LegiStorm

Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.V.) newest hire is a former K Street lobbyist.

Sam Lane joined the senator's office from Prime Policy Group, where he was most recently research and communications manager. He'd worked for the bipartisan lobbying firm since graduating from Texas Christian University in 2016. Prime brought in $7 million in federal lobbying revenue last year.

Lane is now a legislative assistant handling energy, environment and natural resources for Manchin, chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

A Democratic subcommittee staffer is ready for his next pass through the revolving door.

Ben Kallen is now senior manager for public policy and advocacy at SEMI. The trade association, which focuses on semiconductors and other electronics, employs a small in-house lobbying team that works mainly on tax issues.

Kallen was most recently a professional staff member to the House Science Committee's Energy Subcommittee, which Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) chaired last session. Kallen previously worked as a lobbyist at Lewis-Burke Associates.

For one Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee staffer, a new health-insurance gig is just what the doctor ordered.

Tripp Adams is now director for federal affairs at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The health-insurnace giant spent almost $6 million on its federal lobbying program last year.

Adams spent the last couple years working for the HELP Committee's Republican side, most recently as a health professional staff member. He's also worked for then-Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.).

A decade-high number of organizations outsourced their lobbying efforts last year, underscoring the importance of K Street as more groups look to influence the federal government.

More than 13,000 organizations contracted out at least some of their federal lobbying work to outside firms in 2022, according to LegiStorm data. That's the most since 2009, when 13,600 organizations turned to external lobbying groups. The number of lobbying clients has grown steadily since 2016, when a quarter fewer (9,600) organizations hired lobbying firms.

First-time lobbying clients have driven much of that growth. But an increased number of organizations that employ their own in-house lobbying teams are also choosing to diversify their efforts by contracting out some of their lobbying work to outside firms.

Despite K Street's growth, the number of organizations with in-house lobbying teams has remained relatively stagnant - Only 2,700 organizations employed their own in-house lobbying teams last year, compared to 2,500 a decade before.

We turned to ChatGPT, the wildly popular new artificial intelligence tool, to generate our Caught our Eye today. We asked, "Write a short news article about a fictitious freshman congressman named Jorge Schmantos making a big announcement after a media circus caused by dozens of news reports over the course of several weeks about numerous fabrications in the jobs he had, his education details and where he got the money for his campaign." Here's what it generated:

Freshman Congressman Jorge Schmantos announced today that he will be resigning from his position, following a media circus surrounding allegations of fabrications in his background and campaign funding.

In a statement, Schmantos acknowledged that he had been dishonest about his qualifications and experience, and that the sources of his campaign funding were not as he had previously represented. He apologized for his actions and the negative impact they have had on his constituents and the community.

Schmantos' resignation will take effect immediately, and the governor of the state will call a special election to fill the vacancy.

The incident has sparked a broader conversation about the importance of transparency and honesty in political campaigns, and the need for voters to carefully evaluate the backgrounds and qualifications of candidates running for office.