Donald Trump’s ethics proposals didn’t get much notice when he unveiled them late in the campaign. (At the time, his claims that the election was rigged were dominating the news.) Now that President-elect Trump is assembling an administration, his plan deserves attention. It goes well beyond existing restrictions to slow the revolving door to riches for government insiders.

Mr. Trump would ban executive branch officials from lobbying for five years after they leave public service, and he would ask Congress to do the same for its members and staff. He says he would also impose a lifetime ban to prevent senior executive branch officials from lobbying for a foreign government. Existing regulations ban lobbying for up to two years. Mr. Trump’s rules would expand the definition of lobbyist to include paid consultants, a loophole that former lawmakers at K Street firms routinely use.

For Mr. Trump, the new rules are important to realizing a campaign commitment to “drain the swamp” of Washington, to deliver wholesale change and to end corruption. Regrettably, the names being bandied about for high-profile roles in his administration — Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani — do not inspire confidence that such hopeful change is upon us.

These three relentlessly ambitious politicians, far from signaling something new and inspiring, represent a petty, vengeful past.