Back Door Bribes

The Washington Post tells the tale of former lawmakers going into the lobbyist business. This is a relatively recent development. Why? I'll get to it. I believe The Post draws an erroneous conclusion to explain why this is happening. They think that former lawmakers help provide much better access to current members of Congress. That may be true, but its not what has caused this trend.

Those big lobbyist dollars don't need any grease to get though the door. It is silly to even think that. These are simply back door bribes, repayments for the sweetheart deals former congressmen got their clients. Hell, Billy Tauzin didn't even wait until he retired to announce he was taking a lobbying gig with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America shortly after helping craft the new prescription drug law.

So, what is really causing this trend that took off in the mid-nineties? In 1992, Congress changed a campaign law that allowed retiring lawmakers to simply convert their campaign war chests to personal accounts. In other words, the bribes were overt. You made a campaign contribution and the lawmaker took it home with him on the way out the door.

I don't understand how the Post missed this aspect of the story.