Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
INDIANAPOLIS -- A lawmaker who announced earlier this year that he
wouldn't be seeking a second term said last week he'll be taking a job
with an Indianapolis law and lobbying firm instead.
And while Rep. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, is finishing his term in
the Indiana House, his job at Ice Miller LLP has already begun. Last
week, he told The Times of Northwest Indiana that he'd stay away from
state policy issues until his term ends this fall.
Such a move -- from lawmaker to lobbyist -- is legal in Indiana, which
has no requirement that a former legislator wait any period of time
before returning to the Statehouse to try to woo former colleagues'
votes.
In fact, the practice is quite common in Indiana.
The Statehouse hallways are filled with lawmakers-turned-lobbyists,
many but not all of whom made the change almost immediately.

Former House speakers Paul Mannweiler, Mike Phillips and Phil
Bainbridge are all lobbyists. Mike Smith, a former House member from
Rensselaer, is now the executive director of the Casino Association of
Indiana.
John Keeler represented Indianapolis before he retired from the
legislature to become a lobbyist. Former state Rep. Marc Carmichael
now represents beer wholesalers before the General Assembly. And Markt
Lytle, who represented Madison until he lost his re-election bid in
2004, returned to the Statehouse the following year to represent
clients that included Belterra Casino.
And there are others.
Such transitions are not allowed in the executive branch, where Gov.
Mitch Daniels has imposed a waiting period for some state employees
who want to go to work with companies which they previously regulated
or with which they had some other type of contact. But they remain
commonplace at the General Assembly.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 26 states
have imposed some kind of "cooling off period" for their respective
legislatures.
"The purpose is to break the connection between the legislator's
professional duties and the interest of specific groups or
organizations," Peggy Kerns wrote in a National Conference of State
Legislatures brief.
In most of those states, the waiting period is one or two years.
In Kentucky, former lawmakers have to wait two years before they can
become lobbyists. Ohio has a one-year wait. Illinois and Michigan --
like Indiana -- have no waiting periods.
Supporters of the restrictions say that they are necessary to ensure
that special-interest groups aren't providing jobs to lawmakers who
aid them, or that former legislators aren't able to wield too much
power over the men and women who used to be their colleagues.
A waiting period can lessen any suspicion that a legislator is
beholden to any special interest, Kerns wrote.
"This appearance factor is important, proponents say, to curb the
public's skepticism about public officials," she wrote.
But critics of the cooling-off periods say that former lawmakers
should be allowed to use the expertise they've gained while holding
office.
In Indiana, the issue has been occasionally discussed but hasn't been
considered seriously in recent years.
The issue could come up, though, next year, when House Speaker Brian
Bosma has promised he'll pursue some changes in legislative ethics
rules.
He hasn't been specific, so there's no way to know yet whether a
waiting period might be part of his proposed changes. But it wouldn't
be a surprise.
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