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Stop the revolving door of lobbyists

It’s bad enough when elected officials accept new jobs as lobbyists, but at least such high-profile career moves tend to be closely watched. Their staff, on the other hand, often flies under the radar.

But whenever the ever-spinning “revolving door” between staff positions and lobbying positions does surface, it never looks good, no matter how much everyone involved insists there’s nothing fishy going on. Allegations of lobbyist influence over former Sen. Conrad Burns – specifically on the part of his staffers, two of whom worked for convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff – played a big part in the successful effort to unseat him in 2006. And now, Sen. Max Baucus is weathering criticism over the number of his staff members who went on to become lobbyists.

While the accusations against Burns were very different from the criticisms currently being levied at Baucus, Baucus still has to contend with the unfortunate distinction of having the fifth-highest number of former staff-turned-lobbyists, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Opinion in The Missoulian

Full Story: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/04/17/opinion/opinion58.txt

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