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Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 30, 2019
Rep. Jim Banks's (R-Ind.) newest hire is no stranger to conservative politics. He's the son of Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Buckley Carlson began this month as a special assistant in the congressman's D.C. office.
Buckley, a 2019 graduate of the University of Virginia, is one of four children of the outspoken television host and a former communications intern in Donald Trump's White House.
Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 29, 2019
Last quarter saw the most lobbying activity of any second quarter in eight years.
Lobbyists disclosed a total of 20,850 federal contracts from April through June, an increase of more than six percent over last year's filings during the same time period.
The number of Q2 contracts shrank annually from 22,299 in 2011 to 18,074 in 2016 and has grown each year since. Lobbying on trade and tariff issues account for some of the largest increases, with an increase of 54 percent since last year. Last quarter marked the all-time highest number of contracts on those issues, which have soared in the time since President Trump announced that the U.S. would impose tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 26, 2019
A top aide to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) has shipped off to a manufacturer in his ex-boss's home district.
Bollinger Shipyards added Geoffrey Green as vice president of government affairs this month. The vessel builder mainly lobbies Congress on defense issues and is currently Scalise's second-largest campaign contributor for this election cycle.
Green, who most recently served as Scalise's legislative director, has also worked for Sen. John Kennedy and retired Sen. David Vitter, both Louisiana Republicans.
Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 25, 2019
The newest addition to the Peace Corps' congressional relations team has an unusual bulletpoint on his resume: He's a former NRA lobbyist.
Scott Rausch started earlier this month as a Peace Corps deputy director for congressional relations. He most recently served as legislative director to Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.).
Before coming on board with the congressman's office in 2017, Rausch spent two years as a state legislative liaison at the NRA, where he registered as a Wisconsin state lobbyist. He's also worked for former Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and for the Wisconsin state legislature.
Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 24, 2019
A Republican committee aide is making another pass through the revolving door.
Steve Gonzalez joins Career Education Colleges and Universities as vice president of government relations and executive director of the organization's Veterans for Career Education. The trade group represents the interests of for-profit schools.
Gonzalez, who plans to register as a CECU lobbyist, also lobbied for the American Legion before joining the House Budget Committee in 2015. He most recently served as senior policy adviser the committee under Ranking Member Steve Womack (R-Ark.).
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.
