Trent Lott joins board of defense company EADS North America

Despite all the talk of reforming Washington, the revolving door between government and industry continues whirling.

The latest example: Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has been made a director of the U.S. subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, the second largest aerospace and defense company in the world.

Lott will provide “invaluable expertise,” as the company “expands its presence in the U.S. defense and homeland security sectors,” EADS North America Chairman Ralph Crosby Jr. said in a statement.

Lott resigned his Senate seat last December. By leaving by the end of 2007 - before his term was up - the 67-year-old Mississippi Republican managed to dodge a new ethics rules requiring senators to wait two years before lobbying.

At the time, Lott said the new rule played no role in his decision. But three weeks later, he announced that he and former Senator John Breaux of Louisiana, a Democrat, were opening a new lobbying firm, Breaux Lott Leadership Group, about a block from the White House.

During the first half of this year, the Breaux Lott Leadership Group took in $3.1 million from clients, including AT&T, the Association of American Railroads and energy company Plains Exploration & Production, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“Senator Lott has been out of the Senate less than a year, and he’s already showing how a spin through Washington’s revolving door can enrich a former senator,” Sheila Krumholz, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told the Associated Press.

Earlier this year, U.S.-based Northrop Grumman Corp., EADS’ partner in competing for a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract, hired Lott and Breaux to help make its case. They won the deal, but the decision was later challenged successfully by rival Boeing Co. The Pentagon has since delayed plans to award the contract.

Other new board members for EADS North America include Franklin C. Miller, who has held senior positions in the White House and the Defense Department, and T. Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus America Inc. and former administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.

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