LegiStorm

"The voodoo is not evil!" That's what Haiti's "king of voodoo" wants the U.S. government to know - and he's hired a lobbying team to help get his message across.

Three lobbyists from Florida-based firm Croissance International Consulting are lobbying on behalf of Augustin St. Clou, reportedly former acting supreme chief of Haitian voodoo. Whether the lobbying can work any magic on Washington is unclear. There is little to no publicly available information on CIC or its lobbyists, none of whom have previously registered as federal lobbyists. 

CIC began lobbying the federal government this month on foreign relations, education, religion and government issues, according to a recent filing. "The voodoo is not EVIL!" explains the form. "'Big social problem' for the desperately poor country, arguing that the religion offers 'magic' but no real solutions to a population deprived of justice and a political voice. [V]oodoo is gaining appeal in the [U.S.] amongst young people. The image of voodoo went wrong from the first encounter from the first visitors to the continent, the anthropologists who didn't understand what they were seeing and from that came a lot of xenophobic. [It] has suffered from a bad press internationally but is an official religion. The voodoo is not evil!"

Sen. Pat Toomey's (R-Pa.) staff roster now boasts an MBA from a respected school.

Ken Acuña joined the senator's staff as a financial-policy adviser. He comes from the National Credit Union Administration, where he was a senior credit specialist. The federal agency is responsible for insuring credit unions.

Acuña holds an MBA from UVA's Darden School of Business and a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan.

For the first time in six months, congressional staffers have resumed privately sponsored travel.

The Red River Valley Sugarbeet Education Foundation paid for staffers to attend meetings and tour farms around Fargo, N.D. RRVSEF and other interest groups spend large sums on travel in the hopes of making and influencing congressional allies, who get immersed for days in issues from the organization's point of view.

This is the first time that an outside group has sponsored official congressional travel since early March. An itinerary indicates that some of the agenda was altered due to COVID-19, including taking a bus tour of a processing plant instead of touring the inside.

Henry Bridgforth, a legislative assistant to Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) was the first staffer to disclose that he attended the trip. The agenda lists staffers from the offices of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) and the House Agriculture Committee as additional participants. Trip-goers have 15 days to file upon their return, and late filings are not uncommon.

A telecom lobbyist has returned to Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), now as his chief of staff.

Tejasi Thatte spent the last year at NCTA, where she was vice president of government relations and a registered lobbyist. The broadband and cable TV group has spent more than $14.7 million on federal lobbying in the last year.

Thatte first joined Cárdenas' office in 2016 and worked her way up to become the congressman's deputy chief and legislative director.

Six members are on track to overspend their annual budgets, according to LegiStorm data.

As LegiStorm previously detailed, Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) spent 63 percent of his annual budget in the first six months of 2020. Hagedorn faces major scrutiny for his office's ethically questionable expenditures.

Rep. Ross Spano (R-Fla.), the second biggest spender, used 56 percent of his budget in the first two quarters. The average representative spent 40 percent of her or his total budget during that time. Spano, who lost his primary last month, has already spent 17 percent of his total annual budget on print printing costs and franked mail - a common strategy to reach constituents. The average representative has so far spent 2 percent of her or his office budget on constituent outreach.

Reps. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla), Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Steve Watkins (R-Kan.) each spent between 50 to 55 percent of their budgets in the first half of the year. Delgado, Castor and Watkins spent 13 to 14 percent each on mass mailings. Delgado faces a tough re-election in November, while Watkins lost his primary bid last month.

Jeffries' most disproportionate expenditure was rent - His office spent more than a tenth of their total budget on their Brooklyn offices. The average representative has spent three percent of their budget on rent.

In the event that a member overspends, she or he is personally responsible for re-paying that money. Any unspent office funds, meanwhile, are returned to the U.S. Treasury.