LegiStorm

A Calif.-based manufacturer of earthquake-monitoring devices is hoping to shake up its business.

Seismic Warning Systems is lobbying the federal government on issues related to "critical infrastructure support," according to a disclosure form. The company hired government-relations firm American Capitol Group to handle the advocacy work.

The company aims to "bring earthquake warning to everyone in California" and has developed a regional warning system for the state.

Just weeks before the country's parliamentary elections, Georgia's majority political party has filed a lobbying registration to "[educate] U.S. government officials" as to the party's policies and positions.

The Georgian Dream party leads the six-party Georgian Dream Coalition, which won a majority in Georgia's parliament in 2012.

The party was formed in 2012 by billionaire (and wealthiest Georgian) Bidzina Ivanishvili, who served as prime minister from 2012 until 2013. On Oct. 8, the country will hold its next parliamentary election, the second contest since Georgian Dream's founding.

Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream Coalition previously lobbied the federal government in 2012 and 2013, paying $1.6 million over 10 months to Patton Boggs for "advocacy and alerting Congress and the Administration about punitive measures taken by the Georgian government restricting foreign principal's civil and political freedoms and the selective application of punitive measures against [Ivanishvili's] political campaign."

Former lobbyist and Senate counsel Jim Musser is back on the Hill, this time as a special adviser to the House Budget Committee.

Musser began the temporary appointment for the Republican side this summer.

Musser, whose most recent law business offered "strategic guidance in dealing with federal and state legislative processes and devising government relations strategies to further the client's interests," has lobbied for clients including the American Small Business Association, Pfizer and the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

He previously served as senior staff counsel to former Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) from 1993 to 1996.

Only weeks after being released from federal custody for allegedly defrauding investors, lobbyist Cary Lee Peterson is back to advocate for his newly created Alliance for Disabled Inmate Abuse PAC.

In March, Peterson was arrested by the FBI and charged with several counts of false certification and securities fraud. He was released from federal custody in June on a $200,000 bond.

Peterson registered two PACs — the Alliance for Disabled Inmate Abuse, and the Democrats Socially United —  with the FEC "within days of his release," the Center for Public Integrity reported in June. 

Now, Peterson has filed to lobby on behalf of the Alliance for Disabled Inmate Abuse on issues related to abortion legislation for minors and rape victims, law-enforcement training, special-education study and other issues, according to a disclosure form.

Gene Autry is lobbying from the grave. The Autry Museum of the American West, founded by the late Western film star, recently disclosed its first federal lobbying activity.

Law firm Stewart and Stewart is lobbying on the museum's behalf on issues related to education, Native-American culture and historic preservation, according to the disclosure form.

Autry co-founded the museum with his his wife Jackie, Western-film actor Monte Hale and Hale's wife Joanne as the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in 1988.