INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana lawmaker who spearheaded a daylight-saving time bill and other legislation successfully sought by Gov. Mitch Daniels is joining the growing list of state lawmakers who've become lobbyists.
Republican Rep. Randy Borror of Fort Wayne resigned Thursday to become a senior vice president for Indianapolis-based Bose Public Affairs Group.
The 52-year-old, who had held his northeastern Indiana seat since 2001, will run the firm's new Fort Wayne office, focusing on lobbying the executive branch and state agencies. He will also serve as a consultant on legislative strategies.
Borror said he will wait a year before lobbying his former colleagues even though a provision of a state law that passed the Legislature this year requiring such a one-year "cooling off" period for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists doesn't take effect until 2012.
He said he opted to wait a year because he supported the new law.
"I believe strongly in the intent of the law; otherwise I wouldn't have voted for it," he said Thursday.
Borror is the latest in a growing line of lawmakers who have resigned or declined to pursue re-election to take potentially lucrative lobbying jobs, said Julia Vaughn, policy director for the consumer watchdog group Common Cause of Indiana.
Vaughn said at least two dozen ex-lawmakers now work as lobbyists. She expects that number to grow before the new restriction takes effect a year and a half from now.
"The lobbying side of things is certainly more lucrative, and that's been a big draw for legislators," she said.
Nearly 30 states have laws requiring former lawmakers to wait varying lengths of time before they become lobbyists, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Vaughn said lawmakers are attractive candidates for Statehouse lobbying jobs because of the relationships they've built with former colleagues. She said it used to be rare for former state lawmakers to become lobbyists, but about five made the switch last year.
Borror said two Bose executives approached him for the lobbying job after he finished second to state Sen. Marlin Stutzman in last month's Republican caucus for the nomination to replace former U.S. Rep. Mark Souder.
One of those Bose executives was Paul Mannweiler, a former GOP speaker of the Indiana House turned lobbyist. Borror said he has known Mannweiler for years.
"It wasn't on my radar screen," he said. "Sometimes doors close and sometimes doors open."
Borror said he accepted the job for a new challenge and because it's based in his hometown of Fort Wayne, allowing him to spend more time with his wife, Kelly, and their 12-year-old daughter, Sydney.
Borror said critics such as Vaughn have valid concerns about former lawmakers becoming lobbyists. But he said it's cynical to make the sweeping generalization that the career change is a way for former legislators to cash in on their public service.
"We don't have people who say, 'Hey, I'm going to get elected to the Legislature because I can work down there for two years and then I can make some money,'" he said. "That's not what this is about at all."
In 2005, Borror sponsored successful legislation supported by the governor under which Indiana adopted daylight-saving time. The following year he authored another successful bill, which authorized Daniels to lease the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years to a private, Australian-Spanish consortium for $3.8 billion.
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