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Sunday, January 30, 2005

Ind. Gov't. - More on the "cooling off period" for legislators

Lesley Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier Journal reports in her Sunday column on "House Bill 1090, passed 10-1 by a House committee last week, [which] would require a one-year waiting period between the time a lawmaker's term ends and when he can register as a lobbyist."

She quotes former legislator Markt Lytle, "now a lobbyist after losing in Novemeber":

"After 30 years serving in city, county and state government, there's a lot of experience and knowledge I have there that would go to waste if I didn't use it," Lytle said of his new role. "This is another way to serve your communities and state. It's just in another capacity."
(Obviously a man who puts stock in the value of institutional memory . . .)

The column continues:

Last year at least 20 former lawmakers were registered to represent companies or organizations before the House and Senate, although a smaller number were actively engaged in day-to-day lobbying. Most of them began lobbying immediately or shortly after they left the legislature.

The list includes former House Speakers Paul Mannweiler, Mike Phillips and Phil Bainbridge. In 2002 Mike Smith of Rensselaer resigned his seat in the House just a few weeks after winning re-election to become executive director of the Casino Association of Indiana. Jim Atterholt, who lost a bid for re-election in 2002, registered last year to lobby for A T & T. * * *

If the bill becomes law, Indiana would join 28 states with rules forcing lawmakers to wait some period of time before lobbying, according to the bill's author, Rep. David Frizzell, R-Indianapolis.

But the laws from state to state are quite different. In Kentucky, former lawmakers must wait two years before lobbying, while in Ohio the wait is a year. In Michigan, only lawmakers who resign in mid-term are prevented from lobbying, and then only until their term would have ended. There are no restrictions in Illinois, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In Indiana, the bill comes after Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican from Indianapolis, instituted ethics rules for the administrative branch that prohibit state employees from taking a job to lobby the governor's office or state agencies for one year.

Daniels' rules also prohibit a state employee from taking any job with a company or organization for a year if he or she had been involved in regulating that company or administered any contracts with the firm. The bill affecting lawmakers doesn't go that far. They could accept non-lobbying jobs from companies with which they've dealt in their public jobs.

A Friday ILB entry on this bill is available here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 30, 2005 02:16 PM
Posted to Indiana Government