LegiStorm

A GOP policy adviser has moved from the Hill to agrochemical company Corteva.

Turner Bridgforth comes from the office of Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), where he was a senior policy adviser handling agriculture, appropriations and natural resources, among other issues. He joined Corteva this month as a government and industry affairs manager. The company was formed from DowDupont's 2019 spinoffs into Dow, DuPont and Corteva.

Bridgforth has also worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and for then-Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.).

A staffer to Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) has moved to defense contractor Elbit Systems of America.

Katie Myers is now a government-relations manager at Elbit America, whose D.C. lobbying interests span a host of defense and border issues. Parent company Elbit Systems Ltd. brought in nearly $5.3 billion in revenue in 2021 and is one of Israel's largest defense contractors.

Myers most recently worked as a senior legislative assistant to Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who sits on the Appropriations Committee. She previously worked for Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. Myers recently obtained a master's degree in military and operational art and science from the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College.

News Corp. has added a Senate Judiciary Committee attorney to its federal-affairs team, just as the Murdoch family explores re-merging the publishing giant with Fox Corp.

Rachel Bissex is now vice president for federal government affairs at News Corp., the print-news publisher that the Murdoch family split in 2013 from what is now Fox Corp. Last month, the two media organizations began a process to consider re-merging, reportedly at the behest of Rupert Murdoch, executive chair of News Corp. and chair of Fox Corp. News Corp.'s publications include the Wall Street Journal and The Sun; Fox Corp. owns Fox News Media and Fox Television Stations, among other assets.

Bissex joined News Corp. from the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she was most recently senior counsel under ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). She's also worked for Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and for the Department of Justice as deputy chief of staff and counselor to then-Attorney General Bill Barr. The DOJ and Federal Trade Commission are jointly in charge of reviewing business mergers.

Personal financial disclosures provide important information about members' assets, debts and potential conflicts of interest. But for outgoing Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), filing an annual disclosure hasn't been a priority this year.

Members' annual reports are due on May 15 each year. Members have the option to file for an extension that allows them to delay their filings until Aug. 13. Brady and Meijer are the only two members who have yet to file their 2022 annual disclosures, according to a LegiStorm review. Each filed for an extension in May.

It's normal for members to file for an extension — 201 representatives and 36 senators did so this year. But flouting the extended deadline for months is far less commonplace. At this time last year, all members had filed their annual disclosures. Reps. John Rose (R-Tenn.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) were the last to file, each submitting their report on Sept. 12, 2021. Brady and Meijer each submitted their reports on the Aug. 13 extended due date last year. 

Neither of this year's non-filers will return to Congress next session: Brady is retiring at the end of this term, while Meijer lost his primary.

Some 11 representatives filed reports more than 30 days after the extended deadline this year, with the latest — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) — filing her report on Sept. 17. No senators filed their reports after Aug. 13.

Ex-Rep. Evan Jenkins (R-W.V.) made his first official pass through the revolving door last week, when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce registered him as an official lobbyist. But for his employer, the registration marked an even bigger milestone: This is the first time the U.S. Chamber has counted a former member among its massive in-house lobbying team in at least 22 years.

The Chamber, D.C.'s largest lobbying presence by money spent, keeps nearly 90 lobbyists on its staff at a given time and disclosed spending nearly $78 million on its federal program in the last year.

Jenkins is lobbying on a host of issues for the Chamber, according to a recent filing. It's the first disclosure to show a former member working as a Chamber in-house lobbyist since at least 2000, when LegiStorm's complete lobbying data begins. Ex-members have occasionally lobbied for the Chamber through contracts with external firms.

Jenkins resigned his House seat in 2018 after losing a primary bid for Senate and accepting an appointment to West Virginia's supreme court. He joined the Chamber last month as the organization's head congressional lobbyist.