'Consider This' has reported previously on two former North Carolina legislators who have made use of the "revolving door" after leaving office and immediately taken lobbying jobs for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Now a third former legislator has joined their ranks. This one is the toughest to report because he has been a leader and hero in North Carolina politics for two decades.

Former House Speaker Dan Blue, a Democrat from Wake County, has registered to lobby for BCBS. Blue has a long legislative record as a champion for progressive causes. He ran on that record last year as a candidate for the U.S. Senate but lost in the primary to Erskine Bowles.

Now Blue has taken the money and run. His answer to the News and Observer when asked about his new lobbying job was, "We're just giving them some consultant services and some lobbying as necessary. As a lawyer, this is what I do. It's consistent with some of the things I do in my practice. They're a great client."

It is no less than embarrassing for progressives that Blue has sold his services to BCBS. Blue Cross is in the news nearly every week for its scandals and fishy initiatives: from underpaying hospitals to overcharging the difficult-to-insure, from salivating too much over billions of potential conversion profits to enjoying record profits already being posted by a "non-profit."

Blue's quotation in the News and Observer seems defensive, and for good reason. If BCBS is anyone's definition of "a great client," then North Carolina badly needs lobbying restrictions to keep big money out of the General Assembly.

The revolving door keeps turning, and with each turn it gets worse for the people of North Carolina.