Pickering to resign from Congress

Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2007 5:05 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Congress, Republicans

From NBC's Mark Murray
Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., is announcing he's resigning from Congress to work on K Street, becoming the latest House Republican to either vacate his seat or decide not to seek re-election in 2008.

This news -- reported by the Cook Political Report and shared with First Read -- comes after word that former Speaker Dennis Hastert and Rep. Deborah Pryce will not seek another term in office.

Pickering was seen as the heir apparent to the next GOP Senate opening in Mississippi. Does this mean that Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has hinted to Pickering that he'll be seeking re-election?

*** UPDATE *** The Cook team is getting conflicting signals over whether Pickering is resigning or whether he won't be seeking another term (however, with Pickering heading to work on K Street, he might want to leave Congress before the lobbying/ethics reform legislation is signed into law). But one thing is clear: Another GOP-held House seat is being vacated.

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Comments

Gee, don't forget Ray LaHood (R-IL) is 'retiring' as well. Abandon Ship! Abandon Ship! It's going down....

Grandma's Attic (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 5:13 PM)

Left Behind -- starting to look George Bush will be the last to go.

Somebody explain how all of the former Republican congresspeople will be good for lobbying Democrats?

nuanced (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 5:29 PM)

I say it's like rats leaving a sinking ship, only I don't want to offend the rats. Remember these are the buutchers that brought us "Stay the Course" and "Cut & Run" The folks who covered for Foley the pedophile and Vitters the whoremonger. Now they're off to K street to collect their blood money.

Lynn C in D.C. (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 5:46 PM)

Usually the last person to leave someplace turns the lights out. In this White House the first person who comes with the next Administration will be turning them on for the first time in eight years.

Robert Catalano, Salem, OR (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 5:47 PM)

They are burying the dead. New faces to run for the repukes with no ties to shrub and present company.

H P Boston (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 5:56 PM)

This is another indicator of the GOP's prospects in 2008. So far we the names that have either announced retirement or on "retirement watch" lists that I have seen are Pryce (OH), Hastert (IL), LaHood (IL), Saxton (NJ), Young (AK), Pickering (MI), Renzi (AZ), Lewis (CA), Doolittle (CA), Young (FL), McHugh (NY), Regula (OH), Cubin (WY), and Jo Ann Davis (VA). To be fair not all of those names have comitted to retiring. But their fundraising efforts as well as their lack of organizing for reelection in most cases signals that most of those folks won't be in the 2008 race. That means the RNC and the RCCC are going to have to not only recruit top tier candidates for those seats (which is proving not so easy for the GOP these days) but also come up with a fairly large sum of cash to make those open seat elections competitive (also not so easy for the GOP these days).

Give the Democratic bench and the money advantages being established by the DCCC the outlook gets bleaker and bleaker for the GOP. And the traditional announcement month for retirements (September) hasn't even arrived yet.

John Doe, The Peanut Gallery (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 6:10 PM)

Another one bites the dust...and another's gone, and another one's gone...
They know Iraq's gonna kill em in the elections in the Fall, so they're jumping ship to make lotsa dough; Muslims look forward to seventy-two virgins, Christians want to see Jesus, and Republicans want to be in a lobbying firm on K St.

Class Warrior, D.C. (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 6:39 PM)

Sorry to disappoint the DailyKos crowd, but another Republican will win this seat.

Bo Revere, Meadville, Miss. (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 7:08 PM)

Maybe the RNC could try filling some of those seats with conservatives instead of neocons; maybe even moderates. I think it is time to hire a PR firm to re-brand the franchise and start advertising the New Republican Party.

nuanced (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 7:19 PM)

Class Warrior: If so,you will find that the Republicans are going to find a very crowded K St.,which is not peopled by the lobbyists you think they are. Lets have a look. [Courtesy of the non-partisan Center For Responsive Politics at www.opensecrets.org and liberal journalist John Alterman,formerly of this network].

Mike McCurry [Clinton administration]
Mark Penn [Hillary Clinton campaign manager]
Bill Andersen[DLC]
Mike Berman[Clinton administration]
Joe Lockhart[Clinton Press Secretary]
Carter Eskew[Gore Campaign Manager]
Howard Wolfson[Hillary Clinton Senate campaign manager]
Jack Quinn[DNC]
Anthony Podesta[Clinton administration]
Jody Powell[Carter administration]
Joel Johnson[Clinton administration]
Leslie Dach[Clinton administration]
Phil Goldberg[Gore Campaign]

All of the above are still or have been lobbyists for ENRON,ATT,Sachs &Goldman,OCCIDENTAL OIL,Merck,In short:

Big Business
Big Oil
Big Drugs
Big Energy
Big Money

Think Hillary is still a good bet for a ''change''?

And one other thing. McCurry,as a telecommunications lobbyist,is going to attempt,with a new Democrat president /Congress, to ram through Internet usage surcharges for every e-mail you send or every minute you are on line. Happy Surfing.

Lee Holmes (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 7:29 PM)

Let them all go but the one the nation should have impeached is you know who b. He is dumb enough and so full of self, he doesn't have the brains to do so. I never voted for him and felt we were the laugh of the world when re-elected.

Dimples Monterey California (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 7:57 PM)

what a surprise...going to work for a lobbying firm!

Mark Y; Westlake Village, CA (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 7:58 PM)

Dropping like flies, and I'll bet there are more to come. Lying, rotten, stinken repubs.

F StLouis (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 9:04 PM)

the thing is, chip's going to be re-elected no matter what happens in Iraq or Washington - he's from a solid republican district in Mississippi.

The guy's got a job for life in the House & is heir-apparent to Lott when he retires - something else has GOT to be up here.

John Doe, Madison, MS (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 9:04 PM)

Another sign the dems will own the whitehouse and congress for the next 20-30 years.

mikeeg,abdn,wa (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 9:39 PM)

Chip Pickering has been a wonderful addition to the GOP Congressional Delegation of Mississippi. He will be sorely missed by both his constituents and Republicans across the state. I wish him well in the private sector and I look forward to being involved for his future campaign for U.S. Senator.

Jeff, Mississippi (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 9:42 PM)

Pickering is in a safe seat and easily would be re-elected...this is about earning money and nothing else. Lobbyists are lobbyist the republican-democrate label means little in D.C.

Whatever, D.C. (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 12:25 AM)

It's just no fun anymore for the Reepubs. There was a time when a Reepub congressman could say or do some really stupid thing and it would just be ignored by the press. Now that have to act like civil human beings and it's just too much darn stress.

No wonder they're packin' it in. The dang "Free for all of stupidity" is over.

God Bless

Steve Vandervort (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 2:11 AM)

Regarding Mississippi--HuffPo has an excellent article on how some of Gov. Barbour's family members' businesses have been profiting from Katrina recovery in that state.

Olivia (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 8:40 AM)

Democrats just don't get it. When the Democrats lost Congress in the '90's, not too many, not more then usual anyway, Democrats retired. The old "war-horses" never seem to quit. People like Kennedy and Byrd in the Senate, just can't bring themselves to leave. Sure, the Republicans have their fossils, like Strom Thurmond, who when they get too old, tend to forget they need to hang it up. Republicans clean house every decade or so - out with the old and in with the new - that is how they keep fresh and have fresh ideas. That is why the Democrats stay stagnant. Even Gingrich knew when it was his time to leave. The only way the Democrats seem to leave is when they get voted out of office.

Hard Right (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 8:58 AM)

Another one bites the dust.....

Amazed, Atlanta GA (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 8:59 AM)

Don't let the back door hit you where the Good Lord split you! Happy to see you go, sure hope your replacement has more sense than you did whether it is a republican or democrat.

Union Baby, Tennessee (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 9:43 AM)

Lee Holmes your wasting your breath.Hillary will win.

JeanneGA (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 10:05 AM)

Hard right, all hot air and desperate as hell.

bb (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 11:13 AM)

Hey, Jeff.

This "constituent" (McComb) won't miss Pickering, not one bit.

Jane Q Public (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 12:39 PM)

JeanneGA / wasting his breath is he, so are a hell of a bunch of other people then, hillary ain't going to buy her way into the white-house, why don't you copy lee holmes post over too hillary's web site, the truth is going to destroy hillary, as it should she is and always has been part of the problem in washington, we need change not more of the same

MK,MO (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 1:01 PM)

Screw the rats... who cares if they are 'offended'!

M. Boley (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 2:20 PM)

Several Democrat Congresscritters are also leaving Congress. Shall we use attribution bias and read something into that, as well?

Although individuals reasons may vary, this phenom is nothing unusual in any session of Congress.

...and members from both parties quite often end upon K Street or working for the companies that K Street represents.

With Congressional approval ratings at an all time low, we may see more than the usual amount of turnover during this election cycle.

All that can be said with any certainty at this point is that change is in the air.

Warren Bonesteel (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 2:29 PM)

Ollie is signing off for the week. All of you have a good safe week end. Talk to you Monday. All of you good Dems, especially you Susan, Miami, keep up the good work. All of you Repubs, please study up and get a little smarter. Okay?

Ollie frenchburg ky (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 3:44 PM)

"Sorry to disappoint the DailyKos crowd, but another Republican will win this seat. " You BushCo associates are very big on predictions - and never right.

Welcomed as liberators (Sent Friday, August 17, 2007 3:57 PM)

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