On Tuesday, the NFL announced that a former aide to Vice President Joe Biden will be the league’s top lobbyist as the league has reels from Ray Rice’s domestic abuse video and Adrian Peterson’s child abuse allegations.
Cynthia Hogan, the former “Deputy Assistant to the President and Counsel to the Vice President of the United States,” was named the league’s “Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs.” She helped coordinate the Obama administration’s gun control efforts and was on the Senate team that helped pass the Violence Against Women Act.
“The complex and compelling issues of interest to the NFL and the opportunity to help shape policy on those issues is a unique and exciting challenge,” Hogan said in a statement. “I could not be more excited about joining the NFL team.”
Hogan will be based in the NFL’s D.C. office and “will develop and implement the league’s public policy and legislative initiatives and work with NFL teams on local and state issues.”
On Monday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hired four prominent female “senior advisers” to help the league with its domestic violence policies as women’s group like the National Organization for Women have called for his resignation. On Tuesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said she will introduce a bill to revoke the NFL’s anti-trust exemption because the league allows Washington to use the Redskins nickname.
Paul Hicks, the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, said Hogan’s “broad experience on a wide-range of public policy issues will help advance our initiatives in Washington and around the country.”
Hogan was also on the team that helped confirm Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.