Current impressions of Mike Capuano?

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

I'm curious what folks' impressions are of Mike Capuano. His apparent straight talk has always appealed to me as has his position on the war. His little Brazil "junket" a few years ago and his rather lame justification for it gave me pause, as does his apparent position/resistance to legislative ethics reform. His comments in yesterday's NYTimes made me wonder if I have the full picture.

“We laid down a marker and said we want to change the way business is done in Washington,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a main sponsor of the rule requiring disclosure of “bundling” by lobbyists. “Now we need to follow through and take the next step of passing a strong lobbying reform bill.”

[...]

Others say they do not see the point of doing more. “I didn’t make any of those campaign promises,” said Representative Michael E. Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat who questions the bundling disclosure proposal and also opposed the extension of the so-called “revolving door” ban on lobbying by former members.

“I made a career change 20 years ago to be a full-time elected official,” Mr. Capuano said, explaining his position. “I am no longer qualified to be a tax attorney. It is like saying to people, ‘Please, come into public service, give it your all, and when you are done you are completely unqualified for anything else.’ ”
--NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/washington/23lobby.html

So Mike wants to retain ethically questionable lobbying practices so that he has something to fall back on? I guess this is the realpolitik but I had a somewhat different impression of Capuano's priorities. I am no political maven so perhaps someone here can fill out the picture of where Capuano is coming from.