LegiStorm

A GOP Hill staffer is back to the House as Rep. Dan Bishop's (R-N.C.) legislative director and counsel.

Scott Knittle started yesterday with Bishop's office. He most recently worked as senior counsel to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Before leaving for HUD, Knittle worked for Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.) and for former Reps. Karen Handel (R-Ga.) and Keith Rothfus (R-Pa.).

Rep. Matt Rosendale's (R-Mont.) new chief of staff might be new to the Hill, but he's no stranger to the Washington establishment.

Trevor Whetstone spent most of the last decade working for the federal government, most recently working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as senior policy counsel. He's also done several stints with the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs and served as a justice adviser to Donald Trump's Domestic Policy Council.

Whetstone replaces James Braid, Rosendale's original chief of staff, who left last month for the Conservative Partnership Institute.

Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) appears to be the biggest stock trader in Congress, filing more than one report a week detailing his trading activity, according to a LegiStorm analysis of members' personal financial disclosures. 

So far this year Lowenthal has filed 65 reports with the House Clerk's office. His busiest month was March, when he filed 15 transactions as required by the STOCK Act.

The Act does not require disclosure of who does the trading, whether the member, a family member or a professional trader. Most of the trades involve Lowenthal's wife's account. Of the 65 reports filed, 19 of them include a total of 35 joint transactions made by Lowenthal and his spouse, while the remaining 46 reports include transactions made only by his spouse. 

Lowenthal's disclosure indicates the couple has assets totaling between $1.4 million and $5.3 million. The vast majority of assets reported, including all stock transactions that occurred in 2020, are listed as being owned by Lowenthal's spouse.

In a tie for second for most active traders are Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Mark Green (R-Tenn.), each of whom have filed 18 reports. Third is Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) with 14 reports filed, and tied for fourth are Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), who have each filed 12 reports. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) has filed the most reports of any senator this year, with 11 reports filed.

After two decades moving between the Hill and the private sector, a Democratic aide has finally landed on K Street.

Robyn Hiestand started this month as vice president at Bose Public Affairs Group, which is on track to bring in more than $2.7 million in federal lobbying revenue this year. Bose's clients range from Ford Motors to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Hiestand most recently served as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). She previously worked for the Senate Budget Committee, former Rep. Martin Sabo (D-Minn.) and the now-defunct Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, as well as the non-profit Education Trust and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.

An alum of Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has returned to the office, this time with lobbying experience under his belt.

Sean Sweeney comes from Accenture's government-relations team, where he spent the last couple of years lobbying on computer-industry issues and police reform for the multinational professional-services firm.

Sweeney is now a legislative assistant handling telecommunications, technology and immigration. He was a legislative correspondent during his last stint with the senator's office, leaving in 2018 to work for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D).