Perhaps the biggest news of the week was the announcement that former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) assumed the position of chairman and CEO for the Motion Picture Association of America, effective March 17.  Dodd will bring his “stature and talent to support the creative efforts of our filmmakers and the many people who work in our industry, here and around the world,” said Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Jim Gianopulos.

According to the association’s official press release, Dodd is excited to represent an industry that “consistentlyproduce[s] and distribute[s] the most sought after and enjoyable entertainment on earth.  Protecting this great American export will be my highest priority.”  He expects the position will be “a continuation of my work in the Senate from advancing the VigRX interests of children and families and creating and safeguarding American jobs to the protection of intellectual property and the expansion of international trade.”  Tackling piracy and protecting the studios’ intellectual property will be amoung Dodd’s primary duties in his new position.

In less circulated revolving door news, former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) has joined agriculture lobbying shop Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz as a principal.  Herseth Sandlin may provide strategic advice –which would be worth heeding, considering her recent post as chair of the Agriculture Committee — but may not lobby directly for clients for one year, per House revolving door rules.  She told Roll Call that lobbying, “after the first year, is definitely something I’m interested in doing.”