By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Co-Editor
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former Republican State Representative Sean Duffy has accepted a lobbying job in Washington, D.C., about two months after resigning from Congress to spend more time with his family and a baby he and his wife were expecting, who had been diagnosed with a heart defect. The baby, named Valentina, was born with Down syndrome and holes in her heart days after Duffy’s Sept. 23 resignation.
Duffy, who had represented Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District since 2010, will be joining the BGR Group as senior counsel, the firm announced Tuesday, Nov. 12. BGR Group is a Republican-leaning lobbyist group.
According to the firm’s website, the BGR Group was founded in 1991 by political consultant Ed Rogers and Haley Barbour, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee and former governor of Mississippi. The firm’s lobbyists represent corporate clients such as Comcast and Pfizer, as well as the governments of Bahrain, Bangladesh, India and South Korea, according to reporting from Politico.
The firm states Duffy will register as a lobbyist and will lead BGR’s financial services practice. BGR lobbies for Credit Suisse and MassMutual, among other clients.
Although House ethics rules prohibit Duffy from lobbying Congress for one year, he will be able to lobby the Trump administration immediately.
In a statement, Duffy said he was “eager to grow a financial services practice built on my experience working on behalf of the people with the Administration and federal regulators” as well as Republican and Democrats in Congress.
Duffy also recently joined CNN as a paid contributor.
A special election to fill the seat vacated by Duffy was called by Governor Tony Evers earlier this year. A special primary will be held on Feb. 18, followed by a special election on May 12. Numerous candidates, including Republican State Senator Tom Tiffany and Wausau School Board President and associate justice for the Ho-Chunk Nation Supreme Court Tricia Zunker, a Democrat, have launched their bids to fill the seat.