The American Spectator

TPM has created an index of the “Shadow Congress” of former congressmen who have cashed out of their elected offices for jobs at D.C. lobbying firms. By their count 172 congressmen have exited through the revolving door and are currently working for lobbies, and you can search them by state. 

From the report: 

Members of this Shadow Congress — not all of whom are registered lobbyists — hail from 41 of 50 states (Texas has the most, with 17) and they’re almost as likely to be Democrats as Republicans…..

…some of the members of the Shadow Congress are ensconced at brand-name law and lobbying firms like Alston & Bird or Patton Boggs, or they run powerful trade associations. But a surprising number have chosen, essentially, to hang out a shingle, setting up eponymous one- or two-person shops built around their principals’ connections. One firm, Advantage Associates, has taken that concept to a new level, bringing together nine former lawmakers — all white men, four of whom are named Bill — under one roof. As Advantage puts it on their website: “No one knows the way around Capitol Hill better than those who have previously served in Congress.”

TPM claims that this is a “close-to-comprehensive” list of former lawmakers now working for D.C. lobbies, but of course it doesn’t include the numbers of congressional aides who go straight from the Hill to K Street. And the revolving door isn’t one-way — it would be interesting to see how many former lobbyists are currently working for congressmen.