"We are a buffer sometimes between the client, the special interest ... and the institution. Our currency is our credibility and our trust," Fazio said of lobbyists.
After the panelists were introduced by economics professor and Rockefeller Center Director Andrew Samwick, they immediately fielded questions from the audience.
When asked about congressional spending since Republicans have earned a majority in both houses, Walker attributed the increase to legitimate spending in homeland security and the war in Iraq, as well as to irresponsible pork-barrel legislation.
"I do think the Republicans have undermined their own case [for fiscal conservatism] with things like the highway bill where they put over 6,000 earmarks in it," he said, referring to the plethora of specific appropriations in the bill. "I regard that as a perversion of the process."
After a student asked about the polarization of media, Fazio criticized political blogs and cable networks for reporting selective facts that serve to buttress existing opinions rather than promote informed decisions.
Fazio also criticized Bush for promising to come into Washington as a healer, not a divider -- and then pushing partisan policies after arriving.
"I think this president has taken a different approach to governing than previous presidents," he said.
Fazio and Walker are now among, they estimate, the 200 lobbyists who are former members of Congress. In an interview with The Dartmouth, they dismissed proposals that would revoke floor privileges for former members and increase the time a retiring representative must wait before lobbying. As an example of how he uses his floor privileges, Fazio explained that he continues to attend the State of the Union address after seeing, by his estimation, 90 percent of the speeches since 1967.
The two also defended the practice of political lobbying, a frequent target of those who believe it corrupts government and allows money to influence legislators.
"A good lobbyist can make a difference," Fazio said. "If you're credible, and you have to be to be effective, and you're knowledgeable and trusted, you can perhaps, on a close call, make the key argument that will move someone one way or the other."
Walker denied that lobbyists can buy the votes of legislators, saying that they only could present information and ideas. He denounced embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff as a "corrupt" and "immoral" man who gives lobbyists an undeserved reputation.
"There are people working both sides of virtually any issue that comes to the forefront, so lobbyists are competing against each other in terms of ideas. And that's all we can do. We can bring ideas and information into the process and let the legislators make their determination," he said.
In the interview, the two also reacted to claims that Congress often deals only superficially with issues that need substantive attention, pointing out that Congress significantly reformed welfare in the 1990s.
No longer facing reelection, the former congressmen spoke with rare political candor throughout the event and took politically unpopular positions on difficult issues. Both advocated nuclear power as one option for decreasing reliance on Middle Eastern oil imports and supported funding alternative energy research.
"The gas tax should be increased significantly -- I can say that now as a former member of Congress," Fazio said, eliciting audience laughter.
For 20 years, Fazio represented California's third district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He served as a ranking member and subcommittee chairman on the powerful House Appropriations Committee and was a member of the Armed Services, Budget, Ethics and House Administration committees. In the Democratic Caucus, Fazio was elected chairman in 1994 after serving as vice chair for five years. Before entering Congress, he served from 1975 to 1978 in the California State Assembly.
Walker also represented his district, Pennsylvania's 16th, for 20 years, winning reelection with more than 70 percent of the vote all but once. He served as chairman of the Science Committee, chairman of the Republican leadership and Speaker Pro Tempore. During his tenure, he gained a reputation for his scientific expertise and parliamentary procedural savoir-faire and attracted attention for his fiery conservative rhetoric and proposal that federal contractors should lose all their contracts if any illegal drugs were found in the workplace.
NASA awarded Walker its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, in 1996 and its Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2004. Following the 2004 resignation of NASA's head, his name was floated as a possible replacement.
The event, sponsored by the Rockefeller Center, was a part of the "Congress to Campus" program, a joint effort of the Stennis Center for Public Service, the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, and the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress.
