BATON ROUGE (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. David Vitter won't stray from Washington for his next job, joining a well-known lobbying firm in the city.
Mercury LLC announced Thursday that Vitter started working for the firm this week.
The Republican former senator said he'll be working both out of the Washington office and helping to establish a Gulf Coast operation for the company, which has offices across the nation. In an interview, he said he'll continue to live in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie.
Based on his work in Congress, Vitter said he expects to focus on energy, transportation, banking, judiciary, military and small business issues. Mercury doesn't focus solely on federal regulatory issues but also can be active in state-based issues, depending on the interests of the clients that hire the firm.
Vitter will be limited in initial lobbying work. He said he cannot directly lobby members of Congress for two years, but can reach out to President Donald Trump's administration and can give clients advice about congressional matters.
Vitter left the Senate last month after two terms and 25 years in elected office. An Ivy League-educated lawyer, Vitter was a state representative before being elected to Congress, where he served for more than five years in the U.S. House before moving up to the Senate.
He didn't seek re-election after an unsuccessful 2015 campaign for governor.
