From Presidential Candidate to Head of the Banking Lobby

Well folks, it looks like there's a brand new exit opp to discuss and debate on WSO. And for those of you who are looking to wield some real power one day, this ought to be of interest.

So, what is this new exit opp I speak of?

Presidential Candidate --> Head of the Banking Lobby

And which former Presidential Candidate followed this new leg in "the path?"

That would be Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota, GOP contender for President, and recent co-chair of the Romney campaign.

On September 20th, Tim Pawlenty stepped down as co-chair of Governor Romney's campaign for the Presidency to be the new head of the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR.)

For those that don't know, the FSR was founded in 2000, is based in Washington, DC, and it represents 100 of the largest integrated financial services companies which provide banking, insurance and investment products and services to American consumers. Its members are comprised of the CEOs of the 100 largest financial services companies and six additional members representing each company. It's official mission reads as follows:

To protect and promote the economic vitality and integrity of its members and the United States financial system.

In short, it lobbies Congress for favorable financial legislation.

Now, let me be clear, the point of this post is not to play politics or trash lobbying in general. Whether we want to admit it or not, in deep dark places that we don't like to talk about at parties, we know that, to a certain degree, lobbying plays an essential role in government. For every liberal complaining about the NRA, there's a conservative who despises the Sierra Club. We may not like what all lobbies do, and we may detest certain lobbies, but they would not exist without a set of constituents supporting them.

With that said, I do have a problem with the way our politicians often seem to use elected office as a ticket to big money if and when they're voted out of office. It's Tim Pawlenty's god-given right to head up the FSR - there are no laws barring this sort of thing. And I don't know about the rest of you, but it definitely irks me that within the span of a few months he went from potentially winning the Republican nomination for President, to co-chairing the GOP candidate's campaign, to taking the job as head of the banking lobby.

Let me add - the revolving door of politics and lobbying is definitely bi-partisan. A year or so ago, Chris Dodd, the retired Democratic Senator from Connecticut, took a job as head of the MPAA, utilizing his relationships with his former colleagues to lobby Congress on behalf of major Hollywood film studios. Frankly, considering the sweet deals Dodd was getting from Countrywide, I'm surprised he didn't sign up to be head of the FSR. I guess they were irked by him co-sponsoring Dodd-Frank so soon after Angelo Mozilo hooked him up with his mortgage. But, I digress.

So many of these guys seem to do their job as an elected official with one foot out the door on the way to collecting a huge paycheck. I'm sure I'm not alone in being bothered by this. It's just so incredibly transparent.

Now, as a more relevant aside, which exit opp is better?

Tim Pawlenty: Governor --> Presidential Candidate --> Campaign Chair --> Banking Lobbyist

or

Mitt Romney: HBS --> Big-3 Consulting --> Megafund PE --> Governor --> President

Personally, I'd go with Romney. But, only because of all the sweet costume parties he got to go to at HBS. What do you guys think?