LegiStorm

Mercury Public Affairs's newest lobbying client is the subject of an ongoing child-pornography and sex-trafficking lawsuit.

Webgroup Czech Republic, which owns popular porn site XVideos, hired the lobbying firm last month, just after the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Webgroup Czech Republic of benefitting from sex trafficking and distributing child pornography. XVideos is the 88th most-visited site in the world, according to Alexa Internet data.

Mercury has assigned former Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.) and a managing director to the case. They're lobbying on unspecified "online speech and communications" and "Internet compliance" issues, per a recent disclosure, and have hired law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as a subcontractor.

Both parties may be united in watching tonight's March Madness men's college basketball final. But when it comes to actually playing college sports, congressional Democrats have nothing on Republican members.

At least 10 percent of Republicans serving in Congress played on a college team, according to LegiStorm data. Only 5 percent of Democrats played college sports. 

Football was the sport of choice for both parties (think Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a Stanford University linebacker, and NFL alumni Reps. Colin Allred (D-Texas) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio)). Football is followed by basketball for Democrats and baseball and hockey for Republicans.

The National Rifle Association may be losing its grip on Washington, but that hasn't stopped them from hiring Hill hands.

Tim Churchill is the NRA's most recent addition to its D.C. team. He's now a federal legislative-affairs manager and most recently worked as an LA to former Rep. Steve Watkins (R-Kan.), who, despite the NRA's endorsement, lost his 2020 primary bid to Rep. Jake LaTurner.

The NRA, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, has seen a sharp decline in its influence spending in the last few years. The advocacy group went from an all-time high of $5.12 million in federal lobbying expenses in 2017 to just $2.2 million in 2020. Likewise, the group's congressional campaign contributions sank from $830,000 in 2016 to $650,000 this past election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Congressional Democrats, many keen to tout the recent American Rescue Plan stimulus package, are holding almost three times the number of town halls as their GOP counterparts.

Democrats have held 187 town halls this month. All but five have been virtual events, with the in-person events held mostly outdoors. In March 2019, Democrats held 140 town halls (91 percent in person). 

Meanwhile, Republicans are shying away from constituents, with 66 town halls this month. Although both parties preferred telephone town halls to any other format, a third of GOP events have been in person — many indoors and with no apparent pandemic precautions. During the same time period in 2019, they held 115 town halls (83 percent in person).

The Architect of the Capitol has a new legislative liaison to the Senate — a former McDonald's lobbyist.

Erika Northington joined the AOC this month as a legislative-affairs specialist. She comes from human-resources firm Adecco Group, where she was special counsel. She previously worked as federal manager of government relations for McDonald's and registered as a lobbyist on a host of legislative issues.

Before her move to the private sector, she served as legislative director to Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.).