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Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Sept. 30, 2019
The country's biggest lobbying group has added a Senate Finance aide.
Alex Monié joined Akin Gump as a policy analyst earlier this month. The law firm brought in more than $37.7 million in federal lobbying income in 2018.
He comes from Chuck Grassley's (R-Iowa) Finance Committee, where he served as professional staff. Monié has also worked for Rep. Glen Higgins (R-La.), the House Ways and Means Committee and former Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).
Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Sept. 27, 2019
An aide to Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) has moved to one of the country's largest health lobbying groups.
Mia Keeys is now director for health-equity policy and advocacy at the American Medical Association. In the last year, the professional group has disclosed that it spent more than $20 million on federal lobbying alone.
Keeys most recently served as Kelly's health-policy adviser.
Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Sept. 24, 2019
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), one of two members sworn into the House last week, has hired his top aide straight from the oil and gas industry.
Peter Barnes, now Bishop's chief of staff, most recently worked as manager for state and local outreach at the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
The trade group has spent nearly $3.4 million on federal lobbying in the last year. Barnes did not register as a federal lobbyist, although he's reportedly engaged in state advocacy work on several issues for AFPM.
Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Sept. 23, 2019
A former GOP congressman has newly registered as a lobbyist — the third to do so in the last ten days.
Jeff Denham (Calif.) is lobbying through K&L Gates on behalf of PPG Industries. He's working on "customs and enforcement issues in Russia" for the Fortune 500 company, according to a recent filing. The Pennsylvania-based paint and coatings supplier has two administrative facilities and three manufacturing plants in Russia, including a $49 million facility completed in 2017 in Lipetsk.
Denham joined K&L Gates as a government-affairs counselor earlier this year after losing his 2018 reelection bid.
Denham joins former Reps. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) and John Culberson (R-Texas) as the newest ex-members to file as federal lobbyists. Meehan recently registered as a lobbyist on tariff issues for Almo Corp., a Pennsylvania wholesaler, while Culberson registered on behalf of a pair of tech companies and an oil-and-gas firm.
Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Sept. 20, 2019
A Swiss software company has added a Republican Senate aide to its team.
Chase Kassel is now government relations manager at Acronis. Before joining the company, which develops cloud and on-premises software, he worked as a legislative liaison for Martha McSally (R-Ariz.). Acronic maintains a good relationship with McSally's office, hosting the senator at a launch event next month and having hosted Kassel in a ribbon-cutting ceremony last summer.
He's also worked for the House Science Committee and as political director to McSally's Senate campaign.
We spend a large part of our days looking at data. Documents often come in by the dozens and hundreds. And while most are boring - how interesting can staring at a phone directory or salary records be, for example? - we find daily reasons for interest, amusement or even concern packed in the documents. So we are launching a new running feature that we call "Caught our Eye."
Longer than tweets but shorter than most blog posts, Caught our Eye items will bring back the interest in reviewing documents and researching people. Some items might bring hard, breaking news. Others will raise eyebrows and lead some into further inquiry. Others might be good for a joke or two around the water cooler. All will enlighten about the people or workings of Capitol Hill.
Caught our Eye items will be published each morning for LegiStorm Pro subscribers. Non-Pro site users will be able to receive the news items a few hours later. In addition to having immediate access to the news, LegiStorm Pro users will have a handy way to search and browse all past items.
