Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) has hired back a former legislative director who left her staff in 2005 for government affairs work.
Darin Gardner worked for Granger between 2002 and 2005, departing for Genentech Inc., and has returned from lobbying to serve as her chief of staff. Gardner has registered to lobby over the last six years with Genentech Inc. and Jochum Shore and Trossevin PC.
Granger's previous chief of staff, Steve Ruhlen, held the job for only about a month. He came to the position from working on federal government advocacy strategies for clients with Ruhlen Strategies LLC, according to his Facebook page, and has also worked for Vice President Dick Cheney and several House Republicans.
Ruhlen replaced Shannon Meade, who held the job since January and left in July after six months.
Granger's new chief of staff has registered to lobby this year for a range of clients, including Snapchat Inc., Lyft Inc. and Target Corp. Gardner also has past congressional experience with Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee between 2000 and 2002.
Gardner has a 1995 bachelor's in political science from Henderson State University.
