For Sale: One Congressman

Even if you’ve already got a job, it’s prudent to stay open to new possibilities. But Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-La.), who heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is taking the idea to new heights. Only weeks after he helped engineer the Medicare prescription drug benefit that greatly profits the pharmaceutical industry, he is mulling a multimillion-dollar offer to become the drug companies’ chief lobbyist.

Tauzin isn’t the only member of Congress with such ethical issues. As The Times’ Richard T. Cooper and Chuck Neubauer reported last month, Congress is rife with conflicts that violate the spirit but not the letter of ethics laws.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has enriched himself and associates with questionable partnerships involving companies in line for government contracts or other benefits. At least 17 current senators and 11 representatives have had close family members engaged in lobbying or governmental relations.

Even so, Tauzin breaks new ground by conducting what amounts to a public auction for his services in the private sector. Tauzin just rejected a deal worth in excess of $1 million a year to replace Jack Valenti as head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America. And why not? The drug industry is apparently offering him an even more lucrative deal.

The industry is understandably eager to land Tauzin. It could show that it rewards those who back it in Congress, and Tauzin could help derail vital future reforms in the deeply flawed drug benefit law. What the industry most fears is an end to the ban on direct price negotiations by Medicare with drug companies, and allowing Americans to legally import cheaper drugs from Canada.

During a political retreat this weekend, House GOP members will probably pressure Tauzin to leave his chairmanship. Big deal. Whether Tauzin stays on as chairman is not significant. What are really needed are sweeping changes in hopelessly vague House ethics rules that foster these conflicts of interest.

The current rules say ex-lawmakers may not directly lobby their former colleagues for one year. But Tauzin’s subordinates in his new job could carry unambiguous messages.

A good start on reform would ban lawmakers from direct lobbying for three years and from negotiating a new job while they’re still in office.

Presidential candidates, including Sen. John Edwards and Sen. John F. Kerry, also back regular disclosures of lobbyists’ meetings with members of Congress and the executive branch. Such reforms, taken together, would not stop any lawmakers from earning a living upon leaving Congress -- or even from growing rich. But it would at least dim the appearance of direct quid pro quo.