Good News For Everyone Who Had 'Will Become Lobbyist/Suck-Up For The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce' In Their Evan Bayh Futures Pool!

In the latter years of his Senate career, Evan Bayh won every single battle he fought. A less effective stimulus package? Bayh fought for it and won. Defeats for EFCA and cap and trade? Check. The public option stripped from the Affordable Care Act? Despite the fact that Bayh told David Axelrod and and Jim Messina that the mood of his fellow moderate Democrats was that "We're all screwed if you don't get something real on health care," andmade it clear in December of 2009 that "the health care measure was the kind of public policy he had come to Washington to work on" and that he "did not want to see the satisfied looks on the faces of Republican leaders if they succeeded in blocking the measure," Bayh backed the watering down of the Affordable Care Act and got his way on that too.

But Bayh really, really wanted the Senate to create a special deficit commission (the President's own commission not being sufficient, for some reason), and when he didn't get his way on that, he quit the Senate in a snit and rode his waaah-mbulance back to Indiana, vowing, "If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months.”

What has he done with his life since then? Well, he joined Apollo Global Management as a "senior public policy advisor" (lobbyist) and became a Fox News contributor.

And now, he's joining up as a lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. What will he do there? Oh, he and former Bush chief of staff Andy Card are going to fight government regulation, thanks for asking! Per Peter Stone:

The Chamber’s expanded effort for regulatory relief and reform, which began last fall, is aimed across all agencies of government. Donohue’s memo cites several choice targets including: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Donohue explained in his new memo that business supports “sensible regulations…But we’ve gone too far. America is sinking under the weight of an ever expanding regulatory state.”

The modest goals of the "newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau" include making the fine print of credit card and mortgage agreements more consumer friendly -- and by that I mean, less riddled with obtuse tricks and traps that screw ordinary people. Evan Bayh would rather these tricks and traps continue, apparently.

I'm glad they'll be taking on the Securities and Exchange Commission, too! Despite the fact that it's currently being run by Mary Schapiro, the former FINRA head who fumbled oversight over Bernie Madoff and who is best known for being "well-liked and acceptable to everyone" despite having been (or actually probably because of the fact that she was) "at the very center of a failed regulatory process for the past two decades," I suppose there's some slim chance the SEC might start performing robust oversight. And everyone knows that it was definitely onerous government regulation that led to largest financial crisis in our lives!

Mother Jones' Andy Kroll has more:

The Chamber's hiring of Bayh, a big name in Washington circles, will only help its efforts to delay or kill new regulatory legislation in Congress. Indeed, Donohue's memo touts how the Chamber has filed legal briefs to challenge the validity of President Obama's health care reform bill; successfully delayed a new Securities and Exchange Commission rule on giving shareholders a say on corporate directors; unveiled plans to undermine the clout of the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and delayed a rule forcing companies to disclose when they use conflict minerals from the Congo in their products. Bayh and Card, the memo says, will help the Chamber push this pro-corporate agenda in Washington and beyond.

Oh, wow! They're opposing a rule that would force "companies to disclose when they use conflict minerals from the Congo?" That's big leagues, Evan! A chance to finally get some blood on your hands!

At any rate, you can never underestimate Evan Bayh's ability to find new pieces of himself to sell off to pimps. At the rate he's going, I'm quite sure that in the coming years, whatever is left of his disowned soul will end up chopped up and stuffed into the mezzanine tranche of a synthetic derivative.

More:

The son of a famous senator, Evan Bayh (D-IN) was born into a life of privilege. After spending nearly two decades in public service, first as governor, then as a senator from Indiana, Bayh is returning to a life of wealth and luxury. Earlier this year, he announced that he would be joining a corporate law/lobbying firm, McGuireWoods LLP, as well as Apollo Global Management, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm.

Now, Peter Stone is reporting that Bayh will be joining the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, perhaps the most influential lobbying group for multinational corporations and big businesses with a far right lobbying agenda. (View ThinkProgress’ history of the Chamber, including its decades-long opposition to women’s rights, labor rights, and even its refusal to support a war against Nazi Germany.)

Bayh will be joining former Bush administration official Andy Card in a Chamber-led lobbying campaign designed to weaken regulations on corporations across the board, and make it more difficult to enact new regulations. The REINS Act, which Bayh will be helping to pass, will severely undercut (and effectively repeal) significant portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, health and financial reform, the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, and the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, among many other laws.

It is not clear how much Bayh is being paid by the Chamber, or by his new gigs at Apollo Global Management or McGuireWoods. During the period of 2009-2010, when Bayh was still in office, he appeared to be auditioning for a job in the private sector as a lobbyist:

– Killing Labor Reform: Despite past support for the labor rights legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act, Bayh eventually wavered on support the bill once it had a real chance of passing when President Obama came into office. Killing the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have given workers a fair chance to form a union, was the Chamber’s biggest legislative priority other than passing the bank bailouts of 2008.

– Killing Climate Change And Clean Energy Jobs Legislation: Bayh positioned himself to the right of some members of the GOP in opposing a renewable energy standard. He later railed against clean energy reform, which died in the Senate because of obstruction from Bayh and several other conservative senators.

– Supporting Pro-Corporate Senate Obstruction: Bayh even formed a coalition of conservative senators — including Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) — to slow and kill major reforms proposed by President Obama. As ThinkProgress’ Matthew Yglesias has noted, Bayh and his cohorts appeared to be “hoping to soak up special interest cash in exchange for blocking the progressive agenda.”

One must wonder: when did Bayh begin negotiations with the Chamber for his current job as a lobbyist? Did the expectation that he would leave Congress and join the private sector as a lobbyist impact his votes and actions while in the Senate? If he had been a staunch advocate for the workers and families of Indiana, and had fought for labor reforms, would he have been welcome for what is probably an extremely highly paid job at the Chamber? The same type of questions could and should be asked of former Reps. David Obey (D-WI), John Tanner (D-TN), Allen Boyd (D-FL), Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Bart Gordon (D-TN), and many other recently retired members of Congress who have joined corporate lobbying firms.