A bill that would require legislators who leave office to wait at least one year before they could become lobbyists got a chilly reception in a Senate committee last session and went no further.
That isn’t stopping Republican state Sen. Patricia Miller of Indianapolis, some of her colleagues and citizen groups from trying to revive the issue in the session that starts in January. They say a “cooling off” period before former lawmakers can lobby the General Assembly would establish a trusting relationship with Indiana residents.
Nearly 30 states prohibit former legislators from becoming lobbyists for a time ranging from six months to two years after they resign or retire, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But Miller and other supporters of the concept know they’ll likely have a tough time getting Indiana to join those states.
Efforts to regulate the career paths of Indiana lawmakers have routinely been thwarted, and now about two dozen former legislators lobby the General Assembly, including three former House speakers.
Many Indiana lawmakers do not want to create a perception that they need regulation by such things as a “cooling off” legislator-to-lobbyist period, said Ed Feigenbaum, former staff director for the Council on Governmental Ethics, an association for state and local public integrity administrators.
“They believe they can handle these things themselves…and they are accountable from elections,” Feigenbaum said.
Miller has again filed a bill that would require a one-year waiting period before former lawmakers could lobby the Legislature. During last year’s committee hearing, supporters told lawmakers that it looked bad when they leave public office and quickly end up with a cushy lobbying job trying to influence those they had served with.
Some lawmakers bristled at testimony that hinted perceptions of shady politics.
Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, was among them and still opposes a one-year waiting period.
“If a person has spent 20 years in the Legislature and is well thought of by colleagues both in the hallway and the Legislature, is a year going to mean anything?” Steele said. “Is he or she suddenly going to have less influence than 360 days ago?”
Former Republican state Rep. Matt Whetstone of Brownsburg, who was first elected in 1996, resigned midterm in 2007 and became a lobbyist for the Krieg DeVault law firm.
He said being a legislator didn’t pay enough, and although being a part-time public servant was gratifying, “financially it’s kind of a burden.” He said he needed to make enough money so his children could go to college.
Miller says lobbyists are an important part of the legislative process because they are informed on particular issues.
But she said a waiting period would provide transparency and confidence the public wants in its Legislature.
Julia Vaughn, policy director for the government watchdog group Common Cause of Indiana, has helped organize a seminar with some other groups — including the League of Women Voters — to discuss fresh ways to get stronger lobbying laws on the books.
“We’ve got to so we can talk about this issue inside the Statehouse without getting our heads blown off,” she said.
