Ex-GOP Sen. Kirk registers to lobby

Former Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) has registered to lobby as a subcontractor to BGR Group. 

The Illinois Republican will represent the China-United States Exchange Foundation, a nonprofit based in Hong Kong, Politico first reported.

{mosads}BGR plans to pay Kirk $10,000 a month. The firm has been representing the foundation since earlier this year, and the contract is $400,000 a year, BGR confirmed to The Hill.

“BGR is delighted to be working with former Sen. Kirk on this important client matter,” Jeff Birnbaum, president of BGR Public Relations, told The Hill.

In the Senate, Kirk was chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies and chairman of the Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance. In the House, he was a co-chairman of the U.S.-China Working Group.

He was first elected to the Senate in 2010. He suffered a stroke in 2012.

Kirk lost his reelection to Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) in November 2016.

Kirk’s former chief of staff Lester Munson, who has been a principal at BGR since 2015, is also registered to lobby for the foundation.

–This report was updated on May 12 at 1:07 p.m.