LegiStorm

Personal financial disclosures provide important information about members' assets, debts and potential conflicts of interest. But for outgoing Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), filing an annual disclosure hasn't been a priority this year.

Members' annual reports are due on May 15 each year. Members have the option to file for an extension that allows them to delay their filings until Aug. 13. Brady and Meijer are the only two members who have yet to file their 2022 annual disclosures, according to a LegiStorm review. Each filed for an extension in May.

It's normal for members to file for an extension — 201 representatives and 36 senators did so this year. But flouting the extended deadline for months is far less commonplace. At this time last year, all members had filed their annual disclosures. Reps. John Rose (R-Tenn.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) were the last to file, each submitting their report on Sept. 12, 2021. Brady and Meijer each submitted their reports on the Aug. 13 extended due date last year. 

Neither of this year's non-filers will return to Congress next session: Brady is retiring at the end of this term, while Meijer lost his primary.

Some 11 representatives filed reports more than 30 days after the extended deadline this year, with the latest — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) — filing her report on Sept. 17. No senators filed their reports after Aug. 13.

Ex-Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.V.) made his first official pass through the revolving door last week, when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce registered him as an official lobbyist. But for his employer, the registration marked an even bigger milestone: This is the first time the U.S. Chamber has counted a former member among its massive in-house lobbying team in at least 22 years.

The Chamber, D.C.'s largest lobbying presence by money spent, keeps nearly 90 lobbyists on its staff at a given time and disclosed spending nearly $78 million on its federal program in the last year.

Jenkins is lobbying on a host of issues for the Chamber, according to a recent filing. It's the first disclosure to show a former member working as a Chamber in-house lobbyist since at least 2000, when LegiStorm's complete lobbying data begins. Ex-members have occasionally lobbied for the Chamber through contracts with external firms.

Jenkins resigned his House seat in 2018 after losing a primary bid for Senate and accepting an appointment to West Virginia's supreme court. He joined the Chamber last month as the organization's head congressional lobbyist.

After ten years working for the Senate, a senior aide to Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) has a new job in federal relations.

Mackensie McKernan is now assistant vice president of federal relations for the University of Tennessee System. The university system lobbies on a host of appropriations issues.

McKernan spent the last five years as legislative director to Boozman, who sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee and chairs the Agriculture Committee. She's also worked for then-Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

One of Rep. David Rouzer's (R-N.C.) longest-serving staffers has moved to FTI Consulting.

The business-advisory firm added Ian Whitson this month as a senior director for government affairs. FTI brought in more than $4.5 million in federal lobbying revenue in the last year and counts the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and cryptocurrency company Tether Operations among its biggest clients.

Whitson had worked for Rouzer's office since 2015 and worked his way up from staff assistant to legislative director.

When Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) bragged during a Financial Services Committee hearing about one of his staffers moving to Bank of America, fellow committee member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was quick to call out the congressman on Twitter. What AOC probably doesn't know is that the banking giant had also quietly picked up a Democratic staffer from the House Small Business Committee around the same time.

Matt Gómez is now a BoA senior vice president for federal public policy. He spent his congressional career working for Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), most recently as senior counsel to her Small Business Committee.

BoA also hired then-Hollingsworth staffer Sruthi Prabhu to its federal relations team in September, prompting Ocasio-Cortez's criticism of congressional aides passing through revolving door. The bank disclosed spending just under $1.7 million on its federal lobbying program in the last year.