Where gray hair is a plus

Over the years, lobbying has largely stayed focused on relationships. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

Think you need to be in your 20s to launch a hot startup?

Not on Capitol Hill.

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In Washington, it actually pays to be in your 60s when you’re starting a new business — at least on K Street.

Take Sens. John Breaux, a Democrat, and Trent Lott, a Republican. The longtime friends and former staff members in the House during the ’60s are a classic example of the well-worn path lawmakers, Capitol Hill aides and administration officials take to launch a second career well past what other industries would consider their prime.

When they launched their firm about five years ago, the pair quickly became K Street titans, drawing some of the biggest retainers downtown before selling their boutique firm in 2010 to lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs.

Now 69, Breaux tells POLITICO he has no plans to retire in the near future.

“I’ve got kids and grandkids,” Breaux joked about his desire to keep working. But more seriously, Breaux said, continuing to work after retiring from Congress to advocate for clients was a natural transition and that age shouldn’t impede people from continuing to work.

“It’s fortunate people can be judged on their abilities and not an arbitrary number. I don’t think arbitrary numbers make much sense,” he said.

The Louisiana Democrat is hardly alone. Breaux joins the ranks of a veritable army of older lobbyists who maintain senior slots at trade associations, corporations, lobby shops and law firms.

An aging K Street has continued to boom even as middle-age and older Americans in other industries, such as manufacturing and business, have struggled to maintain relevance in the changing economy. Nearly half the 3.5 million jobless Americans are 45 or older, and the number of those unemployed for more than a year has quadrupled since 2007, according to recent Department of Labor statistics.

In part, the trend in Washington isn’t necessarily all that surprising — unlike many constantly evolving sectors like tech, lobbying has largely stayed focused on relationships, and securing business is often based on whom you know, not always subject matter expertise.

Veteran lobbyist Tom Quinn, who started lobbying in 1967, said he is better than ever at the political game.

“I’m probably at the top of my game. Business is good. My judgment is better,” Quinn said.

Industry insiders peg the number of older lobbyists to several factors, including people in general working longer , more companies and firms doing away with mandatory retirement ages and a flexible work environment that allows senior contract lobbyists to maintain a practice with only a few clients.

Veteran headhunter Nels Olson said that when he started in the business, it was much harder for candidates in their later 50s and 60s to find roles on the corporate side.

“I think just given the changing demographics in this day and age, there are many individuals well into their 60s in some of the top jobs,” Olson said. “We are also seeing it in some of the top association roles.”

The majority of lobbyists are over the age of 45 and have worked in the industry for more than 15 years, according to the 2012 Congressional Communications Report released by The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management and other groups that surveyed more than 2,200 lobbyists.

Examples of 60-plus lobbyists are everywhere. From high-profile association heads like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Tom Donohue to the Distilled Spirits Council’s Peter Cressy to contract lobbyists like Charlie Black at Prime Policy Group and Jim Blanchard at DLA Piper.

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Where gray hair is a plus