Massachusetts swore in its first female state Senate president last week as Democrat Robert Travaglini stepped down and Therese Murray took the reins.
Murray, a Democrat from Plymouth, had previously served as the chair of the state Senate's Ways and Means Committee.
"To say that serving as president of this distinguished body has been a privilege and an honor would be an understatement," Travaglini said in a resignation speech on March 21, in which he also summed up the Senate's accomplishments under his leadership, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by the Boston Globe.
He cited the Senate's work in reforming the state's health care system, authorizing stem cell research and helping the state emerge from a $3 billion budget deficits as examples of its achievements.
Travaligni was "both a popular and productive" leader, said Democratic state Senator Marian Walsh, who is also teaching a class in Tufts' Experimental College this semester, in an e-mail. "And his advancement of issues such as stem cell research in Massachusetts will long be remembered."
As for the next phase of his life, Travaglini said he will start a lobbying firm with attorney Tom Kiley. This will allow him to set his own schedule and spend more time with his wife and children, the oldest of whom is 17.
"I am inclined to be partnering with Tom Kiley in a situation that would allow me to be my own boss and allows me to build a business and allows me to continue to [negotiate] on behalf of clients who need help with government entities," he said, according to the Globe.
On the national level, politicians have often made positions in Washington a revolving door, leaving office for more lucrative positions at lobbying firms.
This relationship between politics and lobbying has at times grown too close for comfort, as evinced by the horde of scandals that hit Congress over the past few years.
Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), who accepted at least $2.4 million in bribes in return for defense contracts, and now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who advocated on behalf of Native American gambling interests in exchange for millions in bribes, both exemplified how coziness between lobbyists and legislators can go awry.
But the legislator-lobbyist turnover lacks the same stature in state government. "It's a relatively new phenomenon in state governments," said Michael Goldman, a lecturer in Tufts' political science department.
Few former Massachusetts Senate leaders have become lobbyists after leaving office. Maurice Donahue (1964-1971) continued as a lawyer, but not a lobbyist, Goldman said. Kevin Harrington (1971-1978) did strategic consulting that may have taken on a lobbying element, though the distinction is hard to draw, he said.
William Bulger (1978-1996) went on to be president of the University of Massachusetts, and Tom Birmingham (1996-2003) has done legal work but no lobbying, Goldman said.
Travaglini has said that his new career will allow him to put the skills he learned in office to help citizens and clients navigate government entities.
But is that the motive or merely the spin? "It's probably the description of how he views what he's doing," Goldman said. "I'm sure that he knows when he did this that there would be a certain amount of heat he would take.
"Lobbying is not for everyone. People who choose to do it know it has a taint, which is unfortunate because oftentimes, in the complex world we live in, lobbyists can provide - for both sides - the structure and the substance of a question."
But even as a seasoned leader, Travaglini will likely have his work cut out for him. The former Senate president will have to "work as hard as anybody else" to attract clients and make his case to get clients, Goldman said.
Although particularly stigmatized in recent years, lobbying is hardly a new profession. People like Harriet Beecher Stowe and Rachel Carson were in their own way lobbyists, Goldman said. In "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852), Stowe pushed to end slavery, and in "Silent Spring" (1962), Carson brought attention to the environmental effects of DDT.
Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, used to see constituents with grievances directly in the White House. According to popular legend, President Ulysses S. Grant would meet with people in a hotel lobby. As a result, they were called "lobbyists."
"It's not a new phenomenon. It's the right of individuals in a society with free speech to hire people to advocate for them," Goldman said.
More coverage of Senate President Murray's transition into office and a look at her agenda will appear in the Daily later this week.
