The Indiana General Assembly isn’t a destination for some legislators. It’s a launching pad.

Only a thin sheet of glass separates lawmakers inside the House and Senate chambers from the scores of lobbyists who work the Statehouse hallways. As they debate bills and cast votes, legislators can look out on dozens of former colleagues who have made the jump from elected leader to influence peddler. They may well be looking at their own future.

The enticements for legislators to cross over — from sitting in seats of power as lawmakers to selling access to power as lobbyists — are considerable. Legislators, including top leaders, measure their compensation in tens of thousands of dollars a year, even with perks such as pensions and health insurance that are far better than most Hoosiers enjoy. In contrast, a lawmaker who leaves office to join the ranks of lobbyists can rake in $200,000 or more a year with a top firm.

The roster of legislators turned lobbyists includes four former House Speakers. It includes former rising stars in the General Assembly such as Luke Messer, Bob Kuzman and Matthew Whetstone. And it includes longtime powerbrokers such as former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Larry Borst.

It’s an easy path for legislators to follow in Indiana. Unlike in many other states, Indiana lawmakers can leave elected office and begin work immediately as lobbyists.

That may change in coming months, however. The House Rules Committee, with the support of Speaker Pat Bauer, is scheduled to begin hearings on an ethics reform package on Wednesday. The proposal includes a requirement that legislators wait a year before working as paid lobbyists at the Statehouse.

Several states already have adopted cooling-off periods to slow the revolving door between legislators serving the public and lobbyists working for clients. A legislative scandal in Tennessee, for example, prompted lawmakers there to approve a one-year waiting period. Colorado and Montana are among the states that require a two-year delay.

Bauer, a fixture in the Statehouse for more than 40 years, until recently was among a large set of legislators who have long resisted ethics reform. But even Bauer, D-South Bend, now acknowledges that lobbyists’ influence over the General Assembly has exceeded acceptable levels.

“As I look back on the final days of the 2009 session in April, it was apparent the level of pressure exerted by special interests put a cloud over the legislature’s ability to respond to the concerns of Hoosiers,’’ the Speaker wrote last month in an essay for The Star and 25 other Indiana newspapers that have joined in a campaign to advocate for legislative ethics reform.

The one-year cooling-off period is one of five measures the newspapers will champion throughout the 2010 legislative session.

It’s an important step for three reasons:

- Lawmakers can now begin negotiating for jobs with lobbying firms while still writing and voting on legislation. Legislators consistently deny that the prospect of lucrative employment has any influence on their decision-making. But the strong potential for conflicts of interest is clear.

- Legislators tend to lower their guard when discussing with, and asking favors from, former colleagues. State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, felt comfortable enough with Whetsone, a former Republican representative from Brownsburg, to ask him for expensive tickets for this year’s Kentucky Derby. Centaur Inc., the owner of Hoosier Park, supplied the tickets, even as it was asking the state for significant tax breaks.

Kenley later explained that he didn’t know Centaur was his benefactor, although he apparently had no qualms about hitting up Whetstone for a handout. The cooling-off would put more distance between the chummy relationships that now prevail in the Statehouse.

- Some legislators now bail on promises they made to constituents by resigning from office to take immediate work as lobbyists. Kuzman and Whetstone both resigned from office to become lobbyists. In perhaps the most egregious example, Rep. Mike Smith, R-Rensselaer, resigned only days after his re-election in 2002 to start work immediately as head of the Indiana Casino Association. A cooling-off period would make it more likely that legislators will fulfill their commitment to voters.

The trek toward more ethical government begins this week with an initial hearing in the House. It should end this winter with the adoption of five common-sense reforms, including the cooling-off period.

The thin window now separating lobbyists and legislators should become a stout wall.

— The Indianapolis Star