POLITICO: Martinez heads straight to K Street

Martinez heads straight to K Street
By: Kenneth P. Vogel
September 24, 2009 07:54 PM EST

It used to be that lawmakers were coy about any ideas they had about heading for K Street, waiting until their terms ended before announcing they were beginning a more lucrative career.

But in recent years, members of Congress planning to become lobbyists have not been able to wait. In fact, when Florida Republican Mel Martinez this week accepted a position with the mega-lobbying and law firm DLA Piper — less than two weeks after resigning from the Senate — it brought to five the number of former lawmakers since 2007 who have abandoned their constituents midterm and almost immediately resurfaced with lobbying firms, according to data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

“This used to be considered unacceptable, but it really is a growing phenomenon,” said Meredith McGehee, who lobbies for stricter lobbying and ethics regulations for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “The reality is that the money has gotten so big and so tempting these days, that I think a lot of these members are saying, ‘I don’t think I’ll go back into political office, first of all, and, the money is just too big to turn down.’”

Martinez was traveling in Brazil and could not be reached for comment, but in February, his office insisted he would serve until the end of his term in January 2011 before retiring from Congress to spend more time with his family. Last month, though, he reversed course, announcing he would step down as soon as Florida Gov. Charlie Crist appointed a successor.

That prompted some quick recruitment outreach by DLA partner Ignacio Sanchez, who has been active in Republican politics and knew Martinez — a former trial lawyer, Orange County, Fla., mayor, secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Republican National Committee chairman — from Florida legal circles and their shared interest in Cuban-American issues.

“When he announced he was going to retire and let the governor appoint someone to finish out the term, I immediately talked to him and said, ‘You really ought to consider looking at our firm. I think you would really do well, and we would love to have you,’” Sanchez told the Blog of LegalTimes.

Sanchez, who was traveling with Martinez and also could not be reached, told the BLT that

Martinez met with folks from DLA before heformally stepped down from the Senate but stressed that the firm extended “no financial terms, no offer, no details” to Martinez until after he resigned Sept. 9.

“We didn’t have any discussions with him until he decided to leave the Senate, and we didn’t conduct any negotiations with him of any sort until he had left the Senate,” said John Merrigan, a DLA partner.

Merrigan pointed out that DLA has employed many former members of Congress, including former House Majority Leaders Dick Gephardt and Dick Armey, and employs ethics experts to ensure compliance with congressional rules and restrictions.

A 2007 law requires members of Congress to disclose negotiations with prospective employers.

The Secretary of the Senate’s office, which would be the repository for such disclosures, had not received one from Martinez as of Thursday.

But Sanchez’s outreach would not have invoked the rules, said Brett Kappel, a lobbying lawyer, though Craig Holman, who lobbies for stricter disclosure requirements for the nonpartisan group Public Citizen, said the rules leave wiggle room.

The pre-employment negotiation provision was prompted partly by former Louisiana Rep. Billy Tauzin’s acceptance of a job heading the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in 2005, a year after he helped write a law that expanded Medicare payments for prescription drug, which redounded to Big Pharma’s benefit.

Tauzin, a Republican, waited until after his term expired to take the PhRMA job, which reportedly paid him $2.5 million a year. But in December 2007, then-Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) left Congress with years left in his term to create a lobbying firm, while Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) stepped down in November 2007, only to accept a position in 2008 with the lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro.

In 2008, Rep. Al Wynn (D-Md.), who was defeated in a primary, and Rep. Richard Baker (R-La.) left before their terms expired to take lobbying jobs — Baker with the Managed Funds Association: and Wynn with Dickstein Shapiro.

Lobbyists’ salaries are not public information, but last year, Martinez’s new firm DLA, which registered nearly 50 lobbyists, reported more than $11.8 million in lobbying revenue, which doesn’t include legal and consultation fees unrelated to lobbying.

Martinez, who is barred from lobbying his former colleagues for two years, will advise clients on government affairs, litigation, financial services, real estate, energy, defense, infrastructure development and other matters, according to a DLA press release announcing his arrival.

In the release, DLA’s Global Chairman Francis B. Burch Jr., boasted of Martinez’s clout “on both Capitol Hill and in his home state of Florida,” as well as his “significant network of international contacts, particularly in Spain and in Latin America, which will be a major area of growth and expansion for DLA Piper over the next year.”

According to the firm, DLA has an office in Tampa, and Martinez will spend the bulk of his time working from Florida.

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