John J. Cullerton: state Senate president and a lobbyist, too

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton is the most powerful elected official in the state who also works as a lobbyist, trying to help clients land government deals -- not with the state, he points out, but with Chicago City Hall and Cook County.

Cullerton's family has been involved in Illinois politics all the way back to the Chicago Fire of 1871. He has been in the Illinois General Assembly since 1979, first serving 12 years in the House and now 19 years in the Senate. He became Senate president in January 2009.

His Senate press secretary, Rikeesha Phelon, said Cullerton's lobbying work as a partner in the national law firm Thompson Coburn poses no conflict of interest with his duties as Senate president.

"Illinois law has long recognized that legislative service is a part-time endeavor and contemplates that legislators will have outside employment," Phelon said.

Cullerton, 61, who's paid $95,313 a year as Senate president, isn't required to disclose how much he makes from his law firm. And Illinois law doesn't require Cullerton to disclose his legal clients.

Only in Illinois would this be legal. By the way, Barack Obama served in the Illinois Senate with Cullerton.