WASHINGTON -- "Cashing in" has become an epidemic on Capitol Hill. At least. that's the conclusion of a report released last week by Public Citizen.
No, the consumer advocacy group isn't referring to the House check-cashing scheme or the House Post Office scandal. It's talking about the ambitious crowd of people who put in a few years on Capitol Hill and then parlay their experience into high-paying jobs representing special interests.
"All too predictably, many of these former government officials have found lucrative work with lobbying firms, law firms, or corporate interests," said the group, founded by Ralph Nader 22 years ago.
Public Citizen's legislative arm, Congress Watch, spent the last 10 months compiling data on 318 public servants who left their government jobs during that period. Of the total, 177, or 56%, were hired by law firms or lobbying firms.
Many of the former lawmakers and congressional aides cited in the report are alumni of the House and Senate tax writing committees who left for private-sector jobs that require them to lobby their old colleagues.
Former House Ways and Means Committee members named in the report include Beryl Anthony, D-Ark., now with the law firm of Winston & Strawn; Raymond J. McGrath, D-N.Y., now with the Beer Institute; Marty Russo, D-Ill., who joined the lobbying firm of Cassidy & Associates; Ed Jenkins, D-Ga., who formed his own tax consulting firm, Winburn & Jenkins; and Frank Guarini, D-N.J., who set up the law firm of Guarini & Guarini.
It's not just the members of Congress that Public Citizen is worried about. Their aides are also cashing in.
For example, Vanda McMurtry, who was staff director of the Senate Finance Committee when it was chaired by former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Tex., accepted an offer from Aetna Life & Casualty. At the end of last year. Robert J. Leonard resigned as chief counsel of the Ways and Means Committee to form a consulting firm, Oldaker Ryan & Leonard.
Leonard's firm, according to Public Citizen, has already garnered a number of clients in the health-care industry, presumably in preparation for the upcoming congressional debate over President Bill Clinton's proposed national health-care program.
There are plenty of others cashing in that Public Citizen didn't mention. Among names familiar to municipal market participants, J.W. Rayder, former tax aide to Anthony, is with the Washington office of Stephens & Co., a securities firm. Jim Rock, Jenkins' former aide, is a partner with Concord Associates, a lobbying firm whose clients include developers of high-speed rail systems.
In a sense, casting a spotlight on these few people is unfair because they are not rare birds. They're just a small percentage of those who leave public service for the private sector. But then, that's the whole point of the Public Citizen report.
Public Citizen bemoans the lack of commitment to public service that they say is exemplified by these career changes. But, as one tax lobbyist pointed out, government officials often are forced to move to the private sector for personal financial reasons. Many times when a Hill staff member leaves for more lucrative employment, colleagues will remark that the person has children to put through college.
So, where's the beef? Does it really matter that many of these people are being recruited by the private sector for their access to the halls of Congress?
One way to answer the question is to consider people who can't afford that kind of access, such as state and local officials. They often complain they just can't get the attention of a senator or congressman as easily as their colleagues in the private sector can. State and local officials can't match the contributions private companies routinely make to the political action committees of the House and Senate members.
By the same token, state and local governments, although they often hire lobbyists, aren't going to be able to afford the former legislators and staff members with all the access, because they're the ones being snapped up by the big law firms and lobbying firms, according to the Public Citizen study.
For all its doom and gloom, the Public Citizen study has a brighter side. The sample included 141 former staff members. or 44%, who didn't parlay their access into a lobbying job; they became professors or media commentators or fellows at think tanks.
Even more comforting is the knowledge that some people still seem wedded to public service. Skim the biographies of the 1993 Congressional Staff Directory, and you can easily find experienced aides who have spent their entire careers on Capitol Hill.
Of course, it may be too soon to judge the staff members with children nearing college age. Given the trend outlined in the Public Citizen report, the odds are their names won't be in the directory next year.
