As our blog reported last month, current GOP Senate candidate Van Hilleary serves as a Washington lobbyist while not on the campaign trail here in Tennessee.Today, the Tennessee Democratic Party has a write-up which claims Hilleary may have lied to the Tennessean when he told them he wasn't going to Washington to be a lobbyist back in 2003.
Did Republican U.S. Senate candidate Van Hilleary lie to the Tennessean in 2003 when he insisted he wasn’t going to Washington to become a lobbyist? It looks that way. The background: On July 9, 2003, the Nashville newspaper reported that Hilleary, who lost in his 2002 bid for governor, had taken a job as a " Washington lobbyist" with Sonnenschein Nath Rosenthal, a Beltway law firm with an extensive government-relations practice. Click here to read the Tennessean’s original report. Those familiar with the article said it caused Hilleary to go ballistic, and the next day the newspaper begrudgingly ran a clarification quoting the former Fourth District congressman as saying, "My job responsibilities do not include, nor presently envision, activities which would classify me as a lobbyist." But as it turns out, the paper may have been right after all.
Enter the Chattanooga Times Free Press. In a recent article on former members of Congress who have gone on to become lobbyists, the newspaper reported that Hilleary — who’s still at Sonnenschein Nath — now is lobbying for SMS Holdings Corp., a Nashville-based facilities management company that among other things handles passenger and luggage screening at some U.S. airports. According to the Times Free Press, Hilleary said he "has no plans to stop lobbying for SMS" even though he’s locked in a bitter Senate primary fight against former congressman Ed Bryant (himself a former lobbyist) and former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker.
Just to recap: In 2003, Hilleary claimed he wasn’t at Sonnenschein Nath to lobby. In 2005, he’s still with the firm, only now he’s lobbying. The likely explanation for Hilleary’s fib: He was trying to dodge a federal law that requires a one-year "cooling off" period before former members of Congress can lobby. Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Bob Tuke said it appears that Hilleary slipped through a legal loophole. "Former members of Congress clearly are entitled to make a living after they leave office," Tuke said. "But they’re not entitled to park themselves on the payroll of a D.C. lobbying practice and simply wait for the clock to expire before registering. If Van Hilleary didn’t violate the letter of the law, he certainly violated the spirit of it."
Looks like Van has some explaining to do.
(Hat tip: Sharon Cobb)
