Around and around we go...
Matheson's Chief of Staff quits to become a lobbyist. I have mixed feelings. Its hard to prevent people with significant experience from moving to the private sector. But it raises a whole bunch of issues when those folks turn around and lobby the same office they came from.
At the Federal (Congressional) level staffers have to wait one year. Why not two? Two years makes a full term in the House and helps separate those immediate relationships a bit more.
At the State level I don't think its as much of an issue for legislative staffers because really there are none (maybe a few admin positions and those in Legislative Council).
The bigger issue there is the Legislators themselves. You can be a legislator and a lobbyist at the same time, see Rep Jennifer Seelig (1-800 Contacts) and Accountabiltyfirst does a pretty good job summing up the situation with State Senator Howard Stephenson (Utah Taxpayers Association).
The funny thing is if you leave the Legislature...you have to wait a year before you can lobby your former peers. Tell me how that makes sense? You can lobby as an elected official but have to wait a year to lobby after you are out? Geesh.
I'd like to see our own state GOP lead out on this issue.
And one parting thought...I think the scary cases are in the executive branches (both Federal and State). For example, say you have someone leave the Pentagon to go work for Booz Allen or some other huge defense contractor. Just like a lobbyist you have a former Defense Department worker now selling the services of a private contractor to his former buddies. Shaddy. The rules are less clear and the executive branch tends to get less attention than the legislative branch on these types of issues.
