N.Y Times (Jun 6, 2008)

June 6, 2008

Editorial
It’s So Much Nicer on K Street

The more the presidential candidates promise to rein in the rich Washington culture of influence-peddling, the more voters need a reality check.

The capital lobbying industry ballooned almost 8 percent to $2.79 billion last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that has been tracking record growth rates for the past decade. That’s an outlay of $17 million for each day Congress was in session. No wonder Dennis Hastert, the Republican and former House speaker, cannot resist.

Mr. Hastert, the G.O.P. stalwart who presided during the Jack Abramoff lobbying corruption debacle and the Mark Foley House page scandal, joined a blue-chip lobbying firm this week as a “strategic counsellor” at an annual salary estimated at $500,000-plus. Mr. Hastert, who has set the sky-box level for politicians second-careering, joins the more prized Congressional and executive alumni who schmooze old pals still in power without the need to formally register as day-to-day lobbyists.

We never really expected Mr. Hastert to indulge the Jeffersonian fantasy and humbly return to his old calling as a high school wrestling coach. Still, his new job as access-enabler highlights the capital reality that old incumbents never die; they just backslap away.

More than 200 former members of Congress have crowded through the revolving door to lobby in recent years. More are lining up at the pay window. Congress’s designated ethics monitors already are bending the rules to let incumbents job shop their private-sector value while still on the privileged elected perch.

Capitol Hill alumni burnish their clout by marshaling the lobbying industry’s fund-raising for cooperative incumbents waiting behind. Inside Washington, none of this is surprising. Outside Washington, voters need to confront candidates who demonize the lobbyists who are actually silent underwriters of their candidacies.

To his credit, Senator Barack Obama has ordered the Democratic National Committee to no longer accept donations from lobbyists and political action committees. Senator John McCain should follow suit.