LegiStorm

Former Rep. Steve Stivers' (R-Ohio) outgoing chief of staff has taken to the world of government affairs.

Nick Bush is now a principal for federal government relations at Calfee, Halter & Griswold. Liberty Mutual and the city of Cincinatti make up the Ohio law firm's current federal lobbying clients.

Bush had worked for Stivers from 2017 until the congressman's May departure to run the Ohio Chamber of Congress. Bush then headed the vacant Ohio 15th congressional office until a couple weeks ago, when Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) was sworn in to fill the vacancy. Bush is also an alum of Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

Google has added another Democratic congressional staffers to its heavily funded Washington team.

Anna Su has joined Google as a government-affairs and public-policy manager. She comes from the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee, where she worked as professional staff under Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). She's also an alum of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

The hire, which comes amid calls for Congress to tighten antitrust regulations across the tech industry, is the latest in a steady drip of Democratic staffers from the Hill to Google's D.C. office. In the last year, the tech behemoth has disclosed spending $9.5 million on its federal lobbying program, which includes its in-house team and active contracts with 17 lobbying firms.

The last time David DiStefano served as chief of staff, he helped to entangle his former boss in an episode that contributed to the congressman's resignation from office and 30-month prison sentence. Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) is probably hoping this time that hiring DiStefano as his top staffer will be different.

Carey was sworn in to the House on Thursday. DiStefano's last congressional stint began in 1995, when he helmed the office of then-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio). DiStefano left Ney's office in 1998 for a successful lobbying career that was largely free from controversy - with one notable exception.

In 2006, once Ney had ascended to chair of the powerful House Administration Committee, DiStefano and a fellow lobbyist arranged a London meeting between Ney and two notorious heads of FN Aviation. The Cyprus-based company reportedly paid for Ney and a congressional staffer's London trips, which included thousands of dollars in gambling chips. Ney then unsuccessfully lobbied then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to exempt FN Aviation from certain sanctions so that the company could sell U.S. airplane parts to Iran.

As an investigation arising from the Jack Abramof investigations, Ney later admitted to accepting lavish illegal gifts, including those arising from the FN Aviation deal, and pleaded guilty to charges of corruption and false statements.

A veteran GOP Senate counsel has finally made a lobbyist of himself, thanks to a new job with the Health Industry Distributors Association.

Patrick Bailey is now the trade group's vice president for congressional relations. He's already registered as a lobbyist on health-care, trade and tariff issues.

Bailey most recently worked for the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where he was GOP chief counsel for government affairs. He left the Hill last winter when Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) took over as the committee's top Republican member.

Rep. Eric Swalwell's (D-Calif.) newest hire spent the last three years as a lobbyist for trial attorneys.

Brian McMillan comes from the American Association for Justice, where he was federal-relations counsel. The trade group spent nearly $4.6 million on its federal lobbying program in the last year.

McMillan is now senior counsel handling Swalwell's judiciary portfolio, among other issues. Swalwell's campaign regularly accepts money from the American Association for Justice PAC, including $7,500 last election cycle, according to FEC records.