The Revolving Lobby Door: A Bipartisan Gaming of the System

Press [1] for Democracy (P1FD) is a Coffee Party Radio show that discusses the political issues of the day in a civil, fact-based, and transpartisan manner. Transpartisan is quite different from bi- or non-partisan in the fact that we encourage callers to be passionate about their position, but to listen to those with differing opinions with repsect and a true desire to find common ground on which solutions can be built. Tonight on P1FD . . . A top aide to a Republican congressman from Arizona helped promote a legislative plan to overhaul the nation's home mortgage finance system. Weeks after leaving his government job, he reappeared on Capitol Hill, now as a lobbyist for a company poised to capitalize on the plan. A former counsel to Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee left Capitol Hill a year ago. He, too, returned to the Hill just months later, lobbying committee aides on behalf of Wall Street giants like JPMorgan Chase and Bloomberg L.P. Even after the ethics rules were revised in 2007 following a lobbying scandal, more than 1,650 congressional aides have registered to lobby within a year of leaving Capitol Hill, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from LegiStorm, an online database that tracks congressional staff members and lobbying. At least half of those departing aides, the analysis shows, faced no restrictions at all. How much more are we going to take? Politicians look us straight in the face and lie about it. And when someone dares to say we should have tougher rules regulating it, they run straight into a brick wall. But why should we expect differently, when those in power, those same people who receive thousands of dollars from lobbyists every year make the rules regulating them!