Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

The revolving door

Posted in:

Illinois

Now that the governor has announced that he will unveil a “sweeping” ethics bill, expect everyone to come out of the woodwork with their own pet peeve. The Associated Press points out the number of legislators and staff who have gone through the revolving door into the lobbying field.

In the past few months, four of the more influential people in the Illinois Senate ended long careers of shaping law and public policy. […]

Still, the practice raises eyebrows, and 28 other states have adopted “revolving-door'’ limits on lobbying by former legislators or other public officials.

But the governor’s office isn’t biting yet.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who promises to propose a sweeping campaign-finance reform plan, has not considered a revolving-door ban on lobbyists, Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk said.

Which means that the AP might make mention of this subject if the governor’s product doesn’t include revolving door language.

The AP also compiled a long list of legislators who became lobbyists. The list can be found here.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 4:16 am

Comments

what is the incentive for those “good government” folks to work hard if they cannot get a great paying job when they leave? Everytime Blago gets his tit caught in a ringer, everyone else has to pay.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 6:32 am
Dah! No double dah! Let’s have a law that sez Illinois companies or groups must hire people with no Illinois experience to lobby. Not sure who is dumber pinhead Cindi or the dopes at the AP who think any of this is news. Of course it is a nice way to smear Davis, Jacobs, Gross et al with the implication that they are doing something improper by not going off to work at Panda Express for a year. Have anice Monday.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 7:52 am
I think this is just another example of how the media seems to be fixated on trying to find scandal or impropriety in everything. This is not news, but the media seems to sensationalize this to make Joe Public believe there is some sort of impropriety going on…

However, this isnt as bad as the article by Bernard Schoenberg in the Springfield paper this weekend about that guys divorce and his ex-wife’s bankruptcy. What happened to privacy? That isnt news. I thought I was reading an article from the National Inquirer for a second. That was trash writing…

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 8:59 am
Bernie Schoenburgs column was right on…the citizens… aka taxpayers of Illinois have a right to know that a very “politically connected” woman who is filing bankruptcy for hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt is overseeing federal and state spending for the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Traffic Safety. I found his article to be very informative and encourage everyone to read it.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 5:39 pm
it was a horrible article. Bernie should be ashamed. i would love it if somebody would report on the sad details a reporter’s life. no journalistic integrity. and to the last person, i hope he/she never faces a challenge in life and finds a reporter there to write about it. fortunately the person that shoenberg wrote about is a great guy and has many genuine friends.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 8:28 pm
The article was about Mrs Kolaz, why don’t you read it again.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 14, 05 @ 9:48 pm
Blogobozo is turning illinois into a socialist/communist state..no gun control bill!

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 15, 05 @ 8:28 pm