LegiStorm

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has lost her chief of staff to the State Department.

Ariel Eckblad is now deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, where she's focusing on conflict and instability in Africa and Asia.

She was one of Ocasio-Cortez's first congressional hires and later replaced chief Saikat Chakrabarti, whose sudden resignation kicked off an investigation into possible campaign-finance violations. Eckblad has also worked for then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

Freshman Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) has rounded out her climate-heavy legislative team with her first registered lobbyist.

Adeline DeYoung, now a legislative assistant, comes from Citizens' Climate Lobby. She was a government-affairs coordinator for the nonprofit and lobbied on environment, energy and agriculture issues. DeYoung is pursuing an energy- and environment-focused MPP degree from Georgetown University.

Despite DeYoung's educational and career background, another LA, James Green, is Leger Fernandez's top staffer on climate and environmental issues. Green, who has a bachelor's degree in environmental science, joined the congresswoman's office from the House Science Committee's Energy Subcommittee.

Leger Fernandez is one of the most outspoken members of her state's delegation when it comes to climate-change policy, expressing unwavering support for President Biden's recent moratorium on oil and gas leases on public lands. New Mexico's oil production reached an all-time high under the Trump administration, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

After a valuable administration job, a seasoned lobbyist is poised to help a transportation group revamp its lobbying strategy.

Brett Scott is now vice president of government relations for the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association, which represents used-auto dealerships.

The trade group outsourced its federal lobbying work for years and only recently switched to using a single in-house lobbyist - the organization's CEO, Bob Voltmann. The NIADA has not disclosed any outside lobbying work since Voltmann came on board in October.

Scott spent the last couple of years at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where he was a senior government affairs officer focused on Congress. Before that, he was a lobbyist at the Cruise Lines International Association and at Maersk Line, a container-shipping company. He's also worked for the Republican side of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) will soon have a new chief after losing her old one to the Biden administration.

Matt Alpert starts next week as Torres's top aide. He most recently held the same position with ex-Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.), who retired at the end of last term. He'd spent nearly 17 years with Serrano's office and has also worked for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and ex-Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

Alpert will replace Jim Cho, who left last week for a job as deputy director of legislative, congressional and intergovernmental affairs at the Office of Personnel Management.

A month into the new session, a fifth of freshman representatives and half of freshman senators have already added lobbyists to their staff, according to LegiStorm data.

Five of the 117th Congress's ten new senators (three Republicans and two Democrats) have hired former registered federal lobbyists. Among 60 House freshman, at least 12 (ten Republicans and two Democrats) have hired lobbyists.

Roughly three percent of current staff across the entire House and Senate have previously registered as federal lobbyists or foreign agents. This count includes district staff.

Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), both former representatives, are the only freshman to have hired more than one lobbyist to their teams. Other freshman senators to have hired lobbyists include Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.). In the House, Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Pat Fallon (R-Texas), Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), Kathy Manning (D-N.C.) and Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.) have hired lobbyists.

Lummis, Rosendale and Miller each employ one former lobbyist registered to Heritage Action for America, the Heritage Foundation's lobbying arm.