Current revolving door rules prohibit ex-Congressmen from lobbying their old colleagues for one year after they leave office.
In September 2005, ex-Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) was still within his
one year probation period when became a registered lobbyist for the
firm of McKenna, Long and Aldridge. According to disclosure forms, the
firm received $60,000 from Lockheed Aeronautical Systems for him and
others to lobby the House, Senate and Department of Defense.
If he, in fact, lobbied any Congressmen, he broke the law. But there
is no way of knowing by looking at the disclosure forms, because they
don’t say exactly what he did.
Lobbying restrictions are supposed to prevent government employees from
stepping through the revolving door between the Capitol and “K Street”
and selling out the public by exploiting the contacts they made while
in office. Developments in recent years have shown they need MUCH
improvement.
For example, by July 2005, 18 recently departed members of Congress had
already accepted jobs at lobbying firms only six months into
retirement. As noted by Public Citizen’s advocate Craig Holman in Roll
Call today, our research shows that from 1998 through 2004, 43 percent
of all retiring Members of Congress (those retiring for reasons other
than death or conviction) spun through the revolving door to become
lobbyists. Anecdotal evidence indicates very high salaries, sometimes
reaching millions.
Last week, Public Citizen sent a letter
[pdf] to Rep. Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Reid (D-Nev.) asking them to
prevent the ethically-questionable activity of former Congressmen by
enacting stricter disclosure requirements, a ban on all lobbying
activities for a two-year cooling-off period, and the creation of an
independent Office of Public Integrity to enforce the ethics rules.
Tell your member of Congress it’s time to prevent public officials from cashing in their public service and selling out the American people.