When Public Citizen asked 47 retiring lawmakers this week to sign a pledge not to take a lucrative lobbying job upon leaving Congress, we weren’t really expecting our phones to ring off the hook. Surely, though, someone among those outgoing representatives and senators would be willing to take the ethical high road?
So far, there are no takers. Zip, zilch, nada. We’re 0 for 47.
Arthur Delaney in the HuffPo called around to some of the retiring members and couldn’t find anyone interested in our pledge. Taking the pledge could cost those members a lot of money, afterall. As Delaney notes:
Members of Congress earn $174,000 year. That’s cat-food money on K Street. According to Ivan Adler, a headhunter for the McCormick Group, a retiring member fetches at least $500,000 as a lobbyist. A retiring senator is worth more.
Delaney talked to our colleague Angela Canterbury, the director of advocacy for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, who told him Public Citizen would check in with those lawmakers soon just to make sure they got our request. Canterbury said:
“With financial reform under consideration and credible reform on the line, we have concerns about the intentions of the retiring senators and in particular ones who have not been as supportive of consumer protection as we would like.”
Want to help ratchet the pressure up on these lawmakers? Sign the petition asking them to end the revolving door.












Pam Evans
is this a big surprise to you? greed & sloth are the deadliest (and most pervasive) of the seven deadly sins.
sad.
April 24, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Michael Gutleber
Do you have a list of these members anywhere? How about a Hall of Shame?
April 26, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Joe Newman
You can find the list of retiring lawmakers here: http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=3226&frcrld=1
April 27, 2010 at 4:10 pm