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Caught Our Eye items are posted daily. LegiStorm Pro subscribers have access to all posts a few hours before other users, and are also able to search the full Caught Our Eye archive. Log in as a LegiStorm Pro user or learn more about subscribing.

Rep. Baird chief moves to public-affairs firm

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on April 13, 2022

Rep. Jim Baird's (R-Ind.) chief of staff has landed at Bose Public Affairs Group.

Quincy Cunningham started last week as vice president in the firm's Indianapolis office, where he's working on government relations and strategic communications. The firm's federal lobbying clients include the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Before serving as Baird's chief of staff, he worked for Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.) as a special-projects manager.

GOP Senate aide flies off to drone developer

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on April 12, 2022

Sen. Jerry Moran's (R-Kan.) top military staffer has moved to a defense contractor's government-affairs team.

Scott Nulty started with Shield AI, which develops drones and autonomy software, as a government-relations manager earlier this month. The firm spent just shy of $1 million on federal lobbying in 2021, the same year that it kicked off its in-house lobbying efforts.

Nulty was most recently Moran's military legislative assistant. He's also worked for Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.).

D.C. Council member-turned-felon is the latest lobbyist to disclose convictions

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on April 11, 2022

When former D.C. Council Member Michael Brown (Independent) recently registered as a lobbyist after years of inactivity, he joined the ranks of a growing handful of lobbyists with bribery and other certain convictions to their names.

Since Jan. 3, 2019, the Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act has required lobbyists to report any federal or state convictions for offenses involving bribery, extortion, embezzlement, illegal kickbacks, tax evasion, fraud, conflicts of interest, making false statements, perjury or money-laundering.

Brown is one of 11 lobbyists to have disclosed convictions under the JACK Act, named for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. After years as a lobbyist and councilmember, Brown pleaded guilty to felony bribery charges in 2013 and was sentenced to 39 months in federal prison. He's now lobbying on budget issues for Virginia Union University, a historically black school.

Other noteworthy lobbyists with conviction disclosures since the JACK Act's passage include former Rep. Larry Smith (D-Fla.), as well as Albert Pirro, a former Donald Trump real-estate lawyer and the ex-husband of Fox News co-host Jeanine Pirro. Trump granted Pirro a full pardon on the last day of his presidency.

House members spend more of their funds on security

Posted by Christian Stafford on April 6, 2022

House members, particularly Democrats, are spending more of their official budgets on security since the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to a LegiStorm review of spending data

Democrats spent nearly $713,000 last year on expenses explicitly described as security-related, a 64 percent increase from 2020 spending and an 11 percent increase from 2019 spending.

Republicans, on the other hand, spent a little more than $223,000 last year on the same type of expenses, a 38 percent increase from 2020 spending and an 11.5 percent increase from 2019 spending.

Overall, Democrats accounted for 76 percent of the expenses described as security-related in 2021, continuing their trend of consistently outspending Republicans in this area since 2016, when the spending data became more easily compared.

These expenses were ones explicitly labeled as a "security expense". They likely represent only a fraction of all official security-related spending by members, as some members even have staff on their payroll who handle security. 

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) spent the most of any member, with nearly $79,000, or 30 percent of all expenses except payroll, being paid to the Department of Homeland Security.

The top-spending Republican, and the only Republican among the top 10 spenders, was Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas). He spent more than $53,000, or 16 percent of all expenses except payroll, on security to Sentry Security & Investigations LP.

Reports suggest that the number of threats against members doubled in 2021 compared to 2020. Shortly after the Jan. 6 attack, members were reminded that "the purchase of a bulletproof vest is a reimbursable expense." In March 2021, the FEC ruled that members can use campaign funds to hire personal protection, among other security-related expenses. Such campaign expenses are not included here.

Transparency is lacking in some members' budget reports

Posted by Christian Stafford on April 4, 2022

While members of Congress are required to detail how they are spending tax dollars, it's not always possible for the public to learn who the ultimate recipient of that spending is. 

Take the case of the office of Rep. John Carter (R-Texas). Jonas Miller, Carter's chief of staff, was listed as the recipient of nearly one in every two dollars spent except for payroll, according to a LegiStorm review of 2021 House spending data. He received $229,560 in total reimbursement expenses. The reimbursements exceeded Miller's salary of $183,445 last year.

Some of the expenses made out to Miller include more than $37,000 for telecom, $22,000 for printing and reproduction and $12,000 for web development hosting. By contrast, most staffers show reimbursements only for personal meal and transportation expenses incurred by travel to and from the member's district.

"To keep our constituents well informed, we produce a lot of franked communications," Emily Dowdell, Carter's communications director, told LegiStorm. "For [efficiency's] sake and in accordance with House Rules and House Administration Committee Regulations, a staff members' credit card has been used to pay for those services rendered and those charges are itemized, documented and have receipts with the Office of Financial Counseling." 

The office of Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) also stood out, with Robert Schroeder, Nehls' chief of staff, listed as the recipient of nearly a third of all expenses except for payroll. He received more than $100,000 in total reimbursement expenses, or more than one in every four non-payroll dollars spent. Prior to his current job, Schroeder worked as deputy chief of staff in Rep. Carter's office.

Lack of transparency of spending can sometimes lead to trouble for members of Congress.

In June 2020, LegiStorm was the first to report on the irregular spending activity of the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.), and the matter was referred to the House Committee on Ethics in July 2021 after extensive media scrutiny. In an October 2021 report which cited LegiStorm's reporting, the committee found that Hagedorn "may have used official funds to contract for services with companies owned or controlled by his staff members."

About Caught Our Eye

We spend a large part of our days looking at data. Documents often come in by the dozens and hundreds. And while most are boring - how interesting can staring at a phone directory or salary records be, for example? - we find daily reasons for interest, amusement or even concern packed in the documents. So we are launching a new running feature that we call "Caught our Eye."

Longer than tweets but shorter than most blog posts, Caught our Eye items will bring back the interest in reviewing documents and researching people. Some items might bring hard, breaking news. Others will raise eyebrows and lead some into further inquiry. Others might be good for a joke or two around the water cooler. All will enlighten about the people or workings of Capitol Hill.

Caught our Eye items will be published each morning for LegiStorm Pro subscribers. Non-Pro site users will be able to receive the news items a few hours later. In addition to having immediate access to the news, LegiStorm Pro users will have a handy way to search and browse all past items.