Cool Off, Mr. Lott
The retiring senator should not race through the revolving door.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

MISSISSIPPI Republican Sen. Trent Lott says that his sudden decision to retire, just a year after winning reelection to a new term, was unrelated to new ethics rules that will take effect Jan. 1. The rules would require Mr. Lott, if he waited until January to follow what is now a familiar career path and become a lobbyist, to hold off for two years instead of one before buttonholing his former colleagues. "I just felt like I needed to do something with my limited time in life," Mr. Lott said Monday, explaining his decision. "We've had this great experience for these 35 years, but we do think that there is time left for us to maybe do something else."

Most people who are at the stage of contemplating their limited time in life don't imagine spending it as Washington lobbyists, but, then again, most people aren't in the position of soon-to-be-former lawmakers, contemplating raking in multiples of their congressional salaries. Once it was a relative rarity, with something of an unpleasant odor, for lawmakers to spin through the revolving door into K Street lobbying firms; now it is commonplace. A 2005 report by Public Citizen found that 43 percent of 198 members of Congress leaving office since 1998 registered as lobbyists.

So perhaps it is quaint to expect that Mr. Lott, having asked the people of Mississippi for the opportunity to serve them for six years, would keep his commitment. Still, if, as Mr. Lott insists, the new ethics rules did not speed up his departure plans, there is an easy way for him to demonstrate that: Comply with the two-year cooling-off period. "It didn't have a big role in that decision," Mr. Lott said of the new rules. "You know, there are limits on that [lobbying former colleagues] already. And, as I've talked to my former colleagues, they say that a lot of what you do anyway is involved with consulting rather than direct lobbying." Indeed, the definition of what activities are permitted during the waiting period is capacious enough to allow former lawmakers to do a whole lot of business -- and make a whole lot of money -- during that period. Mr. Lott's departure would look a bit less unseemly if he were to agree to live by the rules approved during his tenure in office.