Dems advocate 1-year `cooling off' period between legislative and lobbyist jobs

Friday, March 23, 2007

Contact: Chuck Oxley (208) 871-4976 (office)

BOISE, Idaho – BOISE, Idaho – Democratic leaders on Friday unveiled new legislation that would require a 12-month “cooling off” period for legislators who are seeking to become lobbyists.

Although late in the session, the Democratic effort comes in response to an Associated Press report published this week, which revealed that Republican House Speaker Lawerence Denney used his position to get a former fellow Republican leader a lobbying job – at the expense of a lobbyist who supported Denney’s political opponent.

The article says Denney suggested to officials at Foursquare, a California developer, that they should hire former Boise Republican legislator Julie Ellsworth instead of retaining lobbyist Jerry Deckard.

According to the article, “Deckard severed his ties to Foursquare on Feb. 12; Ellsworth replaced him eight days later.”

“This kind of back-room deal smells just like the congressional ‘K-Street Project,’” – the one that got Tom Delay into so much trouble last year, said House Democratic Leader Wendy Jaquet (D-Ketchum).

“The Speaker of the House improperly used his influence to provide a soft landing for one of his friends and to punish a lobbyist who didn’t support him.” she said.

Very simply, the Democratic legislation would not allow any legislator to receive any pay for working as a lobbyist until one year after he or she was officially an elected senator or representative.

Democrats acknowledged that even under their proposal, legislators could still try to gain personal advantages rather than serve the people. However, a forced 12-month waiting period would likely curtail the practice.

“This is good public policy that speaks for itself,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Rusche. “Making Idaho government more responsible is one of the primary objectives of the Democratic Caucus.”