Republicans Face Tough Job Market
Roll Call Staff
Correction Appended
And the procession begins.
As Members of Congress head for the exits, retiring Republican lawmakers are facing uncertain job prospects after Jan. 1, when Democrats begin painting the town completely blue for the first time in 14 years.
Job-seeking Democrats should have a far easier time than their Republican colleagues in the months ahead.
“It’s the land of Democrats,” one executive recruiter said. “If you have a ‘D’ by your name, the assumption is that you can work where you like.”
As recent high-profile GOP departures at cable provider Comcast Corp. and other local heavyweights continue to highlight new opportunities for Democrats on K Street, Republicans are less sanguine about their prospects, acknowledging that a less-than-hospitable landscape downtown awaits them.
“Let’s face it, with Democrats in control, there are going to be fewer Republicans that have opportunities,” retiring Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) said last week. “Say there are 30 Republicans who are walking out the door, maybe a third of those are going to be able to get the plum opportunities because of their experience or committees.”
He added: “It’s not going to be every one of them because of the political dynamics and because of the background of the people.”
Among those departing Republicans who are thought to have promising careers awaiting them on K Street are Reps. Tom Davis (Va.) and Jim McCrery (La.) and Sen. John Sununu (N.H.).
“Not sure” of his own next career move, LaHood said he’s more concerned about his more partisan Republican colleagues, who may have burned bridges with Democrats during recent years of tense partisanship.
“I’m seen as someone who’s bipartisan — a big, big plus” in the job market, LaHood said.
The seven-term lawmaker, who was former House Minority Leader Bob Michel’s (R-Ill.) chief of staff in the early 1990s, also said his kinship with the new White House won’t hurt his cause.
“I have a very good relationship with President-elect Obama. I’ve known him, I’ve worked with him,” LaHood said. “I’m going to have lots of opportunities.”
Still, LaHood, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, acknowledged that his immediate plans remain up in the air. He said he’s “talked superficially to some people back home” and made the rounds in downtown Washington, D.C., “but never in great detail.”
“When I leave on [Jan. 2], I’m going to really spend some time thinking about it, talking to people and trying to decide,” he said.
LaHood and other soon-to-be-unemployed Republicans may take heed from the Democrats’ experience in 1994, when then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and Republicans swept to power and sent more than 30 House Democrats packing, including then-freshman Rep. Marjorie Margolies- Mezvinsky (Pa.).
Margolies-Mezvinsky, a former television broadcaster, told Roll Call last week that she had “kind of a soft landing” after losing her job in what is now-Rep. Allyson Schwartz’s (D) suburban Philadelphia district. And just as she did more than a decade ago, Margolies-Mezvinsky advised departing Members to stick with what they know.
“I had a background that was different than most legislators. I’d come from the media and I’d also taught,” Margolies-Mezvinsky said. “I went back to areas that I felt comfortable in” — the nonprofit world and academia.
“Losing was tough for me because I put so many people out on the street,” she added. “I felt so bad, but every one of them found a really good job.”
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