Bayh Exits stage right to become a lobbyist for the Chamber of Commerce
Posted: June 7, 2011 Filed under: Politics as Usual | Tags: Chamber of Commerce, Evan Bayh, lobbying 14 CommentsOne of the biggest problems in our political system today is the incestuous relationship between former members of 
congress that join lobbying firms and their contacts who remain in office. Senator Evan Bayh has decided to become part of the problem.
Not long after announcing his plans to retire in 2010, then-Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) offered this bit of commentary on why he’d opted to leave Congress after two terms in office: “I want to be engaged in an honorable line of work.” It was taken as a biting critique of the increasingly polarized and dysfunctional Senate, and a hint that Bayh’s post-Senate plans might include a quiet career in academia, away from politics.
Now Bayh is eating his words. As iWatch News‘ Peter Stone reports, Bayh has signed on with one of the most corporate-friendly, anti-environment shops in all of Washington, DC: the US Chamber of Commerce. According to an internal memo penned by Chamber president Tom Donohue, Bayh, along with former Bush White House chief of staff Andy Card, are now part of the Chamber’s anti-regulation messaging team, doing “speeches, events, and media appearances at local venues.”
The Chamber’s hiring of Bayh, a big name in Washington circles, will only help its efforts to delay or kill new regulatory legislation in Congress. Indeed, Donohue’s memo touts how the Chamber has filed legal briefs to challenge the validity of President Obama’s health care reform bill; successfully delayed a new Securities and Exchange Commission rule on giving shareholders a say on corporate directors; unveiled plans to undermine the clout of the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and delayed a rule forcing companies to disclose when they use conflict minerals from the Congo in their products. Bayh and Card, the memo says, will help the Chamber push this pro-corporate agenda in Washington and beyond.
It’s very difficult to justify this line of work as honorable. Bayh will join the Chamber in denouncing “excessive” regulation among other parts of a clearly right wing agenda. What’s really stinky about this deal is that Bayh used to decry the excessive role of money and lobbyists in national lawmaking.
In a New York Times op-ed in February 2010, Bayh also spoke out against the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which permits corporations and other groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaign ads. “The threat of unlimited amounts of negative advertising from special interest groups will only make members more beholden to their natural constituencies and more afraid of violating party orthodoxies,” Bayh wrote. The Chamber, in contrast, was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the ruling and a major spender in the 2010 election cycle.
Evan Bayh has never really been part of many solutions but now he seems destined to become part of the bigger problem.
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I wish I was more surprised
I guess this is just one more example that everyone in power and/or those who have been in power have a price and are raging hypocrites! And the American public continues to be screwed.
Hypocrisy seems to be an american pastime.
Predictable.
Just like BB said on the other post, politics is not as fun as it used to be. This kind of crap is part of the reason.
He was so lame during Hill’s 08 campaign in ID….shockingly so…got his updates via the NYT web page instead of his own contacts in state! ….he’s kind of a nothing imo….a political trust baby so to speak. I remember when he quit, people hoped it was because he would primary Obama! lolsob. Now he’s going to work for BO backers…but if his “help” during Hill’s campaign is any indication, they won’t get their money’s worth
never !!!!! 👿
I feel bad for his dad. It can’t be fun watching your disappointing offspring.
ruh roh, dead heat between Empty and Emptier suit
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/abc-news-poll-romney-pulls-obama-head-head/story?id=13776546
Romney appears formidable: In a general-election trial heat in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll he runs evenly with Barack Obama among all Americans, and numerically outpoints him, 49-46 percent, among registered voters — not a statistically significant lead, given sampling error, but a clear reflection of Obama’s vulnerability to a well-positioned challenger.
Give him a F…………….Give him a U……………..Give him a C…………….do you think we should give him a K?
That’s right, he’s nohting but a shuck.
HONK!! And to think I saw him as a VP candidate.
Asshat,
Hillary 2012
None of this surprises me. My mother used to call Evan, our former Governor and Senator, “Birch Bayh’s Republican son”. He has always been a DINO.
” Birch Bayh’s Republican son”. ”
lol
You are right about the incestuous relationships. It also ties in with our Regulators at all levels of government. They get off these regulatory commissions and immediate go to work and get a huge payoff salary from the very people they were supposed to be regulating all those years. The smell is obvious. Nowhere is this more obvious than with Public Service Commissions. They are suppoed to represent the people and the utilities get away with the most ludicrous demands. Next thing you know, the commissioners’ term runs out and they are working for some electric company. Congress is doing exactly the same thing. They make laws for their special interest groups and then get themselves a nifty paycheck to go with that full retirement they can expect from “Serving” in Congress. In the end, the only people they “served” are themselves.