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Monday, July 02, 2007
Ind. Gov't. - "Indiana allows legislators to leap right into lobbying"
Patrick Guinane of the NWI Times reports today:
The transition from Indiana legislator to lobbyist is a simple, lucrative leap that three region lawmakers have made in less than a year.Crown Point Democrat Bob Kuzman is the latest Statehouse power broker to walk through the revolving door. He resigned his House seat Tuesday, a week after starting as a governmental affairs partner at Ice Miller, the state's third-largest law firm.
While more than two-dozen states mandate a cooling-off period of at least a year, Indiana and Illinois allow former legislators to slide straight into jobs predicated upon their ability to influence past colleagues.
Gov. Mitch Daniels has imposed rules prohibiting most former executive-branch employees from lobbying state agencies for one year after leaving the administration. But the Republican governor doesn't plan to push reluctant lawmakers to follow suit.
"If the Legislature decides to lift its own standards, apply some of these same principles, I'd be happy to see that," Daniels said.
Don't expect that to happen anytime soon. Lawmakers routinely rejected past efforts to limit their career paths, including a one-year lobbying ban that languished in the House in 2005. Whenever such restrictions come up, detractors are quick to note that Indiana employs a part-time Legislature, one that pays a base salary of only $11,600 plus another $25,000 in annual expense reimbursements. * * *
All told, roughly two-dozen former lawmakers patrol the Statehouse as lobbyists, including at least three former House speakers.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 2, 2007 10:05 AM
Posted to Indiana Government | Legislative Benefits