Linda Daschle was at one time the Acting FAA Administrator. That's a senior Executive Branch position right below the Secretary of Transportation. It appears the 1993 Executive Order would've covered her from leaving her government job and becoming a lobbyist for the airline industry. However, that EO wasn't applied in her case. Why not? I'll give you 3 guesses.

Anne Bingaman was an Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department. That's not nearly as high a position as Acting FAA Administrator, but it still seems to me that she would've been covered by the EO. Obviously, that EO didn't stop her from being paid $2.5 million for 6 months lobbying work.

Does Senator Daschle recuse himself from airline-related legislation that affects the airlines his wife represents? Apparently not because he was an active participant in the airline bailout legislation passed last September. That sure smacks of a conflict of interest to me. I suspect the same applies to Senators Graham and Bingaman as well.

Like I said, I think this sort of thing fails the smell test. I don't give a damn whether it's Linda Daschle representing the airlines or Mrs. Graham serving on the Enron board of directors, there's an enormous possibility for conflict of interest here.

This is a bipartisan problem, IMO. Did each of these women get the job because of her qualifications, or was her primary qualification the fact that she was married to a Senator? Is $2.5 million a legitimate salary for a lobbyist for 6 months work (if so, then I'm in the wrong line of work) or is it a backdoor form of bribery to the Senator? This applies to all 3 examples I listed and to any others that I don't know about.