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THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW
November 30, 2007
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Money Trumps Service
By Robert D. Novak
WASHINGTON - Well-connected Republicans in Mississippi were
shocked by more than the unexpected nature of Trent Lott's
announced resignation Monday. They were stunned that Lott,
in good health at age 66 and at the top of his game, was
leaving the Senate one year into his fourth term in order
to make more money.
One of Lott's longtime political associates put it this way
to me (asking not to be quoted by name): "Can you imagine
Pat Harrison, Jim Eastland, John Stennis [Mississippi
senators of the past] or, for that matter, Thad Cochran
[the state's other senator today] quitting the U.S. Senate
to go into business? I cannot."
It is understood in Washington and Jackson why Lott is
leaving without serving even the first two years of a six-
year term. By getting out now, he can collect big lobbyist
money in one year instead of having to wait two years under
new congressional ethics regulations. Rep. Chip Pickering
would have been Gov. Haley Barbour's certain choice to
replace Lott had he not announced three months ago he
would not seek a seventh term in Congress. Though 22 years
younger than Lott, Pickering is also leaving for financial
reasons. That makes it hard for Barbour to select Picker-
ing.
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Members of Congress talk among themselves about "getting
out to make some money," and they do not mean pocket
change. The swollen federal government and concomitant
growth of massive lobbying firms means ex-lawmakers like
Lott and Pickering can quickly pull down a seven-figure
income. For many in today's Congress, big money trumps
public service.
Actually, the federal legislators know how to build tidy
nest eggs without spending one day in the private sector
-- nobody much better than Trent Lott. Except for one year
as a practicing attorney fresh out of law school, Lott has
spent his career on the public payroll -- four years as
a congressional staffer, 16 in the House and 19 in the
Senate. Nevertheless, the Center for Responsive Politics
in 2005 calculated his net worth between $1.4 million and
$2 million or 42nd among 100 senators. It put his annual
income from the Senate and private sources at $289,710,
in the top 1.5 percent of American income earners.
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That's not bad for the son of a shipyard worker and exceeds
the fondest dreams of his fellow citizens, but it is not
enough for Lott. He did not want to run for re-election
last year, telling friends it was time to "make some
money." Republican leaders, fearful of losing his seat
and control of the Senate, prevailed on him to run. In
announcing his candidacy two years ago, he said his long
experience was needed to help Mississippi's "recovery
effort from Katrina."
Lott's early exit casts a shadow on an extraordinary
congressional career. Elected to Congress in 1972 at age 31
as a defender of Richard M. Nixon, he voted for impeachment
as a Judiciary Committee member when faced with the
evidence. He was the House's second-ranking Republican at
age 39, won the same job in the Senate 14 years later, as
1984 Republican platform chairman shaped a supply-side
document in defiance of the White House staff design and
served six years as the most effective Republican Senate
majority leader of his time.
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Driven out of the leadership in 2002 when President George
W. Bush would not stand by him against spurious charges of
racism, Lott instead of resigning picked himself up and
became an effective backbencher. Against all expectations,
he returned to the leadership after the 2006 election by
winning a hotly contested campaign for Republican whip.
When Lott in 2005 was pondering whether to run again, he
expressed concern about taking on another six-year commit-
ment -- not one year. At this week's conference in
Pascagoula, Miss., Lott hurt his credibility by saying
the new two-year ban "didn't have a big role" in his
decision. "And," he added, "as I've talked to my former
colleagues, they say that a lot of what you do anyway is
involved with consulting rather than direct lobbying." But
Lott will have to do more than consult to earn the big
bucks that have led him out of the Senate.
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