Readers might remember ex-GOP Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri. His parting gift to the nation was to completely knee-cap the incoming Republican-controlled House as he voted to approve President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion omnibus bill last December.
Well, Blunt is back and is providing all Americans with a perfect case study of how The Swamp works.
After not seeking re-election in 2022, he is now joining a lobbying firm connected to his former chief of staff and his own son. On Wednesday, Husch Blackwell Strategies announced that Blunt joined the team “where he will launch and lead our new Leadership Strategies Advisory Services.”
We are thrilled to welcome U.S. Sen Roy Blunt to HBS where he will launch and lead our new Leadership Strategies Advisory Services w his longtime Senate COS Stacy McBride & Deputy COS Richard Eddings https://t.co/pYKZ7pWPq5 #governmentrelations #HBS #HuschBlackwellStrategies pic.twitter.com/T10bICOsP8
— Husch Blackwell Strategies (@H_B_Strategies) April 5, 2023
Per The Hill, Blunt will be advising clients and is barred from registering as a lobbyist for two years after leaving Congress. Yet, Blunt told POLITICO that he doesn’t ever anticipate registering as one even when he becomes eligible to do so. Perhaps that’s because if he registers as a lobbyist, as opposed to being an “adviser,” then he would have to reveal who his clients are.
Blunt, of course, took pride in his bipartisanship and spent his time as a senator under Biden working with Democrats to advance infrastructure spending, codify same-sex marriage, pass the electoral reform act, and more. Conservative base be damned, he was all too eager to link arms with the Democrats on many crucial decisions.
Now, after being in D.C. for decades, he has decided to cash in on that experience and start selling his advice.
“I’ve been giving advice for free for a long time,” he told POLITICO. “And generally, people have been willing to take it and it worked out pretty well. The media outlet added that in his new role, “Blunt will concentrate on offering advice on how to navigate both state and local government.”
So, if you want to have a long and prosperous career in D.C. it appears to work like this.
You spend your career — especially the last couple of years where you don’t have to worry about re-election— voting for bills that advance the agenda of The Establishments of the Democratic and Republican Party while managing the slow decline of the nation. During that time, you make the right connections, don’t rock the boat too much, and then have your former staffers and even your flesh-and-blood prop up a lobbying firm where a cushy job awaits you after retirement.
Then you can stay around The Beltway, enjoy some lunches paid for by the firm, and get paid even more money to block out the conservative base from D.C. decision-making. That is, as some call it, just one aspect of Permanent Washington.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.