seems nearly certain to retain the law’s current one-year restriction.
“Many members saw Sandlin and John, average rank-and-file members, go down to K Street and get good jobs. They felt it was almost a right that they should be able to do the same,” said Meredith McGehee, a policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit group that supports strong enforcement of campaign finance law.
“As members,” McGehee said, “they make about $165,000. As lobbyists, they hoped to more than double their salary.”
The new Democratic lobbyists also are important to their party because they can help former colleagues in Congress connect with business leaders and help them raise campaign money.
Those who want to further restrict lobbying, including McGehee’s organization and Public Citizen, have suggested broadening the existing ban by prohibiting lawmakers from taking behind-the-scenes lobbying roles in their first year off the Hill — acting as strategists or managers of lobbying teams.
But any new restrictions are not going to be popular in the House, where members live two years from a job change. As the previous House Speaker, Republican
Not only are Democratic former lawmakers in demand on K Street, but the lobbying industry itself is also booming despite bad publicity from Abramoff and others.
A review of disclosure forms found that 195 former members of Congress registered to lobby on behalf of at least one client between January 2005 — the start of the 109th Congress — and the end of last month. That is about a 24 percent increase from numbers over a roughly equivalent period of time CQ recorded in 2002.
The increase is driven by congressional turnover, an explosion in demand for lobbyists by business interests and a preference for the expertise and personal connections of former lawmakers, according to James A. Thurber, who directs the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington. “Each member is part of a network of reciprocity,” he said. “You help me, and I’ll help you. That’s what a lobbying client is buying.”
Clients say that former members bring some of the most reliable expertise available in building alliances and persuading lawmakers and their aides to make hard choices. “We need help in reaching out to members and staff in both parties,’’ said James Ford, vice president of government affairs for the American Petroleum Institute, one of John’s customers. “My experience is members are a lot smarter than they are given credit for. They have skills on a lot of levels.”
Both parties have encouraged the trend toward hiring former members, in Thurber’s view, by reaching out to lobbyists with partisan connections to raise campaign funds and build coalitions that can help move legislation.
The former members are themselves drawn to lobbying because the money is good and because they worry they have been left behind by their former businesses or professions and might not be able to return successfully. That worry underlay a number of arguments against the two-year waiting period in the Senate legislation.
“Members felt they should be able to lobby after a year. They said they would not be able to get other jobs in X, Y or Z,” said Democratic Rep.
“A lot of them are scared,’’ said Anthony Nownes, a political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the author of “Total Lobbying: What Lobbyists Want (And How They Try to Get It).”
“Logically, they know most incumbents are secure,” Nownes said. “But emotionally, they saw a number of colleagues get defeated in 2006. Many are asking, ‘What is my contingency plan?’ ”
He and other critics — among them House Majority Whip
“Who will be able to wait two years?” asked Clyburn. He said the longer ban would mainly benefit chairmen, well-known senators and former House leaders who could start their own firms or find someone who would hire them as consultants and advisers during their waiting period.
“Those jobs will only be open to those who have been leaders or who have been here more than 20 years or so,’’ Clyburn said. “They will not be open to someone who has only been here 10 years or who has not chaired a committee.”
During last year’s campaign, though, Democrats had vowed to tighten restrictions on lobbying as to reassure the public. At the start of the new Congress, Pelosi backed the two-year waiting period and lined up with Democratic Sen.
“It’s just really an insult to the American people that members of Congress and staffers can quickly take very high-paying jobs and trade on the fact that they held a public trust,” Feingold said. “There needs to be a longer waiting period.”
The increasing number of Democratic former lawmakers who are lobbyists helps to reinforce the current practice, though, because of their value to the party and party leaders in Congress.
By building coalitions with business groups, the lobbyists have demonstrated their importance in moving legislation and raising campaign cash.
Former House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, for instance, has been working for Peabody Energy Corp., the world’s largest private coal producer, to try to shape provisions of energy legislation.
Other new Democratic lobbyists are hoping to woo centrists in both parties from the Farm Belt and from energy-producing states.
Democratic leaders say they intend to develop more ties to lobbyists to raise campaign cash and to promote legislative priorities. “We’re going to be aggressive in our outreach,’’ said House Majority Leader
He said Democrats would meet informally with a number of Democratic lobbyists, including former colleagues, but not on a regular basis. At the same time, though, Hoyer said Democrats would enforce rules Republicans pushed through last year barring former members who are lobbyists from the House gym or the floor during sessions.
Similar restrictions are included in the Senate version of the lobbying and ethics legislation. But former members will retain a number of privileges, including the ability to reserve tables in House and Senate dining rooms and to use a former member’s lapel pin or identification card to skirt lines when entering the Capitol complex.
Meanwhile, Hoyer and other senior Democrats sound envious when they talk about their former colleagues like Sandlin and John who have become lobbyists.
Last month, Hoyer jokingly greeted a number of lobbyists who attended a reunion for former House members on the floor. “It occurs to me that all of you are financially far better off than us poor people you left behind, and I congratulate you for that,” Hoyer said.
Lobbying bills (