LegiStorm

A longtime aide to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) has traded in his Hill experience for a job at Raytheon.

Dan Sadlosky joined the defense contractor this month as a government-relations director. Raytheon is Washington's tenth-largest lobbying presence, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and spent more than $8.2 million on federal lobbying in the first half of the year.

Sadlosky spent the last seven years as a policy adviser in the Republican whip's office. He's also worked for Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) and then-Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.).

Several members and their spouses accepted cushy travel to South Korea last month at the tune of nearly $19,000 per member.

The U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress spent just shy of $151,000 on six days of travel for just eight members - Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) and Young Kim (R-Calif.).

The trip ran from July 5 to 11 and featured business-class flights and lodging at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, according to recent disclosures. The congressional alumni group also picked up travel expenses for their spouses, with the exception of DeGette, who traveled solo. The non-profit Korea Society also contributed to the costs.

But the trip wasn't all play and no work. From July 5 to 11, the members met with Korean officials and North Korean defectors, visited U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, and toured Hyundai and Samsung facilities. They also met with U.S. service members at the demilitarized zone, which Gonzales documented on Instagram.

After revamping its lobbying strategy, an electricians' trade group has brought on a staffer from the office of Congress's only professional electrician.

Jared Karbowsky joins the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) this month as a government-affairs director. The trade group employed several in-house lobbyists until this year, when it stopped disclosing in-house work and, apparently, shifted exclusively to contract lobbying.

Karbowsky was previously a legislative assistant to Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), who worked as an electrician and union leader before his election to Congress. Norcross has a longstanding relationship with NECA, having spoken at their 2015 conference and accepted thousands of dollars in NECA PAC campaign donations each year since he took office.

The country's biggest lobbying group has coaxed another GOP staffer into its ranks.

Michael Richards joins the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this month as a policy director. The behemoth business group spent more than $28.8 million on federal lobbying in the first half of the year and keeps 80-some lobbyists on its staff at any given time.

Richards comes from the office of Rep. Scott Franklin (R-Fla.), where he was deputy cihef of staff and legislative director. He's also worked for now-retired Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas).

Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform has added a Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) staffer to its arsenal.

David Bashur joined the advocacy group as a federal-affairs manager earlier this month. ATR, which Norquist founded ATR in the '80s "at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan" to advocate for conservative tax policies, lobbies on everything from the minimum wage to Senate confirmations to the currently debated infrastructure package. 

Bashur had spent the last four years with Cruz's office and most recently worked as a legislative aide.