Ex-Rep. Duffy to join lobbying firm BGR

Former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) will be a senior counsel at the lobbying firm BGR Group, the firm announced Tuesday.

He will head the financial services practice group for BRG, a traditionally GOP-leaning firm where ex-Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) is a founding partner. Duffy served on the House Financial Services Committee before leaving Congress in September. 

Duffy announced his resignation after finding out that his ninth child has a heart condition. The baby arrived in October. 

{mosads}He has since joined CNN has a paid contributor and has received criticism for certain commentary, including suggesting there’s a missing Democratic National Committee server in Ukraine and that an impeachment witness, National Security Council officer and Army veteran Alexander Vindman, is “incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense.”

“Sean is a star in Wisconsin politics who quickly moved up in Congressional seniority and earned the respect of Congressional Leadership and the White House for his smart policies and his Midwestern work ethic. We are thrilled to have Sean join our bipartisan advocacy team to help clients resolve complex policy challenges,” BGR CEO Bob Wood said in a press release.

The Wisconsin Republican is not able to lobby Congress for a year but can lobby the administration. He was first elected in 2010 and, before his political career, was a cast member on MTV’s “The Real World” in 1997. 

In May, BGR hired ex-Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) as a subcontractor to represent the China-United States Exchange Foundation, a nonprofit based in Hong Kong.

Duffy also joins the ranks of former GOP members of the House who have decided to stay in Washington including ex-Rep. Jeff Denham (Calif.), who is at K&L Gates; ex-Rep. John Culberson (Texas), who is at Clark Hill; ex-Reps. Lamar Smith (Texas) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), who are in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP’s Washington office; and former Rep. Bill Shuster (Pa.), who is at Squire Patton Boggs.