LegiStorm

A staffer is improving his credit rating by leaving Rep. Collin Peterson's (D-Minn.) office for a private government relations job.

Richard Lee is now government-relations director at Equifax after a decade with Peterson. The credit reporting agency has dropped a little more than $1.5 million on federal lobbying in the last year.

Lee joined Peterson's office in 2011 and left as a legislative assistant.

A committee staffer has turned her Senate experience into a new gig with the American Psychological Association.

Sophie Friedl started last week at the professional organization, where she is director of congressional and federal affairs for military and veterans health policy.

Friedl spent the last couple years on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. She was most recently a professional staff member under ranking member Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

After working for a string of southern Democrats, a retired Marine is now saluting to the private sector.

David Ogle is now legislative and policy director at With Honor, which aims to help elect military veterans. The group's lobbying work covers labor, veterans and government issues.

Ogle comes from the office of Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.), where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked for Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.).

The pandemic hasn't stopped one member from holding several in-person town halls today.

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) is holding three town halls throughout this morning and afternoon, according to his office. Two are indoors and capped at 30 participants, while the remaining event was held outside. Wisconsin reported 922 new coronavirus cases yesterday.

Grothman, who has seemingly flouted House rules on mask wearing, made headlines last month for speaking at the Wisconsin Republican convention, where he appeared without a mask and coughed "uncontrollably," the New York Daily News reported. He blamed a dry throat.

Grothman isn't the first member to hold an in-person town hall since the start of the pandemic. But he appears to be the first to hold a town hall gathering constituents indoors in a part of the country affected by the virus.

Last month, Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.) held an in-person "drive-in" town hall, where participants listened to the event via radio from inside their cars. Aumua Amata, American Samoa's non-voting congressional delegate, also held an in-person event last week. American Samoa, where the event took place, has experienced zero coronavirus cases as of last week.

An aide to Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) has steered her career off of the Hill and into the auto industry.

Lila Nieves-Lee joined Autos Drive America as vice president of government affairs this week. Previously Here for America, the trade-focused industry group rebranded itself as Autos Drive America earlier in the month. The group lobbies on trade and automotive issues on behalf of foreign automakers who have presences in this country. Sen. Scott's home state of South Carolina is heavily dependent on auto-industry jobs, especially those involving foreign manufacturers.

Nieves-Lee was a legislative assistant to Scott and staff director to his Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection Subcommittee to the Senate Banking Committee. Her experience also includes time as director of congressional affairs for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.