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Former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig says he’s glad to be out of Congress after 28 years and has landed four clients for his new consulting firm, New West Strategies LLC.
“Once you’re free of it, you really realize how free you really are,” Craig told the Idaho Falls Post Register.
Craig is working with his former chief of staff, Mike Ware, and has offices in Eagle and Washington, D.C. The firm has four clients, including Blackfoot-based Premier Technology. The company does construction management for federal agencies including the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense. The company also is in mining and food processing.
Doug Sayer, founder and CEO of Premier, told the Post Register that Craig has helped develop business strategies based on his knowledge of energy policy, the area Craig says he will focus his consulting work.
“Where else can you get that kind of information and insight?” Sayer said. “He’s been really, really helpful.”
Said Craig: “I’ve really worked through every problem imaginable in Washington.”
Senate rules prevent Craig from lobbying Congress for two years, so he won’t be able to directly contact his former colleagues until January 2011.
Craig served 10 years in the House and 18 in the Senate. In June 2007, he was arrested in a men’s restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., airport for allegedly soliciting gay sex from an undercover policeman. After his guilty plea became public in August 2007, Craig said he intended to resign. But he later decided to complete his term and depleted his leftover campaign funds attempting to overturn his guilty plea. He dropped his appeal after the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled against him in December 2008.
A year ago, Craig said he was writing a book about the scandal, his experience in the Senate and energy policy. There’s been no word on when the book might be published.
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