If the quagmire in Iraq was the main reason that the nation tossed Congress to the Democrats in 2006, ethical lapses certainly had a strong secondary role. Senate law number one this year was the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007. The bill was unenthusiastically signed into law by President Bush. Lobbying reform was one of the main areas of focus. Look at this:
SEC. 101. AMENDMENTS TO RESTRICTIONS ON FORMER OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND ELECTED OFFICIALS OF THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES.
(a) Very Senior Executive Personnel- The matter after subparagraph (C) in section 207(d)(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking `within 1 year’ and inserting `within 2 years’…
…(A) SENATORS- Any person who is a Senator and who, within 2 years after that person leaves office, knowingly makes, with the intent to influence, any communication to or appearance before any Member, officer, or employee of either House of Congress or any employee of any other legislative office of the Congress, on behalf of any other person (except the United States) in connection with any matter on which such former Senator seeks action by a Member, officer, or employee of either House of Congress, in his or her official capacity, shall be punished as provided in section 216 of this title.
That’s legalese for ‘it’s illegal for a Senator to retire and then become a lobbyist’. It’s now against the law to do that. You have to wait two full years after you retire to take a job as a lobbyist. The intent is clear. They don’t want Senators trading legislation for lucrative jobs in the private sector. It’s never ethical, but now it comes with criminal penalties. Except for one thing…the law doesn’t take effect until 2008. And that explains some startling news in today’s Politico:
Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) plans to resign his seat by the end of the year, a senior Republican official told Politico…
A Lott friend said part of the reason, and a factor in the timing, is a new lobbying regulation, signed by President Bush in September, extending the existing lobbying ban for former members of Congress from one to two years. The lobbying ban takes effect at the end of this year.
Trent Lott just ran for reelection. He said he was doing it to help with Katrina-related Gulf Coast reconstruction. Now he is abandoning the seat he just retained after just one year. And he is doing it for a transparently unethical reason. He plans to do something so unethical that it will be criminal on January 1st.
What better symbol could we ask for of the Republican Party?
