The Fat Lady Has Sung!

The Clarion Ledger is reporting that Former District 71 Representative John Reeves has decided to drop his petition to keep the house seat. To this I can only say thank goodness! He is reported to have said he wanted Representative Wooten to be able to take her seat without a cloud hanging over her head and that he would probably do some lobbying now. Congratulations to Representative Wooten! Now on to the problem with his next career:

First Trent Lott now John Reeves. IT IS WRONG for a former representative or senator on either state or national levels, to to profit from the relationships they formed by directly lobbying the people with whom they supposedly served the public trust. At least within the first few years after leaving those positions! It is no different than any other job which requires that you not go after their customer base when you quit or are fired. Usually these stipulations are good for at least a year. In the case of politicians it should be much longer.

Now there's no doubt in my mind many would still find a way to lobby indirectly. We can't legislate that away but at least it would be a bit more difficult. Think about this......a politician serves for a number of years and discovers the inner workings of the house or senate. While serving they are privy to information about deals that are made. You know the kind, "vote for my bill and I'll vote for yours" Usually the "I'll vote for yours" means, "I'm voting for something I don't necessarily agree with but it won't have a seriously negative impact on my constituents". These types of deals can come back to haunt the person still in office.

This is just the sort of thing a former politician can use to his or her advantage when they are lobbying for a particular bill. The sickening part is they get paid to do this. First they gain this inside knowledge while being paid by taxpayers to serve, then turn it into individual profit. They shouldn't be allowed to lobby the political bodies they worked in for at least FIVE years.

South Jackson? Well I will be very interested in exactly what initiatives John Reeves will be lobbying to have passed and who they will ultimately benefit. I'll lay you 10 to 1 odds, it won't be South Jackson.