Surprising Hire

DLA Piper didn’t have a hole in its roster of top Republican lobbyists for long. Weeks after former House majority leader Dick Armey resigned, DLA welcomed former Florida senator Mel Martinez to its ranks. Martinez, who left the Senate in August, started at the firm on October 1.

You wouldn’t think Armey would be a popular guy around DLA, where he caused some heartburn for his colleagues. Armey resigned after his role as chairman of the conservative group FreedomWorks—which helped organize protests against health-care reform at town-hall meetings—entangled the firm and its clients in a mess of bad publicity.

But apparently his word still carries weight. While Martinez was looking for his next landing place, he says, Armey served as “a good recommendation for me” at DLA.

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