LegiStorm

Former Rep. and Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) has registered his first federal lobbying clients.

Through the Peterson Group, the ex-congressman is lobbying on agricultural issues for the Kansas Livestock Association and the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, according to a pair of recent disclosures.

The Peterson Group disclosed its first lobbying clients earlier this year but did not list the former congressman among its registered lobbyists.

Peterson served 30 years in the House until losing his 2020 reelection bid to now-Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.). He launched his eponymous agricultural consulting firm last year.

Elliot Peterson, the congressman's son and longtime campaign treasurer, and Allison Stock, his former congressional chief of staff, make up the rest of the Peterson Group's lobbying team.

A Senate Commerce attorney has found a new home with Airbnb.

Alex Kiles is now senior counsel for policy for the vacation-rental-marketplace company. Airbnb lobbies on issues ranging from privacy, to taxes, to housing U.S. Forest Service firefighters.

Kiles was most recently investigative counsel and policy adviser to Senate Commerce Democrats. He's also worked for the House Oversight Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

In a sign of the times, the Human Milk Banking Association of North America has hired its first lobbyists.

The organization, which accredits nonprofit milk banks in the U.S. and Canada, hired the Raben Group amid the infant-formula crisis. The team is lobbying on the Donor Milk Safety Act and other milk-bank and donor-milk issues, according to a recent disclosure.

This appears to be the first lobbying filing to address the formula shortage, according to a LegiStorm review of disclosures. But it's unlikely to be the only lobbying work on the issue: Lobbyists have until July 20 to disclose what issues they're working on in the second quarter and 45 days from the start of a contract to disclose work with new clients.

House Republicans edged out Democrats in first-quarter staffer pay, thanks to a bigger pay bump among GOP personal offices.

House Republicans averaged 6 percent higher pay per staffer than in the same time period last year, according to LegiStorm data. House Democrats averaged a 3 percent increase.

Full-time Republican staffers took home an average 2022 Q1 salary rate of $70,280 per year. Democrats had an average salary rate of $69,440, which works out to $210 per quarter less than Republicans.

A year before, Republicans paid an average annualized rate of $66,372, compared to $67,432 for Democrats — or $265 per quarter more for Democratic staffers.

In March, Congress authorized a 21 percent increase to the House's office budgets for 2022. That increase was intended to bolster staffer pay in hopes of attracting and retaining talent. Second-quarter salaries, which the House is due to publish by late August, will likely reflect further-increased pay rates for both parties.

A GOP House Oversight Committee staffer has plugged into a new government-affairs job.

Stephen Gordon joined the National Electrical Manufacturers Association this month as a government-affairs director. The trade group disclosed spending $1.7 million on its federal lobbying program in the last year for work ranging from chemical regulation, to health-care technology, to tariffs.

Gordon was most recently a senior professional staff member under Oversight Committee ranking member James Comer (R-Ky.). He's also served as director in the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Public Engagement and worked as a U.S. Chamber of Commerce manager.