LegiStorm

A longtime House Appropriations Committee staffer has made his first moves as a lobbyist.

Darren Benjamin registered as a lobbyist for the National Indian Health Board through Virginia-based Relation Strategy. He's working on health-care programs for American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, per a recent filing.

Benjamin spent the last 13 years with House Appropriations Republicans, most recently as professional staff to the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee. He originally came to the committee as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services detailee and was later a Department of the Interior detailee to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A former Silicon Valley CEO is the Ukrainian government's latest U.S. foreign agent.

Andrey Liscovich is lobbying the federal government to help Ukraine to purchase "non-lethal military equipment," according to recent Department of Justice filings. The registration also included a copy of a letter, signed by the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, asking for help in procuring more SpaceX Starlink terminals for Ukrainian internet access. He's doing the work for free, per the disclosures.

Liscovich hails from Ukraine and was CEO of Uber Works, an Uber app that helped shift workers find short-term jobs, until its dissolution in May 2020. Liscovich has since returned to his hometown of Zaporizhzhia, home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant. There, he runs a supply-chain operation to support the Ukrainian military against the Russian invasion.

Fast-fashion behemoth SHEIN has hired its first Washington lobbyists.

Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Ventures and Akin Gump are representing the company's U.S.-based SHEIN Technology group, according to a pair of disclosures filed yesterday.

Both lobbying firms are working for the company on unspecified "legislative and regulatory issues impacting the apparel industry and e-retailers, including trade and tax related matters," as well as the company's "presence, operating footprint, and economic impact in the United States." Hobart Hallaway & Quayle's lobbying team includes Rep.-turned-firm partner Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), son of former Vice President Dan Quayle (R).

This is the first time that SHEIN has disclosed any federal lobbying work. The Chinese fast-fashion e-commerce company was valued at $100 billion earlier this year and is reportedly planning to create its first U.S. distribution centers to reduce shipping times to American consumers.

A former Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) staffer has moved to a dark-money-funded environmental group.

Camila Thorndike started this month as director of policy programs at Rewiring America, a nonprofit aimed at mitigating climate change through decarbonization. Rewiring America is a project of the Windward Fund, a left-wing environmental funding group that's a part of the Arabella Advisors dark-money network.

Thorndike was mostly recently a legislative assistant handling Sanders' energy and environment portfolio. Her work for the senator focused mainly on the Build Back Better Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Of the funds that the House's personal offices pay to outside vendors, millions go to the federal government each year, according to a LegiStorm review.

In the first half of this year, member offices disclosed over $52.6 million in expenses to outside vendors. Federal government agencies received more than $8.4 million, or 16 percent.

Of that, the U.S. Postal Service received over $7.6 million for members' franked mailings to constituents. The U.S. General Services Administration made nearly $600,000, mainly for renting out federal buildings for congressional district offices. The Department of Homeland Security, Government Publishing Office and Architect of the Capitol also received payments from member offices.

Personal-office spending directed to other areas of the federal government has consistently grown each election year since at least 2016, when LegiStorm's complete data on vendor expenses begins.