Keep peddling

For all of the concern about members of Congress who leave the Capitol as lawmakers only to return as lobbyists, you'd think House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas might have chosen different words as he announced his retirement today: "I'm not walking away into the sunset," the 64-year-old Republican said at a press conference in his hometown of Bakersfield, Calif. "Just because I won't be in office doesn't mean I won't have any influence."