WOULD LESS GOVERNMENT ATTRACT MORE TALENT? There are sometimes gold nuggets to be found where least expected. Take for example R Street Institute Senior Fellow Casey Burgat’s five excellent non-salary suggestions to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.

Burgat is focused on how to attract more talent to congressional staff and reduce the constant turnover that saps efficiency. He wisely notes that there is much more to attracting smart people to work on the Hill than simply handing them bigger paychecks.

And then comes Bret Bernhardt, a former chief of staff to senators Don Nickles of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who further points out in an analysis of Burgat’s suggestions on HillFaith that much of the turnover from Hill staffs is to K Street lobbying and government relations shops.

“The allure of work off the Hill is directly proportional to the growth and pervasiveness of government itself. Chart a line that shows the growth and pervasiveness of government alongside the growth in the number of lobbyists and you’ll find in it an interesting parallel,” Bernhardt writes. “Bringing this into equilibrium will cure most of the problem.”

Reality is so attractive when stated in such common sense terms.