Pat Roberts joins lobbying firm weeks after Senate retirement

Former Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts (R) is joining a top K Street lobbying firm just weeks after his departure from Congress.

In a press release first reported by McClatchy, Capitol Counsel announced Roberts would join the firm as a senior counselor to the firm’s clients, which include major industry power players such as Comcast and Lockeed Martin, according to the firm’s website.

“Senator Roberts has served his nation proudly for more than 50 years; from the U.S. Marine Corps, to the halls of the U.S. Senate, he embodies the no-nonsense, authentic approach that made him a respected statesman. His unmatched experience offers our clients best-in-class strategic advice, and we are honored to have him join our team,” a partner with the firm, Shannon Finley, said in the announcement.

Roberts left the Senate in January after serving in the Senate since 1997. He was Kansas’s longest-serving senator, and previously served in the House as well.

Under the law, he is prohibited from lobbying the Senate for two more years and the House for one more year, though he can lobby other levels of government without restriction.

“I can contact any federal agency, whatever,” he told McClatchy in an interview.

Roberts was succeeded as Kansas’s senator by Sen. Roger Marshall (R), who took over the seat following a heated primary that saw him defeat former Secretary of State Kris Kobach and a number of other contenders.

“Even though the world has changed, the politics have changed, the personalities have changed many times over…I’m proud to offer consistent leadership to Kansas through it all,” Roberts said in 2019 upon announcing his retirement.