二、 U.S. Senator Trent Lott’s sudden decision to retire from public office has Washington’s lobbying industry salivating at the prospect that the Mississippi lawmaker may join the millionaire’s row on K Street. That’s where more and more congressional alumni have been hanging their backslapper’s shingle to lobby old buddies. Mr. Lott’s planned departure — conveniently ahead of the new two-year wait before a retired senator can lobby — is shedding light on Capitol Hill’s quasi-aristocracy of ex-incumbents who never return home and stay close by to work politics from its more lucrative shadow world.
By last count, the lobbying ranks include 37 former senators and 158 graduates of the House, with fresh enlistments expected from the dozens of current members planning to quit before the expected watershed election next year.
It’s important to shine a light on lobbying, more than to belabor this inevitable calling. The Senate, in fact, voted to require more lobbyist disclosure this year and to double its one-year moratorium before alumni can lobby.
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