Former Rep. Rodney Davis, once the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, has long been a creature of Congress from his days as a Hill staffer. After losing his seat in a 2022 primary, he relished a return to Capitol Hill this week as a lobbyist.
“I’m here right now,” said the Illinois Republican during a phone interview Thursday he conducted from the halls of Congress where he was ferrying clients between meetings with House Republicans.
House members who left at the end of the last Congress recently hit a significant milestone for those yearning to get back to Capitol Hill: They are no longer prohibited from lobbying the legislative branch.
Many of them, including Davis, had already set up shop in the influence sector, but they were not permitted to make direct lobbying contacts to members and staff in the House and Senate. This week offered them their first unfettered days with Congress back in session.
As soon as his ban expired, officially on Jan. 3, Davis said he began calling his former colleagues to set up visits.
Davis’ name has not yet appeared on lobbying disclosures, but last year he joined Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies as managing director. He said his clients come from the health care, transportation, agriculture, technology, and franchise sectors. The firm’s registered lobbying clients include TikTok Inc., the International Franchise Association, and the Village of Franklin Park, Ill., which is a Chicago suburb.
Even during their one-year restrictions, former members may help orchestrate lobbying efforts, offering guidance about how to frame talking points and who to contact on Capitol Hill.
“They can do behind-the-scenes work,” said Kedric Payne, general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a campaign finance and ethics watch dog. “After the ban ends, they are free to go full speed with any lobbying on the Hill.”
Senators, however, have to wait it out for two years before they may begin to engage in direct congressional lobbying.
Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen who has pushed for additional revolving-door prohibitions, said lobbying firms still find value in lawmakers during their bans but said former members find the period constraining.
“These members of Congress really want to pick up the phone and talk to their old buddies,” he said. “It is more effective to have one-on-one contact than just being behind the scenes.”
Old Stomping Ground
Up on the Hill, Davis may bump into fellow former lawmakers-turned-lobbyists including a one-time colleague from his home state: Democrat Cheri Bustos, who last year joined the firm Mercury where she co-leads the Washington, D.C., office and heads Illinois and Midwestern operations.
Bustos said she remained in touch with her former colleagues on the Hill but did not talk about legislation during her one-year prohibition. That changed as soon her ban ended, she said in an email.
Bustos registered to lobby last year. Lawmakers’ bans only apply to the legislative branch, not the executive branch. Her registered clients include the Renewable Fuels Association, Illinois Corn Growers Association, and the National Public Finance Guarantee Corp., according to lobbying disclosures filed with Congress.
“I have been willing and able to talk with the administration during the past year,” Bustos said in the email. “Those conversations have been around topics that I am passionate about and believe in.” The end of her lobbying ban on Capitol Hill, she added, means “I can have those same conversations with my former colleagues.”
Former Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), who joined the law and lobbying firm Holland & Knight last year, said he wasn’t the only one at his firm who marked the occasion of Jan. 3.
“I’ve got a couple partners who are calling me already,” he said during an interview 24 hours after his year was up.
Feeling ‘Butterflies’
“I have lots of friends and worked there a long time, but I actually feel a little butterflies in my stomach about it,” Perlmutter said.
Over the past year, he said, he lobbied the Colorado legislature and did legal work. He splits his time between Denver and D.C. and said his practice includes financial services and other matters. He served on the House Financial Services panel while in Congress.
Perlmutter didn’t wait for Jan. 3 to return to the US Capitol. He said he attended the State of the Union address and ventured to the second floor hallway of the Longworth House Office Building at year’s end to judge a holiday decorating competition. He presented the trophy to winner Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.).
Such social interactions are permitted during the year-long ban, said lobbying and ethics lawyer Ken Gross, a senior political law counsel and consultant at the firm Akin. Other reasons that lawmakers might appear on Capitol Hill during their bans include retirement parties and portrait unveilings, he added.
Though some newly minted lobbyists chaffed under their restriction, others who left after the 117th Congress hardly noticed the end of their ban.
Former Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has no plans to lobby, he said.
“I have not exactly been counting down,” he said during a phone interview from his retreat in the ski resort of Park City, Utah. “It’s lifted, but it had no impact.”
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