Yet another "Distinguished Gentleman."
Posted on 01/12/2005 6:25:01 AM PST by Theodore R.
Breaux, 'hottest hire' in D.C., keeps pace
By GERARD SHIELDS gshields@theadvocate.com Advocate Washington bureau
WASHINGTON -- In joining the powerful Washington lobbying firm of Patton Boggs, newly retired U.S. Sen. John Breaux, D-La., will become the 106th former Congress member active in the lucrative lobbying field. "John Breaux is just the latest of the revolving door and that revolving door is out of control," said Craig Holman, campaign finance lobbyist for the nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog group, Public Citizen.
Breaux follows his former LSU Law School roommate U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Chackbay, who recently took the job of directing lobbying efforts for the U.S. drug industry. Reports in the national news media, including The New York Times, claimed Tauzin will earn from $1.5 million to $2 million a year for his work.
In addition to the Patton Boggs work -- for which the New Orleans Times-Picayune estimated Breaux will receive $1 million a year -- the former senator also will join a New York investment fund and become senior manager to a New York fund manager that handles energy projects.
The combined new salaries should put the 32-year veteran of Congress in Tauzin's income bracket, Holman said.
"I would suspect that Breaux is in that league," said Holman, who called Breaux the "hottest hire left on Capitol Hill."
In his final year of Congress, Breaux made $158,103. Members of Congress make $162,100 a year.
In addition to his private work, Breaux on Tuesday started his duties as vice chairman of a nine-member panel formed by President Bush to recommend simplifications of the 3,000-page U.S. tax code.
In Breaux's first public comments about his private positions, the popular 60-year-old former Senate Finance Committee member said he needed the four slots to keep him busy.
"I read a newspaper headline that said 'Breaux Takes Four Positions,'" Breaux quipped. "I used to do that in Congress."
He foresees no problem in juggling the workload of the four positions.
"My wife said if she kept me home, she would have to put me on Ritalin," Breaux said. "I have to be kept busy."
The Patton Boggs position is full-time; the other positions are part-time.
Breaux sat Tuesday next to his new boss, Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., who called the hire of his hunting and fishing friend a coup. Breaux had so many lucrative offers in his final months that he hired a Washington lawyer to field them.
"He had probably more offers than anybody I can remember," said Boggs, who started the 400-lawyer company in 1978.
Congressional rules prohibit Breaux from lobbying former House and Senate colleagues for one year. He will have access to the Senate floor and other amenities, such as the recreation facilities.
Breaux, who was given the title of "senior counsel," chose Patton Boggs over other firms in part because of his friendships with the Boggs family of New Orleans, he said. In 1972, then House Speaker Hale Boggs swore Breaux in as a 28-year-old House member from Crowley. Boggs later disappeared in a plane crash.
Breaux also will join The Clinton Group Inc., a New York investment firm that manages $5.5 billion. Breaux will serve as a senior managing director and will join the board of directors of the firm, which is represented by Patton Boggs.
The Clinton Group has no relationship to former President Clinton or U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Breaux also will serve as a senior adviser to the New York-based Riverstone Holdings, a $1.1 billion private equity fund manager focused on energy projects.
"Energy is something I hopefully know something about," Breaux said. "I can be helpful in identifying mergers and acquisitions."
John Samples, director of representative government at the libertarian Cato Institute think tank in Washington, called Breaux's career move into lobbying "worrisome."
"That's a common path for people who were powerful in Congress," Samples said. "Washington is a town full of people who make a lot of money being ex-congressmen."
Samples acknowledged Breaux's centrist attraction to lobbying firms.
"He can talk to Republicans as well as Democrats," Samples said. "The central thing to lobbying isn't who you know; it's who knows you."
Former U.S. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, D-La., retired in 1996 to start his own Washington lobbying firm.
Johnston on Tuesday dismissed criticism that Breaux was financially gaining from his congressional influence.
"John Breaux doesn't have a vote anymore," Johnston said. "And somebody ought to be engaged in something he knows something about. John Breaux shouldn't go off and be a brain surgeon."
Breaux also deflected any criticism that he was cashing in on his legislative experience.
"No one is going to hire me if I'm a bad lawyer just because I was a good senator," Breaux said.
Yet another "Distinguished Gentleman."
Is Cokie Roberts Boggs' sister?
Yes, she is Cokie Boggs Roberts. Cokie had an older sister who died of cancer years ago. This sister was a small town mayor in New Jersey. Cokie's mother, Lindy Boggs, is retired from Congress and still lives in downtown New Orleans. Thomas Boggs has long been the highest paid lobbyist in all of D.C. The body of Hale Boggs was never found after he disappeared (along with Rep. Nick Begich, D-AK) in 1972.
Also, Ken, Hale Boggs (Sr.) ran for governor in 1951, but he was saddled as "the New Orleans candidate" and did not make the second Democrat runoff primary. Today winning candidates are often from New Orleans or the metro area. Boggs was particular close to LBJ. Shortly before Boggs disappeared, he had accused FBI Director Hoover of tapping his telephone. Some people may have wondered if there was a connection to his disappearance and his flap with Hoover, but I never thought there was any remote possibility of foul play.
How many excongressmen or senators return to the "home" states? How many are hired as by a lobby firm?
Ann Richards, popular former governor of TX, is a D.C. lobbyist. So were the late Senators J. William Fulbright, D-AR and Russell B. Long, D-LA. No there are former Sens. John Breaux and J.B. Johnston, Jr., both D-LA. I suppose that former Sen. Don Nickles, R-OK, has joined a lobbying company too.
And how many lawyers do you know that are hired for a mil a year???
Let's be adults here, you eliminate the federal income tax, you elimiinate the vast majority of lobbyists!
I remember that...there was talk that they staged the accident..he was under investigation?..
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