LegiStorm

After two decades moving between the Hill and the private sector, a Democratic aide has finally landed on K Street.

Robyn Hiestand started this month as vice president at Bose Public Affairs Group, which is on track to bring in more than $2.7 million in federal lobbying revenue this year. Bose's clients range from Ford Motors to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Hiestand most recently served as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). She previously worked for the Senate Budget Committee, former Rep. Martin Sabo (D-Minn.) and the now-defunct Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, as well as the non-profit Education Trust and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.

An alum of Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has returned to the office, this time with lobbying experience under his belt.

Sean Sweeney comes from Accenture's government-relations team, where he spent the last couple of years lobbying on computer-industry issues and police reform for the multinational professional-services firm.

Sweeney is now a legislative assistant handling telecommunications, technology and immigration. He was a legislative correspondent during his last stint with the senator's office, leaving in 2018 to work for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D).

Former Rep. Steve Stivers' (R-Ohio) outgoing chief of staff has taken to the world of government affairs.

Nick Bush is now a principal for federal government relations at Calfee, Halter & Griswold. Liberty Mutual and the city of Cincinatti make up the Ohio law firm's current federal lobbying clients.

Bush had worked for Stivers from 2017 until the congressman's May departure to run the Ohio Chamber of Congress. Bush then headed the vacant Ohio 15th congressional office until a couple weeks ago, when Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) was sworn in to fill the vacancy. Bush is also an alum of Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

Google has added another Democratic congressional staffers to its heavily funded Washington team.

Anna Su has joined Google as a government-affairs and public-policy manager. She comes from the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee, where she worked as professional staff under Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). She's also an alum of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

The hire, which comes amid calls for Congress to tighten antitrust regulations across the tech industry, is the latest in a steady drip of Democratic staffers from the Hill to Google's D.C. office. In the last year, the tech behemoth has disclosed spending $9.5 million on its federal lobbying program, which includes its in-house team and active contracts with 17 lobbying firms.

The last time David DiStefano served as chief of staff, he helped to entangle his former boss in an episode that contributed to the congressman's resignation from office and 30-month prison sentence. Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) is probably hoping this time that hiring DiStefano as his top staffer will be different.

Carey was sworn in to the House on Thursday. DiStefano's last congressional stint began in 1995, when he helmed the office of then-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio). DiStefano left Ney's office in 1998 for a successful lobbying career that was largely free from controversy - with one notable exception.

In 2006, once Ney had ascended to chair of the powerful House Administration Committee, DiStefano and a fellow lobbyist arranged a London meeting between Ney and two notorious heads of FN Aviation. The Cyprus-based company reportedly paid for Ney and a congressional staffer's London trips, which included thousands of dollars in gambling chips. Ney then unsuccessfully lobbied then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to exempt FN Aviation from certain sanctions so that the company could sell U.S. airplane parts to Iran.

As an investigation arising from the Jack Abramof investigations, Ney later admitted to accepting lavish illegal gifts, including those arising from the FN Aviation deal, and pleaded guilty to charges of corruption and false statements.