Law firm Arnold & Porter hires veteran House Democrat for lobby team

(Reuters) – Former longtime U.S. Rep. Ron Kind is joining the lobbying practice at law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, the firm said on Monday

Kind, a Democrat who served 13 terms representing a Wisconsin U.S. House district, will work in Washington, D.C., as a senior policy adviser in the firm’s legislative and public policy practice.

Kind said he will work with clients on issues he focused on during his tenure in Congress including tax, trade, healthcare and retirement security. Kind said Arnold & Porter was a “logical, natural choice” because of its international reach and its bipartisan team that includes lobbyists and lawyers from both Democratic and Republican backgrounds.

“It is always a very bipartisan firm in its approach to issues,” Kind said. “That’s why the environment and the culture there fits very well with what I’ve been doing for the past 26 years.”

Kind was known in Congress as a political moderate who founded the centrist pro-business New Democrats Coalition in the House. He was also a senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and helped shape the landmark Affordable Care Act during the Obama administration.

He retired from the House last year after facing a close race for re-election in 2020.

With the Biden administration’s domestic agenda likely stalled in a divided Congress, Kind said there was an opportunity to shift focus to foreign issues such as free trade, which has faced growing opposition from both parties after years of bipartisan support.

He also called for a solution to the ongoing stalemate over the U.S. government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, saying it would be “one of the greatest unforced errors in our nation’s history” if the U.S. defaulted on its debt.

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