Greener pastures for Walden

     "For me, the time has come to pursue new challenges and opportunities."

    Greg Walden, announcing he will not run for re-election

I already noted that I predicted this a year ago.

Off to become a lobbyist.

Walden does not consult with me. My predictions are based on publicly available observations. Readers said I was just trolling him when I wrote last year and subsequently that he would be leaving office. Actually, I was being sincere. It was a guess, but an educated one.

I don't know for certain what "new challenges and opportunities" he plans. For all I know, he plans to get into great shape and do marathons and write poetry. As I said, he doesn't open up to me.

But here is what I am confident he will do. He will be part of the revolving door of public office and then lobbying. Nowadays, to the peril of our republic, public office is the semi-paid internship, the dues people play before they leave office and cash in. Donald Trump called this "the swamp" and the campaign message got real traction.  He was too rich to bother cashing in, he said.

It helped him get elected. Hillary Clinton was a better example of the revolving door of public service and big money than was Trump. Trump said he played the contribution game as a guy who gave money and got favors, and said he played to win but disapproved of the game.

Hillary played the game and didn't seem to disapprove. Her paid speeches were a body-language signal that she got money for playing the game.  As with prostitution, the recipient of the money is perceived worse than is the payer of the money. Trump won that matchup.

Democrats have taken a step back from PAC and big lobbyist contributions, and even contributions by well heeled individual donors making the maximum $2,800 contribution are suspect. Sanders and Warren contrast their fundraising with that of Pete Buttigieg.  

Republicans are less picky. Trump gets money from rich and poor. Greg Walden's own announcement noted that he had raised a great deal of money. In the Republican view, there is no shame in being beloved by people who write big checks. Walden gets those checks, especially from two of the industries his Energy and Commerce Committee oversees: health care and telecommunications. He has friends in those industries.

I predict the revolving door will turn exactly  180 degrees. He will go to work representing one of the industries he worked to regulate. 

They owe him.