Bill Bennett: “I may be the only one--I am not sure--who has had experience with the revolving door, as one who went through it. I…”

“I may be the only one--I am not sure--who has had experience with the revolving door, as one who went through it. I worked in the Nixon administration. The day after I walked out, I had a number of clients who wanted me to lobby them at my former department. I was at the Department of Transportation, and I was the chief lobbyist. We pretend that executive departments don't have lobbyists. We call them congressional relations specialists or congressional liaisons, but they are lobbyists. And I had been lobbying the Congress on behalf of the Department of Transportation. In that role I got access to the Secretary's inner circle. And the day after I left, I was hired by people who had interests before the Department. There was no prohibition for that at that time. So I went to the Department of Transportation and to my old friends with whom I had been working very closely for that period of time. I discovered very quickly that the fact that I no longer was at the Secretary's ear, the fact that I no longer had any position of influence in the Department made me a whole lot less welcome in their offices than I had been the week before.”