Right now, members of Congress officially earn $174,000 a year. Officially. But that's not their real salary. As numerous media reports and first-hand accounts have shown, the way that many elected officials really make money is to secure high-paying lobbying jobs after leaving Congress, often with the very firms or companies for whom they have done legislative favors while still in office.
It's what you might call Backdoor Bribery—and
we need your help to stop it.
So for instance, former Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd got a 762% raise after he retired from the Senate to work at the movie industry association. Based on available information,
the average raise for a member of Congress who becomes an influence-peddler is 1452%.
It's so bad that some current members of Congress, whose retirement is still 10 months away, are already
negotiating with lobbyists right now for jobs.
This is outrageous. There are 34 current members of Congress who have announced they are leaving office. We're sending a letter to each of them, asking them to tell the public who is offering them jobs and who they are negotiating with. The American people have the right to know: Who are members of Congress really working for?
Sign the letter here, addressed to the retiring members of Congress, and we'll deliver the petition with your name on it to their offices. Over the course of the next few weeks, we'll be doing follow-up work to get them to tell us who might be offering them backdoor bribes. And forward this email to your friends. Facebook it. Tweet it out.
It's supposed to be our government, not the lobbyists. Let's make it ours. Click here to sign the letter.
Sincerely,
Lee Fang
Republic Report
