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Another Rat Jumps Ship; Trent Lott to Resign Senate Seat New lobbying regulation laws that go into effect in 2008 could produce a rush of end of year resignations by Republicans dreading working in a congress with an ever greater Democratic Majority. NBC News has learned that Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the minority whip is in the midst of informing close allies that he plans to resign his senate seat before the end of the year. It's possible a formal announcement of his plans could take place as early as today. Lott is the sixth senate Republican to announce his resignation this year. He has not yet given a reason, not even the standard GOP "desire to spend more time with family" explanation most commonly used by Bush appointees and Republican members of congress. NBC speculates that Lott is resigning early to avoid restriction on lobbying by retiring legislators-- restrictions that go into effect starting next year that requires retiring senators to wait two years before becoming a highly paid lobbyist. I'm guessing that's why Denny Hastert has also resigned before the end of the year. So, we have two legislators, resigning from their terms a year early, so they can jump right in to the really big bucks as lobbyists. Politico reports,
When my former congressman, Jim Greenwood, retired, in 2004, he took a job as a lobbyist, paying over $800,000 a year. That laid the groundwork for Patrick Murphy to take a seat that would have been unassailable had Greenwood held on to it. Now, Sen. Trent Lott has resigned, joining Denny Hastert in avoiding tougher 2008 lobbying Rules. My guess is that at least a few more high powered Republicans, not looking forward to an even weaker Republican minority in the house and senate come 2009, will be joining the rats who have already jumped ship. That will make it MUCH, MUCH easier for Democrats to capture seats that were held by incumbents. The GOP is very short on money, and so they are recruiting wealthy candidates who can carry their own weight and pay their own way. The problem is, that kind of candidate does not usually win. Making a lot of money does not include the same skill set as campaigning and persuading voters to elect you. The questions are, how many and which other Republican congressional leaders will decide it is time to jump ship early, so they can hitch a ride on the lobbyist gravy train a year earlier. Once 2008 rolls around, new laws will require legislators to wait two years, instead of the current one year before starting as a lobbyist. That could cost some of these Republican legislators a cool million or more dollars for that first year's work. And, as the new 2009 congress launches, with diminishing Republican influence, could even cost the Republicans job opportunities altogether. That said, there may be some Democratic resignations too. After all, the Democrats will probably have more say in funding.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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