Sinema gets the quo

I’m sure there was a lot of suspense about what line of work Kyrsten Sinema would go into after being a one-and-done senator specializing in making legislation worse substantively and politically. Maybe she would start working for the local food bank? Go into teaching? I wonder…

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the centrist dealmaker who wielded virtually unilateral veto power over the Biden administration’s legislative agenda, has landed on K Street.

The Arizona Democrat-turned-independent is joining the law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells, where she will serve as a senior counsel in the global regulatory and intellectual property practice, the firm announced Monday.

Sinema said in an interview that she will not register to lobby, but instead will advise businesses across industries to “understand, anticipate and influence the shifting regulatory landscape” and help them “navigate the intersection of business and government.”

The hire marks a jackpot for the firm, given Sinema’s intimate involvement in shaping some of the most significant pieces of legislation of the last four years, including the Inflation Reduction Act, bipartisan infrastructure law and the CHIPS and Science Act, in addition to landmark gun control and marriage equality legislation and a scrapped border security bill.

Sinema, a former member of the Senate Banking, Commerce, Appropriations, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security committees, told PI she’ll be working mostly with clients in industries where she’s long “had interest and expertise,” including AI and technology, fintech, crypto and private equity. She said she was drawn to Hogan Lovells because of the firm’s growing global regulatory practice and its focus on leading-edge industries in the tech space.

Though her new role is Sinema’s most significant step into the influence industry since leaving office earlier this year, it isn’t her first. In January, Sinema joined the global advisory council at crypto exchange Coinbase alongside Chris LaCivita, President Donald Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager. Sinema also formed the Arizona Business Roundtable, which retained Mehlman Consulting in January to lobby on tax issues.

Sinema was known as a reliable ally of the business community during her time in the Senate. She voted against several of former President Joe Biden’s labor nominees and opposed increasing the federal minimum wage, provoking the ire of the Democratic base.

Sinema also single-handedly rescued the carried interest loophole during IRA negotiations — a tax provision that proponents in private equity, real estate and venture capital are once again gearing up to protect.

Going all-out to ensure that private equity parasites pay much lower taxes on their income than ordinary wage workers doesn’t make a lot of sense if your primary goal is doing good policy as a Democratic legislator or getting re-elected in a swing state. If you’re interested in getting a whole lot of money to do not a whole lot of work, though, it’s a winning move.