Goodbyes are hard. Sometimes it’s best just to avoid them altogether. Or at least that’s the strategy of a former top aide to Texas Governor Rick Perry.

He managed Perry’s 2016 bid for president and then Jeff Miller auditioned to be Perry’s chief of staff over at the Department of Energy. But even though the aide didn’t get the job, he’s not leaving. To stay close to his old boss, Miller launched his own lobbying shop.