Want to get ahead in Washington? Join a Senate office willing to kidnap presidential nominees.
A short but illustrative timeline:
Oct. 18: Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst joins with a cadre of other senators from corn states to take President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency nominees hostage to protect the ethanol mandate, also known as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Oct. 18: Under pressure from Ernst and friends, Trump orders the EPA to back off proposed changes to the RFS, a big win for the ethanol industry.
Nov. 13: A senior legislative aide to Ernst lands a new lobbying job at an ethanol firm.
“After over 2.5 years incredible years with Senator Ernst, I’m taking the next step in my career, and leaving the hill,” wrote Devin Mogler in a Nov. 13th email obtained by the Washington Examiner. “My new responsibilities will be as Vice President of Government Affairs with Green Plains, an Omaha-based food, commodity processing, and renewable energy company.”
Green Plains is, first and foremost, an ethanol company.
In other words, after helping his boss tie up nominees and making the administration give in to ethanol, Mogler has taken a new job as a top ethanol lobbyist.
That timeline doesn’t prove a quid-pro-quo, but it does suggest that working in an office willing to choose industry over free enterprise is good career move. Throw a few punches, demonstrate loyalty to industry, and opportunities abound. It’s also part of a trend. Perhaps following Mogler’s example, another senior legislative aide from the office of another conspirator also cashed out.
As the Washington Examiner first reported, the National Biodiesel Board announced Monday that Kurt Kovarik, legislative director for Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley—who helped Ernst take admin nominees hostage—will join the group in the new year as vice president of federal affairs.
Until the administration stops negotiating with hostage takers, it’s safe to say this sort of kidnapping will continue and senior staffers will keep cash out for K-street.
