Former Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) is leaving Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz to be the general counsel and corporate development vice president for one of her lobbying clients.
Sandlin will start at Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Raven Industries Inc. on Sept. 1, the company announced on Wednesday. She joined Olsson Frank as a principal in Washington a couple months after she left Congress in January 2011.
The former congresswoman started lobbying during the second quarter of 2011 for Raven, according to congressional records. The engineering and technology company paid Olsson Frank at least $60,000 for its government advocacy work on defense and agriculture issues, among other matters. Raven only used Olsson Frank to lobby for it in Washington.
Though congressional lobbying would have been illegal for her in 2011 under a federally mandated one-year "cooling-off" period for ex-representatives, federal law wouldn't have prohibited her from lobbying the executive branch. Congressional records indicate that Sandlin last year only lobbied executive branch agencies, including the Defense and Agriculture departments.
"Stephanie brings a wealth of professional experience to our company and to this position given her legal career and service in Congress," Raven President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Rykhus said in a written statement. "Her knowledge of the law, public policy expertise and professional relationships will add significant value to our corporate development strategy."
Sandlin couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
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