Ex-Sen. Landrieu joins law and lobby firm

Former Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is following many of her former colleagues to K Street, and will be joining Van Ness Feldman as a senior policy advisor, the law and lobby firm said on Tuesday.

The firm said the former head of the Senate’s energy panel would focus on energy, environment, natural resources and transportation policy issues. She will help lead the firm’s public policy team with former Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), a former chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

“Mary is known as being one of the most effective, passionate, and bipartisan members of the Senate. Her knowledge, experience, and leadership skills will be a tremendous asset to our clients,” Richard Agnew, the chairman of Van Ness Feldman, said in a statement. “Her collaborative style, tenacity, and focus on results will advance our firm’s core practice areas and makes her an ideal fit with Van Ness Feldman.”

{mosads}The firm earned $2.68 million in lobbying revenue last year, and represents clients including the National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition, electric power company Pacificorp, the Coal Utilization Research Council, the National Association of Energy Services, American Electric Power, among many other energy interests.

While Landrieu must wait two years before officially lobbying her former colleagues, she is able to give strategic advice and counsel to clients and the firm’s lawyers and lobbyists. 

In a release, she says that she worked “closely” with the firm during her near two-decades in the Senate. 

“Their substantive and sophisticated approach to important public policy issues in the areas of energy, the environment and natural resources was a major factor in my decision making process,” Landrieu said in a release. “I look forward to being part of the Van Ness Feldman team to help businesses, governments and non-governmental organizations achieve solutions for the wide range of challenges they face.”

Landrieu lost re-election in 2014, a cycle in which many moderate Democratic senators lost their seats. A few of them of them – including former Sens. Mark Begich (Alaska), Mark Pryor (Ark.) – have popped up at some of K Street’s largest firms.

The Times-Picayune in New Orleans first announced the move earlier Tuesday morning. Joining Landrieu at Van Ness Feldman is former Senate aide Marianna Knister.