LegiStorm

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) has hired yet another chief of staff - the fifth to serve her office since last summer.

Before joining the office as Granger's first in command, Krister Holladay was a lobbyist for United Technologies Corp., now a part of Raytheon Technologies. He previously served as chief of staff to ex-Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and legislative director to ex-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

After then-chief Spencer Freebairn departed Granger's office for Raytheon in June 2019, the congresswoman hired Steve Moffitt (now chief to Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.)) and Catherine Knowles (now at the Alzheimer's Association) for the position. They lasted about two months and one month, repectively. Jordon Sims held the post from November until returning to Imperium Global Advisors in March.

Granger currently has the highest staff turnover rate in Congress, according to LegiStorm data.

A GOP aide who's worked his way through the public sector has moved to the American Telemedicine Association.

Kyle Zebley is now public-policy director for the nonprofit, which lobbies mainly on health-care issues.

He comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Global Affairs, where he was chief of staff. He previously was legislative director to ex-Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.). Zebley left the Hill for the department in 2017, around the time Price was appointed HHS secretary.

The pandemic may have brought much of the U.S. economy to a standstill, but one particular business is booming - lobbying.

Last quarter saw the most lobbying activity of any second quarter in nine years, according to LegiStorm data. Lobbyists disclosed a total of 20,963 federal contracts from April through June. That's a three percent increase over the 20,328 filings from last year's second quarter.

The number of Q2 contracts shrank annually from 22,299 in 2011 to 18,074 in 2016 and has grown each year since. Of course, many hundreds of contracts this year have explicitly listed COVID-19 among their lobbying issues. But trade and tariff lobbying also represented a sizable proportion of filings, with 2,034 mentions versus 2,029 in 2019 Q2.

Big Pharma has added another Hill staffer to its ranks.

John Deoudes, who comes from the office of Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas), is now director of federal government affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb. The pharmaceutical company dropped $4.1 million on federal lobbying last year.

Deoudes had worked for Marchant since 2011, most recently as legislative director.

Biometrics and COVID-19 have combined to make a lobbyist out of former Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska).

Begich is one of seven Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck lobbyists working for Secure Identity. The tech company owns biometrics software CLEAR, used to confirm identity at airports and event venues. Secure Identity has contracted lobbying work to Brownstein since 2017. Begich is the only new addition to the contract, which includes firm founding member Norm Brownstein. 

Begich is lobbying on aviation issues related to COVID-19 relief and biometric identification. The ex-senator originally joined the law firm after leaving office in 2015. He left in 2018 to run for Alaska governor and rejoined the firm early last year as a strategic consulting adviser.