Neil Volz's recent testimony at the David Safavian trial shed light on the muddy ethical water surrounding ex-congressional staff going to work for lobbying firms, then lobbying the people they used to work for.

Bloomberg explores this territory [1] in tracking the high number of ex-aides to the powerful House Appropriations Committee who go on to lobbying careers.  Keith Ashdown, of Taxpayers for Common Sense, is quoted summing up the principle objection: "'They are now signing checks for the people who used to be their paymasters [. . .] [w]hen the most senior staff members on the committee used to work for the people they're doling out the bucks for, there's really no way you can get a system that would reduce conflicts of interest.'"