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Those who defend the practice of lawmakers working at lobbying firms say there are provisions in state law and legislative rules to address any conflicts of interest.

Some also argue that restricting such employment would discourage well-qualified individuals from serving in the Legislature because they would have to give up their jobs with big firms.

Powerful get jobs

Yet many of the lawmakers who work at lobbying firms obtained their current jobs after they won office. The offers from the big firms came as the lawmakers were amassing clout, raising the question of whether the firms are simply trying to get inside access to powerful state leaders.

Until recently, both of Florida's top legislative leaders worked at law firms that lobby the Legislature.

Senate President Joe Negron quit his job last month, citing the desire to remove any potential conflict of interest between his legislative duties and his legal job. Negron is pushing a bill aimed at cleaning up polluted water from Lake Okeechobee so it does not foul estuaries, including one in his home district. Gunster, his former law firm, has done legal work for a sugar company that has a big stake in such legislation.

Among the other lawmakers who work for lobbying firms are Rep. Chris Sprowls and Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, attorneys who have top leadership positions in the House. Sprowls is in line to be House speaker. Diaz is considered a possible candidate for Florida attorney general in 2018.

The list of former state lawmakers who worked for lobbying firms includes U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Dean Cannon, both former House speakers. Cannon also happens to be the lawyer responsible for pushing the Bar to rescind the ethics opinion that effectively prohibited lawmakers from working at lobbying firms.

Cannon argued the ethics opinion prevented "qualified" individuals from embarking on legislative careers.

"The unfortunate practical effect of Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 67-5... is that it prevents qualified attorneys from pursuing seats in the Florida Legislature if they work for a law firm that does any lobbying whatsoever," Cannon wrote in a 1998 letter to the Bar.

Cannon's efforts to roll back an ethics provision first adopted by the Bar in 1960 and reaffirmed in 1967 allowed him to keep his job at the high-powered GrayRobinson firm — which employed 22 legislative lobbyists during Cannon's final year in the House — while he served in the Legislature. Now, he runs the firm's Tallahassee lobbying team and is one of the top lobbyists in the Capitol.