Legislators Need to Stop Selling Us Out

The Jackson Citizen-Patriot yesterday editorialized on lawmakers who sell us out for cushy lobbying jobs as they're being term-limited out of office.

But there's a difference between a professional lobbyist whose key asset is information, and a former lawmaker who is capitalizing on relationships within the circle of back-slappin' friends and cronies he or she developed in the Legislature. That's the kind of lobbying that needs reasonable limits.

I want to make it clear:  I'm not opposed to lobbyists or the notion that they have a role to play in government.  However, the system of legalized bribery that we currently have now is only made worse by legislators who are worried about their future job prospects.

We're faced with a system of warped incentives:  If a legislator is facing term-limits, the incentive to pass legislation that favors their future employers may be greater than their desire to protect the public interest.  That's just wrong.