LegiStorm

After working both chambers, a longtime congressional staffer has moved to K Street.

Sarah Monteith is now a vice president at Fulcrum Public Affairs. The Democratic lobbying firm counts Google and CVS among its high-profile clients.

She comes from the office of Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), where she was a legislative assistant. She's also worked for Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Nikola, the once-promising electric-vehicle company now in hot water for possible securities fraud, has finally made its Washington debut.

The would-be truck maker, whose vehicles are purely conceptual to date, has hired Alpex International to lobby on zero-emission vehicles and fuel stations.

Alpex president Lee Godown is handling the work. Godown spent nearly three decades working for House Democrats and is a former lobbyist for General Motors, which was on track to acquire an equity share in Nikola but abandoned its plans following securities-fraud allegations against the startup. The U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission are both investigating the allegations.

Congress is hiring more Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders than ever - but paying them thousands less per year than white staffers. In the House, they make up the lowest-paid racial group.

AAPIs now make up 3.8 percent of all congressional staff. That's double the proportion that Congress hired 20 years ago.

Salary rates for all races have trended upward for years. But AAPI staffers aren't seeing the same pay rates as their white counterparts, according to LegiStorm data.

In 2020, the average AAPI aide working for the House made $51,700 - 94 percent of her or his white counterparts, who averaged $3,100 more. Hispanic and Black House staffers make 95 and 97 percent of their white peers' wages, respectively.

AAPI Senate staffers brought home an average of $52,600 last year. That's 88 percent of what the average white staffer made and $6,800 less. Hispanic and Black staffers made 86 percent and 84 percent, respectively, of what white staffers did.

Pay disparities among racial lines have always existed in Congress for Hispanic and Black staffers. While AAPI staffers have at times avoided that pay gap, Congress has more recently re-established their status as a lower-paid racial group. Just five years ago, AAPI staffers made 99 percent of that of white staffers in the House and 100 percent of those working for the Senate. The disparity has grown every year since.

A former congressman has finally passed through the revolving door after 16 years in the private sector.

Ex-Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-Pa.) has registered as a first-time lobbyist through DLA Piper. A six-term congressman who retired in 2005, Greenwood joined the law firm last year after serving as president and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

He's lobbying on education issues for St. George's Group, the parent company to St. George's University in Grenada. Greenwood's name on the contract replaces ex-Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who recently left DLA Piper for the Aspen Institute.

Bracing for tightened regulations following a series of crashes, Tesla is hoping a Democratic Senate aide will help its cause.

Jonathan Carter joined the automaker this month as a policy adviser on federal autonomous vehicles and safety. He spent the last five years with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who last week called for a "complete" federal investigation into the automaker.

Tesla is under fire for its automated driving systems, which have seemingly factored into several recent crashes. The National Transportation Safety Board has two dozen active investigations into Tesla crashes, with others in the auto industry lobbying for enhanced federal safety standards.