WASHINGTON — After 33 years as a lobbyist for the American Bankers Association, Peter Blocklin is retiring from trade group.
Blocklin, who has managed Senate relations for the ABA, will not be exiting the political arena entirely. He plans to open a small consulting firm called Rotunda Strategies.
Blocklin "helped us come out victorious in too many battles to name," James Ballentine, the ABA's executive vice president for congressional relations and political affairs, said in an email to staff on Thursday. "Pete has always been reliable, dependable and yes, oftentimes remarkable in his ability to make the argument 'make sense.'"
In an interview, Blocklin lamented how divided the political parties have become, but said he still expects there will be
"There's still a lot of overhang over Dodd-Frank, and I would think that they could get together and initially agree that there are plenty of technical things that have to be changed … and hopefully move forward together in a bipartisan fashion," he said. "The elections are decided, and what we need is to take a look at things that may not have worked as well, as opposed to complete repeal. That's not going to happen."
