Former House Speaker Harold Brubaker (R-Randolph) is giving up his seat in the legislature but he won’t be leaving the halls of the General Assembly. The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee announced this morning he would retire. But an official in the current House Speaker’s office says Brubaker will become a lobbyist. By law he has to wait six months, which is just in time for the next session of the legislature in January.
It is part of a new alignment of lobbying in Raleigh as those close to Republicans sense a new balance of power coming for the GOP for the next ten years in the General Assembly and possibly in the Governor’s office. It brought back former Republican lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate Patrick Balantine who was lobbying for clients in the recent legislative session.
Current House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) released a statment on Brubaker’s retirement.
“In my experience as a House member and now as Speaker, no one has earned the level of respect that Rep. Brubaker has. He is my mentor, a trusted colleague, and a dear friend. His presence will be irreplacable in our instritution, and I wish him all the best in the future.”
The Republican Party in Randolph County will come up with someone to fill out Brubaker’s term in the House.
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