Shortly after being bypassed for a top health policy job in the Obama administration, Howard Dean has signed on to be a "senior strategic adviser and independent consultant" with the government affairs practice of McKenna Long & Aldridge in Washington, according to Legal Times. The firm says Dean will consult on such public policy issues as health care, energy, and public-private partnerships at the state and local level -- but won't lobby.

Of course, Dean is hardly the first prominent pol favoring health care reform to offer his expertise to paying clients without actually registering as a lobbyist. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has had a similar arrangement at law firm of Alston & Bird -- a fact that garnered considerable attention before Daschle withdrew from consideration to be White House health czar and Health and Human Services Secretary, amidst revelations of problems with his tax filings.

                                                                                                              -- Julie Kosterlitz