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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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A Laurel newspaper will close its doors this Thursday. File Photo

Former U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Mississippi, has joined the lobbyist firm Capital Resources, after opting not to run for re-election last year. Associated Press is reporting that Pickering’s former chief of staff Susan Butler and former legislative director Mary Martha Henson are joining him at Capital Resources.

[From AP] JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Former U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering has taken a job with Capitol Resources, a lobbying firm with offices in Jackson and Washington, D.C.
The 45-year-old Republican retired from Congress earlier this month. He was elected to represent a central Mississippi congressional district in 1996 and chose not to run again in 2008.

Capitol Resources announced Friday that Pickering; his former chief of staff, Susan Butler; and his former legislative director, Mary Martha Henson, have joined the firm.
Pickering has a one-year ban on lobbying Congress, but he can lobby federal agencies. He is expected to do most of his work in Washington.

Capitol Resources is the highest-grossing lobbying firm in Mississippi. One of its top officers is Henry Barbour, a nephew of Republican Gov. Haley Barbour.

Previous Comments

Not surprised.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.