I happened to catch U.S. Senator Jon Tester today talking about his co-sponsorship of a bill “to permanently bar former members of Congress from becoming registered lobbyists.”

The bill is S. 3272 and the title is “Close the Revolving Door Act of 2010.”

Sounds wonderful, huh? It’s probably dead on arrival. Two unknowns have signed onto the bill in the Senate: Tester and the original sponsor, Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado.

I took a quick glance at the bill. It appears it would bar former members of congress and their former staffers from even writing or calling a current member’s office to voice their opinion about a bill as a private citizen.

Here’s the section:

Any person who is a Senator, a Member of the House of Representatives or an elected officer of the Senate or the House of Representatives and who after that person leaves office, knowingly makes, with the intent to influence, any communication to or appearance before any Member, officer, or employee of either House of Congress or any employee of any other legislative office of the Congress…

Maybe they missed the part in the Bill of Rights, “…and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” I’ve heard there’s a freedom of speech section in the Constitution, too.

Of course, this would not be Congress if they did not spend some taxpayer money to do it:

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS: There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $100,000 for fiscal year 2011.’’

The House of Representatives has a companion bill, H.R.2259, titled “Stop the Revolving Door in Washington Act” and it only has seven unknown sponsors. It was introduced over a year ago.

Here’s a simple solution that does not need a bill passed or even any appropriations: Do not take money from lobbyists. Don’t meet with them. Don’t hire them on your staff. Don’t let them hold parties for you. Be ethical and if you say you’re going to have a yearly ethics review, do it.

See, it’s that easy. But then again, elected officials craving attention like Tester and Bennet who are facing tough reelection battles wouldn’t get their 15 minutes of fame the easy and inexpensive way.