Washington » With his growing family in mind, Cody Stewart left his comfortable spot as a congressional staffer -- but he didn't leave Capitol Hill.
Instead, the Utah native entered the revolving door, turning his contacts and understanding of Congress into a lucrative lobbying practice. He collected $200,000 last year representing Southern Utah University, big drug companies and oil producers.
But after three years, he decided making policy was more rewarding than trying to influence it. So in January, the public-official-turned-lobbyist reclaimed his old congressional job as the executive director of the Western Caucus, now led by Utah Rep. Rob Bishop.
"In many ways," Stewart said, "I'm the poster boy for the revolving door."
He's one of thousands of Washington insiders and dozens of Utahns who move between government employment and the multibillion-dollar lobbying industry.
Known as the revolving door, this practice has sparked the ire of President Barack Obama, who believes shifting jobs can lead to shifting allegiances, raising questions of whether public officials are working for the people or for their former -- or future -- clients.
On Jan. 21, his first day in office, Obama signed an executive order setting new lobbyist restrictions that he called "a clean break from business as usual."
"We need to close the revolving door that lets lobbyists come into government freely," he said, "and lets them use their time in public service as a way to promote their own interests over the interests of the American people when they leave."
His order banned those taking government jobs from working on issues they lobbied on in the past two years.
Two days later, Obama issued a "waiver" for a defense lobbyist he named deputy defense secretary. And, on March 10, he issued two more waivers. Other lobbyists now work for his administration without a waiver because they promise to recuse themselves from issues they previously worked on.
"He has certainly set a tone that, if you are coming into his administration, you should not come in with your old ties," said Massie Ritch with the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit organization that keeps a revolving-door database. "It is just a difficult thing to adhere to in all cases."
James Thurber, director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, gives a blunter assessment, calling the president's executive order "disingenuous," more political posturing than practicality.
The revolving door never will stop turning, he said: "It would be like stopping gravity."
"Nobody ever wants to leave Washington," Thurber said. "You can't sell what they've learned in Washington back in Utah, in Provo or wherever."
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Defending lobbyists » Utah Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett see Obama's new lobbying rules as shortsighted.
"It is a false assumption," Bennett said, "that just because you know the game that you will automatically corrupt anyone you talk to."
More than 30 former staffers for Utah's delegation have registered as federal lobbyists, with the majority having worked for Hatch, Bennett or former Rep. Chris Cannon, who left Congress in January.
Bennett, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, has had at least eight staffers become lobbyists with half of them working for financial firms or corporate giants.
Bennett's chief of staff for 13 years, Paul "Chip" Yost, stepped down in 2006 to lobby for Freddie Mac. The mortgage giant, along with sister agency Fannie Mae, have heavily lobbied Congress to stop new government regulations.
Since 1989, Bennett received nearly $108,000 from Freddie and Fannie, more than any other Republican. Also, former Bennett Chief of Staff James Barker and former aide Timothy Stewart lobbied for the two companies.
Those donations, and lobbying contracts, ended when the government took over the failed mortgage giants last year.
Bennett said it makes sense for congressional staffers to go to work for financial companies because these lobbyists can "save everyone a lot of time and trouble by pointing out the realities of the way the government is structured."
He also has no problem getting lobbied by a former employee, saying: "I know them well enough to be able to say no to them without having to worry about it."
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Cannon's crew » In Cannon's 12 years in Congress, he had eight chiefs of staff and the last five gained federal lobbying experience either immediately before joining his staff or immediately afterward.
Perhaps the highest profile one is David Safavian, who took a leave of absence from his lobbying firm to join the congressman's staff. He is now incarcerated for lying about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who took Safavian, then a White House procurement officer, on a lavish golf trip to Scotland.
Other Cannon chiefs, such as Todd Thorpe and Chris MacKay, have lobbying clients that directly relate to their experience working on intellectual property and telecommunication matters before the House Judiciary Committee, of which Cannon was an active member.
Cannon's latest top adviser, Joe Hunter, doesn't plan to leave Park City but he does expect to lobby Congress on energy and natural-resources issues, though he hasn't registered yet. He also has consulted on a bill to grant Utah a fourth U.S. House seat and give Washington, D.C., its first full-voting member.
The last of Cannon's chiefs to leave with no connection to lobbying is Mark Emerson, who resigned in early 2000 and now works for a Web-based company in Highland. He understands the need to hire experienced people but he doesn't like how intertwined lobbying and government have become.
"I don't think that is healthy," he said, "but at the same time I don't know how avoidable it is."
Cannon, for one, has no plan to follow the path many of his senior advisers have taken.
"I don't think I will ever register as a lobbyist," he said.
Cannon intends to contact lawmakers about bills he likes, but he won't accept any money to do it. Since leaving office, he has taken board positions with companies working on technological breakthroughs.
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Hansen as lobbyist » Former Utah Rep. Jim Hansen didn't plan on being a lobbyist either when he left in 2003 after serving 22 years in the House.
"You are almost forced into that corner," he said.
People called and asked for his advice. He gave it freely.
"But pretty soon it got a little old, so I started charging people for things," said Han -sen, who lobbies on behalf of an oil shale company. "The thing I find that is amazing to me is how totally ignorant businesses in America are about the processes of Congress."
More than 160 former members of Congress are registered to lobby, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, including Hansen and former Utah Sen. Jake Garn.
"It is hard," Hansen said, "to divorce yourself from something you have been doing for so many years."
That's the way Patricia Knight looks at it. She stepped down as Hatch's chief of staff in 2007, right before a new ethics law kicked in. Congress imposed a cooling-off period. Senators now have to wait two years before lobbying their colleagues; House members have to wait one year. Top staffers have a similar wait but it applies only to the office in which they worked.
Hired as an aide on health care issues, Knight helped write the 1994 dietary supplement legislation and the Children's Health Insurance Program bill in 1997.
She now lobbies on health care issues for pharmaceutical companies. She is one of at least 16 former Hatch staffers to become lobbyists, and one of seven with ties to the health care industry. Those numbers don't include Hatch's son, Scott, who is also a lobbyist on health care issues.
Hatch sees no problem for people such as Knight using their expertise to help the private sector, saying they "get their education in the nitty-gritty of working on these bills."
But he has noticed a big upswing in lobbyists, especially those with previous government experience, in his 30 years in office.
"The town has become filled with so many thousands of lobbyists," Hatch said, "that it is sometimes embarrassing."
Jennifer Bischoff contributed to this article.
Bennett, Bishop: Ex-lobbyists
Two members of Congress from Utah have worked as lobbyists.
Utah Sen. Bob Bennett » He lobbied for J.C. Penney in the '60s. He also owned a company that had lobbying contracts with General Foods Corp. and the LDS Church.
Utah Rep. Rob Bishop » After leaving the Legislature in '94, he lobbied former colleagues on behalf of clients that included EnergySolutions and a Utah gun-rights group.
