Former Sens. Trent Lott and John Breaux are joining the Washington lobbying firm Crossroads Strategies, a week after Lott was abruptly fired by Squire Patton Boggs.
Lott, a Mississippi Republican, and Breaux, a Louisiana Democrat, spent a decade as two of the top lobbyists at Squire Patton Boggs, representing clients such as Nissan, SpaceX and the National Association of Broadcasters.
Squire Patton Boggs ousted Lott last week without explanation. Mark Ruehlmann, Squire Patton Boggs’ chairman and global chief executive, said only that the firm had “decided that it is the right time to make a change in the leadership” of its public policy practice. He indicated that Breaux would remain at the firm, calling him part of “the best team in the business.”
But Lott told POLITICO last week that the firm had found out that he and Breaux was planning to leave: “We were negotiating with another firm, they found out about it and they tried to take preventative action” to keep them from taking clients with them.
Breaux and Lott will be partners as Crossroads. They start Monday and plan to bring some of their lobbying clients with them, according to the firm.
The duo served in Congress together for decades, first in the House and then in the Senate. Lott rose to become Senate majority leader but stepped down as the Republican leader in 2003 after he drew criticism for praising former Sen. Strom Thurmond’s presidential run in 1948, when Thurmond ran on a segregationist platform. After Lott resigned from the Senate in 2007, he and Breaux started their own lobbying firm before landing at Squire Patton Boggs.
Crossroads is a smaller firm than Squire Patton Boggs, although hiring Breaux and Lott could boost its business. Crossroads brought in $13.4 million in lobbying revenue last year, barely half what the bigger firm pulled in.
Crossroads also has a personal connection to Lott: John Green, the firm’s chief executive, is a former Lott aide and sits on the board of the University of Mississippi’s Trent Lott Leadership Institute.
“Crossroads is one of a handful of elite government affairs firms in the nation’s capital and this addition solidifies our leadership in the space,” Stewart Hall, Crossroads’ chairman, said in a statement. “Senators Lott and Breaux joining our firm ensures our clients best-of-class counsel across multiple disciplines of regulatory and legislative public policy.”