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Pity the poor Indiana lawmakers whose feelings are so sensitive as to be hurt by the mere suggestion of conflicts of interest. Imagine how offended they will be when inevitable scandal rocks the Statehouse and voters point to the next example of broken public trust.
Sen. Marvin Riegsecker, R-Goshen, might not know about an Indiana lobbyist scandal that rocked the General Assembly and sent two lawmakers to prison. He might have missed a later episode where a House Ways and Means Committee chairman was entangled in an ugly incident involving consulting fees and a riverboat contractor. Surely, he missed the lobbyist scandal in Alaska, where legislators on the take from an oil company jokingly claimed membership in the “Corrupt Bastards Club.”
How else to explain why Riegsecker, chairman of the Senate Public Policy Committee, refused to even call Senate Bill 165 for a vote? The legislation would require a reasonable one-year cooling-off period before former lawmakers are allowed to register as lobbyists before the General Assembly.
But testimony on behalf of the bill angered the chairman. Riegsecker said he and other committee members were offended by comments that “we’re taking money under the table.”
Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, agreed.
“The testimony was so nasty and mean and personal that the committee members were furious,” she told the Indianapolis Star. “It was a very unpleasant confrontation. That’s not how you get legislation passed around here.”
Maybe not. It seems to be more effective to hire a former lawmaker, whose familiarity with the process and the legislators gives them advantage over members of the general public calling for higher ethical standards. Most other states have already enacted legislation to restrict lobbying by former lawmakers.
Fortunately, there are some legislators with thicker skins and a more realistic view of the public’s perception of elected officials. Reps. Phyllis Pond of New Haven and Win Moses of Fort Wayne were co-authors of House Bill 1063, which would restrict legislators from returning as lobbyists for two years after leaving office. Unfortunately, their bill died in committee.
Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, also seems to get it.
“I do think we’re going to have to take a hard look at how Indiana compares to other states and ultimately address particularly the issue of how soon you can go out into the hall and lobby,” he told the Star.
There’s no reason the tighter restrictions couldn’t be approved immediately – before easily offended lawmakers have a real reason to be offended by legislative misbehavior.
