LegiStorm

Rep. Tom Rice's legislative director is bouncing to her new position as director of government relations at the Rubber Manufacturers Association this month.

Courtney Brooks had worked for Rice since 2013 and served in various capacities for Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) from 2005 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2013.

As the leading tire producer in the country, Brooks' home state of South Carolina has major ties to the rubber industry.

Brooks holds a bachelor’s degree from Elon University and a master’s in public policy from George Washington University.

As the company faces controversy over Pokemon Go security updates, Niantic, the software-development company behind the popular app, has hired Heather Podesta + Partners to lobby on its behalf.

According to a lobbying disclosure, Niantic is lobbying on "issues related to privacy, data security, copyright and intellectual property." The company has generated controversy over a Pokemon Go security issue involving access to its in-game maps.

As of June, Heather Podesta + Partners firm founder Heather Podesta had reportedly raised nearly $350,000 for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. She is the ex-wife of lobbyist Tony Podesta and ex-sister-in-law of John Podesta, chair of Clinton's campaign. 

Seven years after his first Hill gig, Rep. David Jolly's (R-Fla.) senior policy adviser has taken a position as as associate vice president of federal relations at ADS Ventures, a Boston- and Washington-based lobbying firm representing a wide range of clients.

Ian Manzano began his career as an intern for former Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) before working his way from legislative correspondent to legislative director under former Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa). He had worked for Jolly, a former lobbyist himself, since last year. Jolly is one of the Republican House members who has not endorsed presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Manzano holds a bachelor's degree in international business from George Washington University.

The Republican Party has no de facto successor to Donald Trump, should he exit the presidential race before Election Day, according to a new Congressional Research Service report produced with prescient timing.

CRS, Congress's non-partisan research arm, published its findings on Thursday, the day before footage of Trump making lewd comments about women fueled speculation that the Republican nominee might leave the ticket.

Trump has firmly rejected the idea that he might quit. However, if he were to drop out before Election Day, the Republican Party would fill the vacancy through either a special meeting of the Republican National Committee or by reconvening the national convention. The party's rules stipulate that RNC voting would be broken down by state delegations, "with the three committee members in each state delegation casting the same number of votes as the number of delegates assigned to it during the previous national convention" and the majority winner selected as the candidate.

If Trump left after Election Day but before taking the presidential oath, the result could be "confusion, controversy, and a breakdown of party discipline," the CRS concluded.

That's because the Republican Party would select a new nominee, and not necessarily Mike Pence, Trump's running mate. "It is assumed that the electors, who are predominantly party loyalists, would abide by the national party’s decisions," the report said, but a "a fragmentation of the electoral vote" could also be the result.

Jaws has a new enemy on the Hill. An alliance of fishing groups is lobbying to keep shark-fin soup on restaurant menus across the country.

Sustainable Shark Alliance is lobbying against the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act, which would ban shark fins in the U.S. The group is represented by Scott Gehan, an attorney specializing in fishing issues.

The alliance opposes the bill, which would make it illegal for fishermen to harvest fins of sharks they had already caught. The practice of "shark finning," the process of cutting the fins off of live sharks and throwing them back into the ocean to die, is already banned.