Butterfield leaving Congress a few days early for DC law firm

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, who was already leaving Congress at the end of this term, will check out a few days early to take a new job at a Washington, D.C., law firm, he said Friday.

Butterfield's term would have ended automatically with the swearing in of a new Congress Tuesday, but his resignation is effective at midnight Saturday, the congressman said by phone Friday morning.

"I'm beginning a new job tomorrow," he said Friday.

Butterfield on Friday declined to name the law firm he'll join, saying he expected an announcement over the weekend.

On Tuesday, after this article was originally published, McGuireWoods Consulting said Butterfield had joined the firm as a senior advisor in its Washington, D.C., office. 

Butterfield said he plans to do lobbying and policy work, though there's a one-year cooling off period before he can lobby Congress itself. Butterfield said he expects to lobby the executive branch before then.

The congressman called his time in the House "18 years of adventure," but said the logistics and time demands of serving in Congress — and the constant press to fundraise for re-election campaigns — wore on him.

"It's another phase of my professional life, so I'm looking forward to it," he said of the new job. "It will be a slower pace."