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Caught Our Eye

Number of lobbyists who took Hill jobs in 2014 lowest in a decade

Posted by Jenna Ebersole on Jan. 26, 2015

Fewer registered lobbyists made the jump to Capitol Hill in 2014 than in any other year since 2002, when LegiStorm began tracking the revolving door with K Street.

Throughout the year, 65 lobbyists arrived in Congress compared to 112 in 2013, 74 in 2012 and 220 in 2011.

The movement to Congress was only lower in 2002, according to LegiStorm's tracking, when 56 staffers joined congressional offices. In fact, the number in 2002 likely understates the revolving door numbers because of the lack of significant lobbying records from previous years. Reliable lobbying data is only available from 2001 forward.

Of the 2014 group, 28 were Republicans and 32 were Democrats.

But the low this year did not apply to staffers moving in the other direction from the Hill to K Street. In 2014, LegiStorm tracked 394 former congressional staffers who registered to lobby. That compares to 444 in 2013 and 329 in 2012.

Of the former staffers who filed lobbying or foreign agent papers in 2014, 205 were Republicans and 171 were Democrats.

View LegiStorm's full breakdown of revolving door data here. LegiStorm's numbers are conservative and do not include staffers who have never registered to lobby but have held positions in the influence business.

The 2014 lobbying numbers became available after last week's registration deadline.