Andrews to start work as lobbyist
Former Rep. Rob Andrews is officially a lobbyist.
The South Jersey Democrat, who resigned from Congress in February amid a House Ethics Committee investigation, filed paperwork last week to lobby for two clients.
Andrews will represent the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans and M.E.R.I.T., a Newark-based international security firm.
Andrews’ work for the coordinating committee will focus on enacting changes in pension statutes and regulations to secure retirement benefits, according to the lobbying registration form. As a congressman, Andrews was chairman of a subcommittee with responsibility for pension, health insurance and labor laws.
“It’s our practice not to comment on the work we’re doing for clients, but we intend to do a great job for them and help them with their causes,” Andrews said Monday.
When he announced his resignation in February, Andrews, 56, said he had not decided whether to register as a lobbyist. The development was reported by LegiStorm, which collects and disseminates information about Congress.
After spending 23 years in the House, Andrews joined Philadelphia-based law firm Dilworth Paxson.
The Haddon Heights resident heads the firm’s government affairs practice.
Under federal ethics law, Andrews may not lobby members of Congress for one year after leaving his House seat. However, he may lobby the executive branch and organize lobbying campaigns, according to Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C., citizens advocacy group.
“He can do everything a lobbyist does, including registering as a lobbyist, just as long as he avoids making a lobbying contact with a ... member of Congress,” Holman said. “It’s a very weak revolving-door restriction, obviously.”
Andrews said, “We are obviously going to fully comply with all the rules.”
Andrews, a longtime incumbent in the 1st Congressional District, said he left public office to earn more money for his daughters’ educational expenses.
Andrews said his departure was unrelated to the ethics committee probe, which has caused legal fees of some $275,000 for Andrews’ campaign committee. Among other issues, the ethics panel is looking into Andrews’ use of campaign funds for a $30,000 family vacation to Scotland in June 2011 and for multiple trips to California with his teenage daughter, an aspiring singer who performed at a Los Angeles recording studio.
Andrews, who repaid the money for the Scotland trip, has denied any wrongdoing.
The House clerk’s office is running Andrews’ former office representing New Jersey’s 1st District. Staffers are still available to handle constituent casework.
A special election will be held Nov. 4 — the same day as the general election — to fill the last two months of Andrews’ term.
Andrews and most of the Democratic establishment in the Democrat-dominated 1st District support state Sen. Donald Norcross of Camden, the brother of power broker George E. Norcross III.
Two other Democrats and four Republicans also are seeking to run in the general election. All the Democrats submitted petitions to run in the special election. None of the Republicans did.
Contact Nicole Gaudiano at ngaudiano@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @ngaudiano.