Why Are Politicians So Cheap?

So if you haven't seen yet, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois just got indicted for massive corruption. To summarize the accusations:

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement. "They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism."

You can read more here.

This whole situation is itself worth a whole disposition (Obama effects, history of Rod, etc.), but the larger thing is that this is a great example of one of the most puzzling aspects of politicians: how little they're willing to sell themselves for.

Being from Illinois, I'm more used to this than many other (our last governor is currently in jail on similar charges). My good friend Guillermo (who is also from IL) and I have discussed this issue at length many times. Our general feeling is utter bewilderment that politicians will sell themselves for so little money, or at least money comparable to what they could earn legitimately outside of public office. If you wanted to make money, why the hell would you go into politics anyway??

Blagojevich was basically willing to sell the senate seat for about $300,000, about the same amount a lawyer at his age could make in private practice (especially a former governor). Heck, you may even be able to make that just sitting on corporate boards, lobbying or doing "consulting" work. Duke Cunningham sold out for a similar amount of money, as did Bill Jefferson and Ted Stevens (losing your seat b/c you didn't report a free chair??).

I don't pretend to know the answer of why politicians are so cheap, but I can take a few guesses:
- Politicians are natural risk takers. It takes a lot of cajones (men or women) to run for office, and almost every successful politician had to battle against the odds to win one or more seats
- Politicians aren't very good in the private sector. Why do people go into any field? Some of it may be circumstance, but those that rise to the top are usually good at what they do, but may not be good at other things. So politicians are great at politics and getting elected (although maybe not governing), but could be baffled by complex legal cases and situations where personal charisma won't get them very far. And as they've spent most of their careers doing politics, they don't have good experience on the private side of things.
- Politicians are lazy. After working at the heights of political power, media exposure and public adulation, it's hard to go back to drudgery of "normal" work. That may be why so many politicians become lobbyist. They stay in the game, but can still get paid. All they have to do is throw out their ethics.
- Politicians don't think they'll get caught. A version of the explanation for why politicians are always caught in sex scandals - so many people do corrupt stuff and don't get caught so they don't think they will ever get caught. Which means we're only scratching the surface of corruption.
- Stupidity / narcissism / hubris. No magical analysis on this, just that anyone willing to go on a "corruption crime spree" has to have something wrong with them. They've reached the heights of political power, but see that they still don't have economic power and think that they can get that too.

Anyway, would love other people's thoughts on why politicians are so cheap, both in terms of legal and illegal influence. If I were selling out my ethical principles, endangering my family, putting my career at risk, and opening up the possibility of serious prison time, I'd make sure I got something in the high 7 digits at least!