LegiStorm

A longtime Republican staffer is now director of government affairs at the Fortune 500 information technology services firm Leidos Inc.

Tyler Levins has over seven years of experience working for various Republican offices and most recently held the position of senior policy adviser to Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.). As legislative assistant to Letlow, Levins covered numerous issues, including science and technology and armed forces and national security.

Leidos has spent nearly $900,000 on federal lobbying this year on various issues, such as homeland security, intelligence and surveillance, defense and science and technology. 

Republican members of Congress have overtaken Democrats in holding town halls this year, holding 42% more despite a historical advantage for Democrats.

The difference grows wider when considering in-person town halls rather than phone or virtual ones. About 75% of GOP-held town halls, or 236, were in person versus only 58%, or 127, for Democrats. Safety concerns are frequently cited as a reason Democrats don't hold more in-person town halls. 

Since 2019, Democrats have hosted more town halls each year than Republicans. However, the number of Democratic town halls has steadily decreased since 2020, which saw 1,992 town halls. Democratic town halls dropped below 1,000 for the first time in 2022 and dropped to 685 town halls in 2023. The number was only 2% more than Republican town halls.

While Republican town halls have also decreased from 2020, which saw 748 GOP town halls, the decreases have not been as significant as the decreases in Democratic town halls over recent years: There was a marginal decrease of 3% in GOP town halls from 2022 to 2023 and a notable decrease of 26% in Democratic town halls from 2022 to 2023.

With only 221 town halls this year, Democrats currently lag far behind Republicans, who have hosted 315 town halls already this year.

Staff have been deserting Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) in high numbers and the record-low pay is probably not helping.

Rep. Cuellar's office had the lowest median salary of all House of Representatives offices in 2024 Q1, according to aggregate median salary data. Cuellar's office is the only Democratic office ranked among the five worst-paid House offices.

Cuellar has made headlines in recent months for a DOJ indictment that charges him with accepting approximately $600,000 in bribes from foreign entities, which has been followed by a wave of staff resignations, including by his longtime chief of staff. 

His office’s median salary - $47,480 - is nearly 60% less than the best-paid office's median salary, claimed by Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-Ariz.) office, and 31% less than the aggregate median salary for House offices - $70,174.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) office also ranks among the worst-paid, with a median salary of $52,512. Notably, one of Johnson's predecessors, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), has an office that ranks in the top five best-paid house offices, with a median salary that is nearly 50% higher than that of Johnson's office.

The majority of the five worst-paid offices are Republican, with Rep. Barry Loudermilk's (R-Ga.), Rep. Andy Harris' (R-Md.) and Rep. Greg Pence's (R-Ind.) offices also ranking in the bottom five. The best-paid House offices are more mixed, with the offices of Gosar, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Pelosi claiming the top five spots.

Privately financed travel data shows a stark difference between how Republican and Democratic staffers are trained to do their jobs effectively.

While nearly half of Republican-approved trips in 2024 have focused on educating hundreds of Republican staffers, trip disclosures indicate that there have been no Democratic trips focused on educating staff.

Republican members of Congress have approved 826 trips this year, totaling approximately $3.1 million, with over 45% of these trips focused on training staff on basic matters like how to communicate effectively and how to come together on a policy agenda. Although Democratic members have approved 383 trips, totaling approximately $2.3 million, none of these trips were primarily focused on educating staff about how to manage their jobs and on Democratic strategies. Instead, Democratic-approved trips tend to focus on understanding policy matters like transportation, foreign policy or health care from the perspectives of the trip sponsors. 

Republican-approved educational trips have been funded primarily by six organizations this year: the Conservative Partnership Institute, Heritage Foundation, Congressional Institute Inc., Senate Working Group, American Compass and Economic Policy Innovation Center. Together they sponsored 388 trips that amount to a $464,000 investment in the party's future.

The educational trips sponsored by these organizations this year have already surpassed the trips they sponsored during 2023, which saw only 341 trips sponsored by the organizations for $394,000.

Disclosures for these trips, which included symposiums, conferences and workshops, list various educational purposes, such as "presentations on legislative skill building and how to address key conservative policy issues in Congress," "a training program that educates attendees on new approaches to various policy topics" and "learning about the different policy initiatives from Members of Congress."

The story has all the trappings of a scandal: A Hill staffer. A militant group. Money changing hands. A plot to overthrow a hostile Iran with arms. And legislation to undermine Iran.

But the story may be all the fictional creation of someone looking to help Iran undermine its enemies through any means necessary.

Cam Erickson, legislative assistant for Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), is documented as filing as a foreign agent to represent a militant group in Iran. The recent FARA filing states that Erickson received $5,000 for services as a consultant under Cogent Law Group LLP for the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan. Komala is classified by Iran as a terrorist group, although the U.S. State Department does not classify it that way.

However, LegiStorm is unable to verify the legitimacy of this foreign agent filing. The filing was only digitally signed and there is no other record of Erickson working for Cogent since August 2020. A Cogent representative confirmed that Erickson has not done any work for the firm since 2020, although the firm has represented the Komala Party. Clyde's office and Erickson declined to comment on the matter.

If such representation by Erickson had happened, it would violate House ethics rules. The House Ethics Manual states that "employees of the House are prohibited from acting as agents of foreign principals as defined by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)" and that violating this rule "can result in serious consequences, including disciplinary action by the House, termination of employment, and potential legal penalties under federal law." 

In October, Clyde sponsored the anti-Iranian Standing Against Houthi Aggression Act, which he said would "reinstate sanctions that President Trump placed on the Iran-backed Houthis and redesignate the group as a foreign terrorist organization."