Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Aug. 6, 2018
Last week, a year and a half after leaving the New York Assembly, former member Phil Goldfeder (D) registered as a federal lobbyist on behalf of Cross River Bank, a New Jersey corporation that he joined shortly after leaving office. Goldfeder joins dozens of other state legislators who've retired from the statehouse in the last two years only to begin lobbying at the federal level.
Since 2016, 53 state representatives and senators have registered as federal lobbyists after quitting their legislatures. But not all legislators wait to leave office before exerting their influence on Washington.
Six — three Republicans and three Democrats — simultaneously serve in statehouses while working as lobbyists.
Of those, half — Reps. Mark Wright (R-La.) and Mark Sickles (D-Va.) and Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Md.) — worked as lobbyists before their election and continued their lobbying gigs into their terms in office. The other three — Reps. Joseph Abruzzo (D-Fla.) and Earl Ehrhart (R-Ga.) and Sen. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) — did not begin lobbying until after their respective elections.
Some people and organizations who "caught our eye" last week:
