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Old Congress critters never die — they just
flitter away to K Street.
Take Dennis Hastert. Actually, he’s already
taken. The longtime Republican lawmaker retired last November, but, rather
than just return to Illinois, he has alighted a few blocks from the
Capitol, at the blue-chip lobbying firm of Dickstein Shapiro. The firm
lured Hastert with more than half-a-million bucks in annual pay,
designating him “strategic counselor” on the legislative needs
of its corporate clientele. Dickstein Shapiro brags that it lobbies for more than
100 of the Fortune 500 corporations — a lineup that includes tobacco
giants, drug companies, the nuclear industry, mercenaries like Triple
Canopy, and such brand names as AT&T and Time Warner. Hastert will feel
right at home in this crowd, for he was always a faithful legislative
errand-runner for corporate America. Indeed, corporate interests essentially ran the place
when Hastert was speaker of the House, with the likes of superlobbyist Jack
Abramoff given a free hand to cut corrupt deals. Though Hastert no longer
has the muscle to ram through a corporation’s agenda, he certainly
has his old-buddy network and insider knowledge to get favors done —
this time for personal gain. Hastert is hardly the only Capitol Hill alum to cash
in on his public trust. In recent years, more than 200 former members have
made the lucrative metamorphosis from lawmaker to lobbyist, and
Congress’ feeble ethics rules even let members openly shop for
lobbying jobs while they’re supposed to be doing their legislative
work. This is a revolving-door system that special interests are happy to
exploit. Last year they paid nearly $3 billion to hire Washington
influence-peddlers. And Congresscritters wonder why their public-approval
rating is a humiliating 11 percent.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator,
columnist, and author.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2008.
