The new GOP whip let a lobbyist sit in on job interviews for his staff

Steve Scalise, the new House Majority Whip (R-LA), let a lobbyist sit in during his office's job interviews for potential staffers, report Politico's Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman. The lobbyist — John Feehery of Quinn Gillespie & Associates, a former House GOP aide — participated in the interviews as well. "Several ethics lawyers and current and former leadership aides said they have never heard of a similar arrangement," the authors write. The interviews were to fill the role of communications director. Head over to Politico for the whole story.

It may seem a rather tone-deaf start to the Scalise era, but he could be sending exactly the message he wants to send — to lobbyists. When Scalise took over the House Republican Study Committee at the end of 2012, a staffer there had recently written a report advocating copyright reform — a report the committee quickly retracted after pressure from industry. On taking over, Scalise let the staffer go, reportedly at the request of lobbyists.

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