The long time popular trend for the Washington crowd is for former congressional staffers to take up high paying K Street lobbying jobs when they leave Capitol Hill. The special interest groups seek out these individuals because they can use their personal connections to more successfully lobby the lawmakers.

One man who jumped ship to follow this trend is Scott Styles. Styles is a career lobbyist and was also the Chief of Staff for Pete Sessions. The congressional publication Roll Call investigated the highest paid former Capitol Hill staffers turned Washington lobbyists. To the surprise of few who follow the Sessions camp, Scott Styles ranked in their Top 10. According to IRS tax returns, Styles earned $535,494 from his work lobbying on Capitol Hill.   

Then trend of former Sessions staffers leaving for lobbying firms is not new. Last summer convicted felon and ex-Sessions staffer Adrian Plesha received $446,000 from an Illinois company for his work lobbying his former boss. His efforts were apparently successful as Sessions created a special earmark that diverted $1.6 million dollars to the Illinois company for blimp research, despite the fact the company had no experience in government contracting or blimp technology. (POLITICO story on 'Blimpgate': http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25599.html )

These two cases are clear examples of what is wrong with Washington. The lobbyists and special interests have too much access and too much influence over our lawmakers and their policy decisions. While Pete Sessions likes to proclaim that he is a voice for North Texas in Washington these two cases clearly show that Sessions' loyalties lie elsewhere.

Source: http://www.rollcall.com/lobbying/salarychart.html