More Thoughts on Abramoff and the Culture of Corruption

Ann Althouse, who continues to have one of the best blogs around, scoffs at a lobbyist who says that Jack Abramoff's practices make people suspicious of their profession. "What profession?," Althouse seems to wonder. Even at its most "honorable," lobbying is little more than having the capacity to raise money for politicians' campaigns and to schmooze.

Anyway, I responded to Althouse's post this way (with additions in brackets):

...I'd like to see the whole [lobbying] "profession" done away with altogether.

Back when I worked at the State House of Representatives in Columbus, it was clear that lobbyists were an utterly unaccountable portion of the permanent government. Most legislators, forced to be generalists who juggled lots of different topics, were incapable of seeing through [or chose not to see through] the baloney of the various cabals that make up this permanent establishment--lifetime bureaucrats and the lobbyists, in particular.

Other legislators who chaired committees or had seniority tended to develop very cozy relationships with lobbyists, usually ones that were helpful to the lobbyists, whether actual quid pro quos existed or not.

Term limits in Ohio have only made the lobbyists more powerful. There is simply no opportunity for term-limited public officials to sufficiently "get up to speed" to see through all the schemes that cross their desks each day. By the time they develop that ability, they're preparing to take a job with some lobbying firm or trade organization or running for a different office.

If we could get rid of lobbyists, things would be a lot better. [Not perfect, mind you. Reform will always be necessary because, human nature being what it is, people always find ways to subvert the system.]

At the very least, as I suggest here, we need to ban former members of Congress, former Congressional staffers, and former members of the executive branch from lobbying...for life. They represent the most dangerous of all the lobbyists, whether on Capitol Hill or at State Houses.