LegiStorm

Former Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) is the latest ex-member of Congress to officially pass through the revolving door.

Byrne is lobbying through law firm Adams and Reese on behalf of seven clients, all based in Alabama: Baldwin County; the cities of Mobile, Foley and Daphne; Troy University; and defense contractors Radiance Technologies and Torch Technologies.

Byrne left the House at the end of last term following a failed Senate bid. He joined Adams and Reese as a special counsel shortly after and is newly eligible to lobby the House under ethics rules.

The United Nations has condemned the Judge Rotenberg Center for torture, thanks to its ongoing use of electroshock on disabled children and adults. Now, former Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) has registered as a first-time lobbyist for the Massachusetts facility.

King is working for the center through law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, where he works as special counsel. The JRC is a day and residential school for those with autism, developmental disabilities and "emotional [disturbances]," according to its website.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture reported in 2013 that the JRC's use of electroshock violated the UN Convention Against Torture and called for an investigation into the practices. Although the Food and Drug Administration tried to ban the practice in 2020, the Washington D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ban last summer and ruled that the JRC could continue to shock its residents.

The JRC "is believed to be the only school in the world that routinely inflicts high-powered electric shocks as a form of punishment on vulnerable children and adults," the Guardian reported in 2018.

King, alongside ex-Rep. and veteran lobbyist Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), is lobbying the House on the center's behalf. They're working on education appropriations and unspecified "education and [health-care] policy related to people with disabilities," according to a pair of recent disclosures. King retired from Congress at the end of last term, making him newly eligible to lobby the House under ethics rules.

Rep. Jim Baird's (R-Ind.) chief of staff has landed at Bose Public Affairs Group.

Quincy Cunningham started last week as vice president in the firm's Indianapolis office, where he's working on government relations and strategic communications. The firm's federal lobbying clients include the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Before serving as Baird's chief of staff, he worked for Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.) as a special-projects manager.

Sen. Jerry Moran's (R-Kan.) top military staffer has moved to a defense contractor's government-affairs team.

Scott Nulty started with Shield AI, which develops drones and autonomy software, as a government-relations manager earlier this month. The firm spent just shy of $1 million on federal lobbying in 2021, the same year that it kicked off its in-house lobbying efforts.

Nulty was most recently Moran's military legislative assistant. He's also worked for Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.).

When former D.C. Council Member Michael Brown (Independent) recently registered as a lobbyist after years of inactivity, he joined the ranks of a growing handful of lobbyists with bribery and other certain convictions to their names.

Since Jan. 3, 2019, the Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act has required lobbyists to report any federal or state convictions for offenses involving bribery, extortion, embezzlement, illegal kickbacks, tax evasion, fraud, conflicts of interest, making false statements, perjury or money-laundering.

Brown is one of 11 lobbyists to have disclosed convictions under the JACK Act, named for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. After years as a lobbyist and councilmember, Brown pleaded guilty to felony bribery charges in 2013 and was sentenced to 39 months in federal prison. He's now lobbying on budget issues for Virginia Union University, a historically black school.

Other noteworthy lobbyists with conviction disclosures since the JACK Act's passage include former Rep. Larry Smith (D-Fla.), as well as Albert Pirro, a former Donald Trump real-estate lawyer and the ex-husband of Fox News co-host Jeanine Pirro. Trump granted Pirro a full pardon on the last day of his presidency.