Sen. Gary Peters is slated to represent Michigan on Capitol Hill for another five months. He’s already eyeing new opportunities on the West Coast.
A Senate ethics document reviewed by NOTUS indicates that Peters, a two-term Senate Democrat who isn’t seeking reelection this year, is negotiating employment with the University of Southern California.
The negotiations began on June 3, according to the ethics document, which Peters signed the same day.
Peters’ office confirmed that the senator “is having conversations about potential opportunities once he completes his Senate term.”
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“He is following all Senate rules regarding future employment opportunities,” the office told NOTUS in a statement. “There are no additional details to share at this time.”
Senate ethics rules in part mandate that senators “must avoid not only an actual conflict of interest, but also the appearance of a conflict between their duties to the Senate and the interests of the prospective employers with whom they are negotiating.”
Representatives for the University of Southern California did not respond to phone and email messages requesting comment.
It’s unclear what kind of job Peters is seeking with the university or where he’d be located.
In addition to its main campus in Los Angeles, the University of South California has a “Capital Campus” in Washington, D.C., with a mission to “accelerate our influence and impact, promote and develop strong leaders, and forge critical partnerships to address the nation’s most pressing issues and opportunities.”
It also has a sizable government relations operation, which typically spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on federal-level lobbying efforts.
This year alone, the University of Southern California has lobbied several government agencies, Congress and the White House on a variety of topics, ranging from higher education policy to national security and defense research, according to federal records.
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