Menu Search Account

LegiStorm

Get LegiStorm App Visit Product Demo Website
» Get LegiStorm App
» Get LegiStorm Pro Free Demo

Caught Our Eye

Chemical industry lobbyist returns to Hill with committee job

Posted by Jenna Ebersole on Jan. 29, 2015

A staffer who became a chemical industry lobbyist is back on the Hill as counsel on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee after just a two-month absence.

Mandy Gunasekara registered to lobby in just one quarter before passing again through the revolving door. She previously worked in the House and Senate for nearly four years after graduating from the University of Mississippi School of Law. She also held earlier law clerk and intern positions on the Hill.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, Gunasekara registered to lobby with the National Association of Chemical Distributors while working as the organization's senior director of legislative affairs. She lobbied on the issues of chemical facility security from terrorism and reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Gunasekara's new job places her alongside Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a vocal climate change skeptic. She has weighed in on energy and infrastructure issues on Twitter, including the Keystone XL pipeline and gas prices.

"Who said we couldn't drill our way to $2 gas?" she tweeted Jan. 4, linking to an article.

Gunasekara last worked in the Senate as a staff and research assistant on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee from 2011 to 2012. She spent the next two years in Rep. Bob Latta's (R-Ohio) office as legislative counsel and senior legislative counsel before leaving in October 2014.