Probably better off limiting congressmen and women so they can
never personally profit by being employed after office by someone or some business directly related to any of the legislation they passed or promoted. Maybe that and revising the rules for paid lobbying and corporate lobbying. Maybe limiting or stopping large corporations from donating to political campaigns.
Banning lobbyists would include banning people and organizations who lobby for better schools, clean air, clean water, free health care etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying_in_the_United_States#Paid_versus_free_lobbying
An example may illustrate. The company Tyco had learned that there had been discussion about a possible new tax provision that might have cost it $4 billion overall.[54] So the firm hired Jack Abramoff and paid him a retainer of $100,000 a month.[54] He assembled dozens of lobbyists with connections to key congressional committees with the ultimate objective being to influence powerful Senator Charles Grassley.[54] Abramoff began with a fundraising effort to round up "every check" possible.[54] He sought funds from his other lobbying clients:
I had my clients understand that just as other clients who had nothing to do with them, would step up and give contributions to congressmen they needed to have some sway with, so similarly they needed to do the same. I went to every client I could, and rounded up every check we could for him.
— Lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2011[54]
Lobbying as a career[edit]
While national-level lobbyists working in Washington have the highest salaries, many lobbyists operating at the state level can earn substantial salaries. The table shows the top lobbyists in one state—Maryland—in 2011.
Top Maryland lobbyists (2011) Lobbyist Income
Gerard E. Evans $1,232,000
Timothy A. Perry $1,217,793
Joel D. Rozner $1,215,161
Robin F. Shaivitz $1,156,368
Gregory S. Proctor Jr. $1,107,144
John R. Stierhoff $1,059,766
Michael V. Johansen $1,050,234
Nicholas G. Manis $1,016,250
D. Robert Enten $863,193
Lisa Harris Jones $857,000
Source:
State Ethics
Commission[79]
Top power-brokers such as Gerald Cassidy have made fortunes from lobbying:
Cassidy's reaction to his own wealth has been complicated. He lives large, riding around town in his chauffeured car, spending thousands on custom-made clothes, investing big money in, for example, the Charlie Palmer Steak restaurant at the foot of Capitol Hill just for the fun of it. He has fashioned a wine cellar of more than 7,000 bottles. He loves to go to England and live like a gentleman of the kind his Irish antecedents would have considered an anathema.
— journalist Robert G. Kaiser in 2007 in the Washington Post[36]
