On throwing bums out

www.fivethirtyeight.com

"But here's why the instinct to just throw all the bums out seems rational but is potentially counter-productive if not irrational: Even with significant turnover, the notion that members of Congress will be independent of the influence of special interests is a fantasy. In fact, just the reverse is likely to happen: In a Congress full of rookies, the interest group community will have greater influence because it has longer institutional memory and control over information. That's not just speculation: Studies of state interest group communities tend to show that they are more influential in so-called "citizen legislatures" where members serve part-time (see , and that states with term limits only tend to further strengthen interest groups."

If we really wanted to see a reduction in legislative baloney, laws would be passed that prohibited the employment of a legislator or her direct family member from a paid lobbying position for twenty years following their leaving office. Lobbying is becoming the second career for these turkeys, and getting the right job lined up while still in office seems to be very important. Do you really think Marti Coley will be going back to teaching high school English when her term is up? Ha!

A friend of mine has long commented that Florida needs a law making it illegal to receive compensation from someone even after leaving office. Bay County is famous for this, a company receives all sorts of contracts from the county and the day after the commissioner leaves office they are working for that company as a consultant. What's funny is they didn't get wise to this until Danny Sparks was in office. Basically they finally got smart and don't get the payback until they are out of office.