WASHINGTON, October 12, 2006 — The Center for Public Integrity identified former state legislators who went on to register as state lobbyists. The number of statehouse revolvers the Center identified is influenced by state-to-state variations in the regulation of lobbyists. (See Statehouse Revolvers story.)
The chart below shows the total number of ex-legislators registered to lobby their state government in 2005. It also highlights three factors that could impact that number: revolving door (indicates if the state has a set time period before which a former legislator can register to lobby), term limits (indicates if the state limits the number of terms a legislator can serve), and government employees register (indicates if the state requires employees of the government to register on behalf of their state agency if they perform lobbying activities as defined in state law).
Click on column headings to sort. To see a list of a state's revolvers, click on the total.
| State | Total | Revolving Door | Term Limits | Gov't Employees Register |
| Alabama | 31 | Yes, 2 Year | No | Yes |
| Alaska | 10 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| Arizona | 31 | Yes, 1 Year | Yes | Yes |
| Arkansas | 35 | No | Yes | No |
| California | 35 | Yes, 1 Year | Yes | No |
| Colorado | 33 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Connecticut | 26 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| Delaware | 7 | No | No | No |
| Florida | 60 | Yes, 2 Year | Yes | Yes |
| Georgia | 41 | Yes, 1 Year (as of 2007) | No | Yes |
| Hawaii | 12 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| Idaho | 20 | No | No | No |
| Illinois | 50 | No | No | No |
| Indiana | 27 | No | No | No |
| Iowa | 20 | Yes, 2 Year | No | Yes |
| Kansas | 25 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| Kentucky | 24 | Yes, 2 Year | No | No |
| Louisiana | 12 | Yes, 2 Year | Yes | No |
| Maine | 14 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Maryland | 22 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| Massachusetts | 43 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| Michigan | 43 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Minnesota | 50 | No | No | No |
| Mississippi | 17 | Yes, 1 Year | No | Yes |
| Missouri | 46 | No | Yes | No |
| Montana | 19 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Nebraska | 18 | No | Yes | No |
| Nevada | 23 | No | Yes | No |
| New Hampshire | 22 | No | No | No |
| New Jersey | 19 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| New Mexico | 28 | No | No | Yes |
| New York | 19 | Yes, 2 Year | No | No |
| North Carolina | 24 | Yes, 6 Month (as of 2007) | No | No |
| North Dakota | 19 | No | No | No |
| Ohio | 36 | Yes, 1 Year | Yes | Yes |
| Oklahoma | 39 | No | Yes | No |
| Oregon | 30 | No | No | Yes |
| Pennsylvania | 25 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| Rhode Island | 18 | Yes, 1 Year | No | Yes |
| South Carolina | 15 | Yes, 1 Year | No | Yes |
| South Dakota | 17 | Yes, 1 Year | Yes | Yes |
| Tennessee | 18 | Yes, 1 Year (as of Feb. 2006) | No | No |
| Texas | 70 | No | No | No |
| Utah | 30 | No | No | No |
| Vermont | 17 | No | No | No |
| Virginia | 6 | Yes, 1 Year | No | No |
| Washington | 15 | Yes, 1 Year | No | Yes |
| West Virginia | 21 | No | No | No |
| Wisconsin | 24 | No | No | Yes |
| Wyoming | 12 | No | No | No |
To determine who the statehouse revolvers nationwide were, the Center for Public Integrity first matched names from states' lobbyist registrations from 2003, 2004 and 2005 with names from official state legislature rosters dating back to 1975.
Researchers then interviewed hundreds of people, including campaign finance watchdogs, state capitol reporters, political consultants, college professors and the legislator-lobbyists themselves. Cross-referencing the information gleaned from the interviews with what was already available from documents, Center staff created the first database listing former legislators across all 50 states who have since become lobbyists.
In doing so, the Center cast a wide net, grouping a disparate collection of individuals. Not all lobbyists are the same, as researchers learned during interviews, and the data reflect this.
The final totals for each state are most likely conservative because when sufficient confirmation was unable to be obtained researchers left out the possible match.
For context, lists of legislator-lobbyists by state include employers or clients as reported in 2005 state records.
More than 60 percent of the individuals registered to lobby for multiple clients, often via lobbying firms. Referred to as "contract" lobbyists, they advocate for clients on a contractual basis. The remaining former officials are considered "in-house" lobbyists — those who advocate for only one client, typically their respective employer. |