Republican former Kansas Congressman Steve Watkins, first elected to the House in 2018 and then defeated in the 2020 primary after he was caught voting in the wrong district in a 2019 Topeka municipal election and lied about it to a Shawnee County detective in an interview, is still working on Capitol Hill despite having admitted guilt for the crime, the Kansas City Star reports.
The loophole? Registering as a lobbyist in DC requires applicants to check a box on a form that they haven’t been convicted of “bribery, extortion, embezzlement, an illegal kickback, tax evasion, fraud, a conflict of interest, making a false statement, perjury, or money laundering,” and Watkins, the smooth operator he is, only admitted guilt in a pre-trial diversion agreement, leaving him free to collect a paycheck representing moneyed interests to his former colleagues.