Give Congress Perks And A Raise

CBS's Meyer: It's Easy To Gripe About Lobbyists, But You Get The Politicians You Pay For

(CBS)  This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.

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Being in Congress used to be a career, now it’s a stepping stone. All the cool kids want to get out. Many of them want to be president. But a lot more want to be lobbyists.

The latest legislator-turned-lobbyist is Richard Baker, a Louisiana House member who was the second-ranking Republican on the Committee on Financial Services, a coveted gig in political eras past. But it’s a piker’s job compared to Baker’s new set-up as head of the Managed Funds Association, the hedge fund industry’s trade group.

Another bayou Republican, Jim McCrery, just gave up an even better post as the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee. McCrery is just 58 years old, Baker is 59. Both could have had long runs as Congressional czars.

Trent Lott, once the Senate Majority Leader, just quit to open a lobbying shop with a Democratic dealmaker, John Breaux who used to represent Louisiana in the Senate.

A generation ago it would have been unthinkable for young, powerful legislators to willingly leave Congress unless it was for other public service. Power and glory came with seniority and expertise. Now it’s the norm to get out young.

There are problems with this, but they aren’t the ones that get discussed.

The usual complaint is that lobbying is sleazy and the revolving door corrupts Congress. But if you think about it, lobbying isn’t sleazy or improper. What is sleazy and improper is when lawmakers succumb to lobbying for bad reasons. The vice of today’s faster revolving door is not that it makes the lobby more powerful, but that it makes the Congress less powerful.

Since at least Watergate, the mission of reformers and do-gooders has been to stem the flow of money into politics and the access of petitioners to the powerful. This goes against human nature and thus, will continue to fail.

It’s time for a fresh and radical approach. Instead of beating up on lobbyists, we should try building up legislators. We should give them huge pay raises, perks and expense accounts. We should immunize them from special-interest infections. We should give them what in the business world is called “f --- you” money. Really.

Members of Congress will make $169,300 in 2008. That may sound like a lot, but for people who must maintain two residences and who constantly hobnob with the rich and famous, it doesn’t feel like a lot. First-year associates at big Washington law firms make that much.

The campaign finance system already forces politicians to be perpetual grovelers. Must we force them to hustle for baseball tickets and t-bones as well?

Senators should make at least a million and House members at least $750,000, probably more. They should have huge private accounts and travel budgets so that they would never be tempted by a junket, feast or floozy financed by a lobbyist. They should be able to pay their staff big bucks so they could hire the almost-best and nearly-the-brightest.

Now a million dollars a year wouldn’t come close to putting a senator in the financial class of Big Ten football coach, a mid-level investment banker or a local TV anchor. But it’s a decent wage.

The goal here is to create what Congress once had: tyrants.

This might seem counter-intuitive and undemocratic but it isn’t. Think about who modern legislators have to face off against: CEOs making $5-55 million a year; hedge fund managers who can make $500 million a year; retired Senators making $2 million a year lobbying; plus a full cast of labor bosses, civil rights leaders, oil sultans, petty despots, governors and cabinet members.

You need legislative tyrants to do that work properly. You need the people with fiefdoms, clout, bureaucratic savvy and policy expertise to balance other great powers in society. The 20th century Congress produced a steady stream of people - Dirksens, Mansfields and Fulbrights. No more. It’s time to invest.

The time is ripe for something bad to happen at the intersection of Power & Money.

The economy is on the verge of recession. Inflation is up and so is unemployment. Office-seekers want to somehow stimulate the economy, Democrats with spending, Republicans with tax cuts. The government is running deficits and borrowing from foreign sources, the same foreign sources that are bailing out U.S. financial institutions. Wealth is as concentrated as it has ever been in American history.

That is a perfect storm for either scandal or terrible legislation - or both.

I’d feel better if we had a gaggle of smart, mean old men and women who had been around forever - who didn’t care who they offended, who weren’t getting set to cash in - standing guard over our Capitol and our capital.

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E-mail questions, comments, complaints, arguments and ideas to Against the Grain. We will publish some of the interesting (and civil) ones, sometimes in edited form.

[kaliveotin]

This writer is an idiot. This kind of thinking is why congress is full of selfish corporate stooges instead of americans who wish to be of service to thier (our) country. Heavens, lets just take the candy away from all babies in poverty and give that to the congressmen too! What we need are PRISON terms for dishonest politicians and laws disallowing any previous lawmaker working for corporate america to offer any payment or favor to any government official.

[archamrh]

This guy is out of his ever lovin mind! Anyone that believes that giving any Congressional Politicians all this money and thinks this will STOP them taking money from Lobbyist, no matter how much we pay them is crazy! Our Congressional Leaders Retire with Full Benefits and Pay! When they leave, they get everything they get while working, health Insurance, Pay and ALL perks, why would anyone that receives this after Retirement would be crazy to stay on getting the same as when/if they left! So why not leave and become a Lobbyist? If anything, we should STOP all the Retirement Perks that our Congressional Politicians receive, and I DO mean everything! I know of not one company that pays it''s employees the exact same thing as they did while working, it''s just NOT good business practice, never was, never will be!!!

[squidly8]

I guess his theory is that if you pay them enough, then they won''t be tempted to take graft from lobbyists. Human greed doesn''t work that way. All that will happen is that the representatives and senators will get used to their new salary then declare themselves underpaid again and then look for ways of getting more. It isn''t a question of $, it is a question of ethics. Those that won''t take the money at their current salary probably won''t take it after a pay raise. Those sitting on the fence might be delayed but will soon be back on the fence - some will take money, others will not. Those that already take the money, will continue to do so.

It isn''t about the money, it is about the human.

[hydman3]

Here''s a thought...why not take that pay raise that you want to give Congress and instead let it go toward the military, police, fire, teachers...you know, people that actually MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE??

[cfin5]

The ONLY way the demopubliCANT''S can get me to play this pay raise sob story,.....SNIFF!...So they can have a nice big steak for lunch with out a lobbyist buying it for them would be to BAN THEM from government property,.....or to even let the "economic constituency molesters" live within 1000ft. of said property. Catch my drift yet? It would be a lot cheaper to give them the raise and kick out the lobby-swooners. Do I believe that this will happen?....NO! By the way, what''s Congress''s disapproval rating these days? Like 83% still? I say pay them according to their approval rating, which amounts to 17% of their normal paycheck,.....what''s wrong with this idea? It''s only "fair and balanced" because they treat our Constitutional rights like this don''t they?

[brianbwb-2009]

"CBS''s Meyer: It''s Easy To Gripe About Lobbyists, But You Get The Politicians You Pay For"

So Mr. Meyer, you wish to raise their salaries? How much? Enough so they won''t continue to take millions in bribes, oops, "lobbying efforts"?

And after you raise their pay, what will stop them from still being on the take?

I have a cheaper idea, outlaw lobbying, and jail, without judge''s discretion, any and all legislators receiving money, gifts, perks, or any such addition to their salaries.

We have Americans starving, living in the streets, and you want to pay even more to the scum that created the situation? I bet you also don''t want to raise taxes to pay for your foolishness either, do you?

[cyberus-2009]

No matter how much you pay a congresscritter lobbyists will be able to pay more.

[catamount_78]

Haven''t this idea been tried before. I remember about ten- twenty years ago congress said if they were paid more they would not need to make speeches for money and they could govern better. The average salary now is well over $100,000.00 per year plus perks. How many people working today make $100,000.00? They continue to vote themselves a pay raise every other year.

The U.S. is becoming more like former USSR. The perks are given to those with the best rank in the party system. Where USSR had only one party to rip the people off we have have two, so we pay twice as much.It time for the people of America to say enough is enough.

I say if congress can''t live on over $100,000.00 per year resign and let someone else live on that measly salary. I believe they were elected to serve the people. So serve or get out the way.

[mbburch06]

Congressmen are corrupt because they are TOO POWERFUL, not because they are underpaid. What a ridiculous notion the author puts forth. How ironic that the people who criticize government corruption are the same people trying to expand the scope of its power.

Congress spent $2.7 TRILLION last year -- that''s 20% of all income earned in the country. They dictate how much we should save for retirement (Social Security). They tell us what our children should be learning in school and how they should be learning it. They subsidize multi-billion dollar corporations and then tax them for being "too profitable."

If Congress did not have such extensive control over our lives, there would be NO REASON for bribes! All those poor lobbyists would be out of a job, and we wouldn''t need all these ridiculous campaign finance laws.

Congressional pay is just fine where it is. If you want to curb corruption, give them LESS POWER and LESS CONTROL over our lives!

[consciousnes]

It is time to make lobbying illegal or have them register and have all contacts to legislative personal through a central media and constiuant accessable computer

[usmcgeorge]

There is no way that you could raise the pay high enough to keep them from taking lobbiest funds. The money that is given to the congresses is coming from some where. Lets trace that money back to the source and ....add.., what ever the amount is given, back onto their income, so that they have to pay additional taxes on that money in stead of having it as a deduction. Then pass a law that anyone having a government job ,upon retirement,or just quiting, would not be allowed to become a lobbiest, or have any dealings with the government that they just left. I know that it would never work but I can deam can''t I.

[usbrit-2009]

The problem is that the fox is in charge of the chicken coop. How are you ever going to get a bloc of any type of humanity, let alone polticians, to vote against anything that is in their best interest?

[perception5]

Mr. Meyers the answer is "public financing" of campaigns.

No more private donations where all the candidates have to write IOU''s to donors for future favors.

..............Unless you''re Mitt Romney who doesn''t have to write these IOU''s............akd Mr. Clean and aka Mr. Fixer.

It time we fixed Washington DC and I say let''s hire Mitt Romney to "clean house"

..........GO MITT !!!

[whadl]

I think this is a great idea.

Think of all the talented people, decent people who might be interested in public service if they could make a salary at least in the ball park of what they can make in the private sector. Why go through the heartache and not make enough so that money is no concern. People with the necessary skills can do much better elsewhere. These are skills that few of us have. It''s a *** hard job.

It''s called the law of supply and demand. With minimal demand, the supply will be substandard. Period.

[balto_babs]

We''ll consider this plan only after Congress votes to provide (1) "every American citizen" the same health care benefits & retirement plans that they receive and (2) provide the armed services (which this administration has abused) with a real GI Bill (as after WW2)not its curremt namesake which is SO SADLY LACKING as to be an embarrassment to our national pride.

[vet999999]

Having centralized, non-govenmental functions creating billion dollar buckets of money for the lobbyists to go after is the problem. We need to take the departments like Education, Federal Highway Admin and break them up into 50 parts and give the money, resources and responsiblity back to the states. THis way the lobbyists will have to go after 50 smaller pots of money and will loose all of their influence.

[micma-2009]

It''s called buying back our government. The corrupting influence of corporate and special interest money in our government is the main problem from which almost all others arise. Our elected representatives do not represent us at all.

[talkingham]

Well paying htem more might be agreat idea if most of them weren''t already loaded with bucks. The article doesn''t seem to get that greed just begets more greed.

The real fix would be strictly enforced rules on lobbyist and require that their meetings be part of the public record since members of congress are funded by the public. Any meeting they have relative to their public duties should be part of the public record. It will never happen.

[bthrasher102]

The CEO''s and other officers of Enron, Worldcom, etc. were making tens of millions of dollars a year and yet they still gave in to greed. What makes anyone thing that people who lie for a living would be immune from this?

[netscaper113]

Congressional representatives are overpaid. No one working for the government (especially as an elected official) should be paid more than the median wage of the average US worker. In other words, they need a 50-60% pay cut.

[ne_patriot7]

Hmmmm... I maintain a residence on under 20K a yr... I bet I would have no trouble at all maintaining two with the income they get..

As for hobnobbing with the rich and famous..... why? they are public servants period.. a little less partying and lot more hours working and just maybe the electorate would not be pissed at a moderate raise..

Oh... and term limits has a similar effect on the corruption since the turnover would be constant..

Lobbyist and pacs should be outlawed, period... and so should corporate contributions to candidates..


Sorry D|ck, you''re way off base on this one..

[prairiefox1]

LET US SAY THAT ANY MONEY OR PERKS CONSTITUTE A BRIBE AND LET ANYONE IN CONGRESS SERVE SOME SERIOUS JAIL TIME FOR IT!

[prairiefox1]

I WILL BE GLAD TO GIVE THEM A RAISE! HOW HIGH DO THEY WANT TO GO ABOVE THE FLOOR?

[tomanyt]

Lobbing congress should be outlawed!!!

[mbcsmith]

Lobbing congress should be outlawed!!!


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Posted by tomanyt at 02:18 PM : Jan 17, 2008


Yeah, throw out that pesky first amendment to the constitution.

[locke10]

I really think that this was a satirical article. At least I hope it was.

[hillaryin08]

Hey Liberal Jihadist

Just to let you know because you wont get this on CBS News, The Culinary Workers Union is going to be allowed to caucus at work in Vegas on Saturday despite the efforts of the Clintons to prevent their first Amendment Rights.

Instead of "Rock the Vote" the Clintons should use "Stop the Vote" with Obamma being the undertone.

[talkingham]

Hey let''s simplify this a bit for old D. Meyer. Unfortuantely this isn''t one of his April Fool''s stories. He really believes he''s right.

Let''s just do away with Congress in the future, just like we''ve done over the last 7 years with His Majesty Bush, The Decider. The Dim Congress isn''t any better than than the Repug Congress anyway is it? So much great legislation has been rolled out over the last several years that''s it''s hard to make a list of accomplishments with anything other than the spending bills to fuel the wars and pet projects of the crooks.

So let''s make this thing performance based, one of those new paradigm deals, with value-added and the rest of that middle management hog-wash thrown in for good measure.

In this day of computers why not let the public vote on legislation presented by legislators to The People. Oops, that just wouldn''t work would it? Then the lobbyist would have to lobby the American People rather than a few greedy, power hungry "leaders'' in Congress. The Lobbycraticans would never allow the people to get involved nor would the Decider, and from reading these forums on a regular basis perhaps they are right.

[seafang]

So what was the name of that last politician who left Washington DC stony broke, and had to go find a real job?

[jsl45]

Give them a raise...yeah, right over the side of the boat into the river.....what this country needs is a good tea party, and the "tea" that should go in the river is all the congressmen and senators. There should be term limits and it should be against the law for them to ever work as a lobbyist after they have served.
They are suppose to be public servants but the greatest majorty of them don''t believe in anything other than lining their own pockets at the taxpayers expense.

[frb01]

Come to Hillary country upstate NY and deal with $9,10,11 or 12 dollars per hour. If they don''t like the pay, don''t run. Let''s put caps on campaign spending and we will get common folk to run. I would for $169K

[cs4466]

No public office should offer pay above minimum wage. No person holding public office should ever be able to accept any charitable donation in any form exceeding $1000 *total* per annum. If you want to rule, then live on the bottom-most rung. I guarantee the fortunes of the poor will improve and the rich will be less rich, but they''ll still have a ton of money. Power should carry a steep price or it will be sought after with dishonorable intent.

[kansas1946]

LOL. This whole idea sounds good, but it wouldn''t work. This whole idea is based on the premise that the reason politicians can be bought is because they need the money. Nonsense. The reason they can be bought is because they are unethical and immoral to begin with. And for those kind of folks, no amount of money is enough. The more money they have the more they will want, so the lobbyists will just up the ante. There is no amount of money that an ethical person could be bought for, and there not a small enough amount that an unethical person wouldn''t take it. Just quit electing immoral, unethical, crooks, and that will solve the problem.

[pangerban]

What delightful satire. Mr. Meyer has a puckish sense of humor, but we Americans are in no mood for such banter. A more realistic proposal would call for turning Congress into a corps of real volunteers who would draw a small stipend while living in spartan conditions in a government dormitory. A term would be three years, with a maximum of two terms. Only people dedicated to helping America -- not themselves -- would be accepted in this elite corps. Unfortunately, though, Congress is firmly in the hands of corrupt fat cats -- and their apologists, like Mr. Meyer.

[cfin5]

Scrolling through these comments reveals a close conciseness to the problem. Ron Paul has addressed this issue and has said the same thing. Could be some other candidates have also, but I prefer an election year speech of a candidate to match up with their public service walk. That cuts through a lot of spin for me. If you think that there is a better way to believe someone''s promises,.....then spit it out. I''ll be checking back here from time to time........Ron Paul, proven public servant of our Constitution in 2008! GO USA!!!

[gkc99]

"Senators should make at least a million and House members at least $750,000, probably more. They should have huge private accounts and travel budgets so that they would never be tempted by a junket, feast or floozy financed by a lobbyist."


And why would that be enough? It''s never enough for the pimps and punks that are running our government these days.

[cfin5]

And why would that be enough? It''''s never enough for the pimps and punks that are running our government these days.

Posted by gkc99 at 08:53 PM : Jan 17, 2008-----------You got that right. Along time ago one of the big bankers (JP Morgan maybe?) was asked how much money is enough money. He answered simply,......Just a little more.

[dhague]

These guys get themselves elected to Congress, and build a network of connections within the government during their tenure. Then, armed with their contacts and intimate knowledge of how the Legislative branch actually operates, they leave their elected positions and go to work for themselves selling their influence to the anyone with sufficient cash.

It''s bad enough that so many of them are elected through political campaigns funded by wealthy corporations and other interests. After leaving "public" life they are free to continue to work for the folks who got them elected in the first place at a healthy personal profit, without fear of being accused of "conflict of interest".

We might as well simply allow corporate America to appoint our legislators and spare us the periodic baloney festivals and advertising campaigns that pass for campaigns these days.

It strikes me as being decidedly immoral, but it will never be illegal as long as folks like these are in a position to make the laws.

[enriquecaliente]

This article was a joke, right.

[bm6005]

I say we let them out of DC with their skin(maybe). That''s the only bonus I''ll go for. These criminals all need to be brought up on charges!!

[ov442]

YOu are a FOOL! NO amount of money will EVER stop a greedy person from committing crimes and sins to get more. Period.
The ones that are trying every trick in the book to make deals are doing it because after congress is done with them, they go out and make those same millions as payback for all the favors they gave out while in office.
If we wasted our tax money by paying these morons more, they would just get richer and do the same things, if not WORSE.

Besides, its public service. Thats youre reward period. If you arent doing it for the public good, get out.

[ov442]

"A generation ago it would have been unthinkable for young, powerful legislators to willingly leave Congress unless it was for other public service."

GOOD, if you''re in it to get rich, get out!
This *** Meyer guy is the dumbest human being on earth, no wait, hes just a corrupt bashturd also.

Apparently, nowadays, if we keep the salary lower and they can earn huge amounts in the private sector, we''ll quickly get rid of all the greedy scumbags that we dont want making laws for us poor people in need of a politician to do their elected job which is to help their constituents.
To do a stressful job like that, for low pay, would prove you are dedicated to helping the people not there to get rich and fat and be useless and criminal.

[cfin5]

For some reason this subject stuck with me tonight. I have to tell you, some of the most intelligent thinkers in the "common sense" department I have ever had the pleasure of talking to look like some kind of certain ethnic Appalachian non-dental patient. I''ve never met anyone even close to their level of CS IQ. However, it seems to me most of the time when listening to Washington DC politicians talk, their intellect reminds me of the way those good old country boys look. I''ll listen up to the former.

[ioweign]

Congress should be staffed by Ordinary Citizens, chosen like we do Juries, for no more than two terms,
and paid $100K per year.
Lobbyists would be banned from washington altogether, and anyone caught trying to bribe one of these elected officials, would recieve the Death Penalty.
There would be a Presidential Election Process, that would have NO cost to the Candidates, payed for by Government, with Scheduled Debates on Public Television, and 10 individual 5 minute commercials allowed per Candidate, and 5 Gladhanding Town Hall meetups per State. Anyone caught doing anything else would be out on their assses.
After a couple years of this, all corruption would be eliminated from Washington. There wouldn''''t be any future in it, so the Scumbags would just move on to other Countries. Problem Solved.


Posted by veteran71 at 10:16 PM : Jan 17, 2008

What you are describing maybe unconstitutional.

I as a private individual have the right to assemble for whatever reason be it political or non-political.

[aaabee-2009]

This article was a joke, right.
Posted by enriquecalie at 09:53 PM : Jan 17, 2008

If it is, only two people get Mr Meyers sense of humor, himself being one. We have yet to hear from the other.

Mr Meyer likes to look at hot issues deeply and intensely, then uses a national information outlet from which to make consistently frivolous statements about them. And is paid to do so. These kinds of articles fill up the media, so that real news and commentary can''t get published.

Real news and commentary are too against the current regime right now, and since the media is so "liberal-biased" Bush antics don%u2019t get out to the public.

Oh, did you hear? Bush is paying us $800 to shut up for the remainder of his overwhelming lackluster presidency.

[simonsez40]

If you do your research on Thailand they pay their officials millions so they are above bribery.........it sounds insane but the majority of humanity is corrupt. Maybe the Thai''s have it right after all??? Couldn''t get any worse than what we already have......

[wogerwabbit]

Give Congress A Kick In The A$$ And A One Way Ticket Home

[Netterz]

They shouldnt be allowed to take any $ from lobbyist who want to buy them for there cause. What do we do to a dirty cop or military person? Fire him, and put him in prison. Same should go for those in the Gov''t who are bought and sold. Cops or military persons have far more dangerous jobs, dont even pull down a quarter of what a congressman does, and no where NEAR the side benefits. The job should be done on he same pretense, do it for the love of your country, not he amount of $ you can make, and who you can screw over. Kick the greedy bastages out who are only in it for the $ and the bennies, and get some true Americans in there.

[random_radar]

A better idea would be to put congressmen to death after one term in office. Then we would only have true patriots willing to die for their country in office.

I doubt that anyone willing to sacrifice their life to hold office would stoop to taking bribes or being pressured by lobbyists. And I doubt anyone in it for the money would take office if it was the last thing they were going to do in life.

Yes, putting congressmen to death after a term in office is a sure cure for corruption--and it would save a bundle on retirement pensions, too!

[oleander8]

Forget more pay and perks for Congress...rein in the lobbyists!