LegiStorm

A defense expert with experience in Congress, the State Department, the Department of Defense and an influential think tank has found a new weapon to influence policy - lobbying.

Stephanie Sanok Kostro left the Center for Strategic and International Studies last month for a lobbying position with O'Brien, Gentry and Scott LLC, a Washington D.C.-based firm specializing in defense contracting. She submitted her first filing last week, and the records show her lobbying on the defense budget for 2016 and on defense acquisition issues.

Before joining CSIS, Sanok Kostro had a long and diverse career of public service. She joined the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1998 when President Bill Clinton appointee William Cohen held the position and remained as a foreign affairs specialist when Donald Rumsfeld took over under President George W. Bush in 2001.

Sanok Kastro left the Department of Defense in 2005 to become a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee. Over the next three-and-a-half years she helped research and draft legislation relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and national security. Leaving Congress in 2008, Sanok Kostro joined the State Department as a strategic analysis officer for a year before transitioning to the private sector and joining the think tank CSIS.

At CSIS, Sanok Kastro has also made numerous media appearances and written articles for a variety of outlets. In 2015, she appeared on C-SPAN and DefenseNews several times to discuss the rise of ISIS and the American response.

The former legislative director for Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) has made the schlep from the Hill to K Street to take a position with AIPAC.

Michael Fleischman left Meng's office this month after serving as her legislative director since the beginning of 2014. His new position with the pro-Israel advocacy giant is assistant director for policy and government affairs.

He first joined Meng as the policy director for her 2012 congressional campaign and stayed on with the congresswoman when she took office in 2013 as a senior legislative assistant. That same year, Meng took her first, and thus far, only privately funded trip. She traveled to Israel at the expense of the American Israel Education Foundation, the charity arm of AIPAC. Fleischman was also present on the journey.

Fleischman has been with AIPAC for less than a month, yet he's already submitted his first lobbying filing on issues related to "U.S. Middle East foreign policy." AIPAC has been a loud and influential foil to the Obama administration on the Iran nuclear deal, and in July, Meng came out against the agreement saying that it was "simply too dangerous for the American people."

Before joining Meng, Fleischman worked as a lawyer for Wolff and Samson. Both he and Meng received their law degrees from Yeshiva University in New York.

Lobbying filings for the third quarter show revolving season is back after taking a slight dip in recent years.

With three quarters gone, 2015 has seen 498 people come and go between Congress and the lobbying community. That number already surpasses last year's total of 481 of staffers who became lobbyists and vice versa. Of the 498 revolvers this year, 399 moved from Congress to lobby and 99 moved from the private sector to Congress.

If this year's pace continues, 2015 will have the highest revolving volume since 2011, which saw nearly 800 people move between the Hill and K Street after Republicans took control of the House. The revolving door is used more often in off-election years. Since 2002, the earliest year for which LegiStorm records the revolving door, election years have averaged 471 revolvers while off-election years have averaged 717.

2007 saw the highest volume by far as the Democrats take control of the House and nearly 1,000 people switched congressional and lobbying roles.

2012 saw the lowest number of revolvers in recent years with only 405 going through the door, which came after an earmarks ban that went into effect in 2011. 2013 had the lowest volume of revolvers for an off-election year since 2002.

Democrats have thus far made up 40% of all 2015 revolvers, proportionally slightly less than their congressional makeup, while Republicans account for 59%. The remaining 1% are unaffiliated with either party or serve as bipartisan staff.

The Congressional Record is a fixture on Capitol Hill, but if Patrick Velliky keeps going through the revolving door at this pace, he may end up with his own congressional record.

Velliky moved to Anthem Inc. as its director of congressional affairs from the office of Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) adding his second lobbying job to a six-year career that included jobs in both the House and Senate and on both sides of the aisle. It was his third time through the revolving door. His first filing with Anthem showed he's covering health care and tax issues related to the Affordable Care Act among others.

Velliky first joined Congress as an intern to Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) yet soon after gained a salaried position as floor monitor with Sen. Arlen Specter. At the time Velliky came on board, Specter was a Republican but within less than a week, the moderate senator switched to be a Democrat. In 2010, Velliky became Specter's deputy legislative director.

In 2011, Velliky returned to the House as legislative assistant for Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) but left late that year to become a manager of federal affairs with Humana Inc. Over the next two and a half years, he lobbied on issues related to health care and Medicaid. Velliky then returned to Renacci's office as legislative director, a position he held until his move to Anthem.

Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) has expanded the depth of his office with an ocean specialist and former lobbyist.

Katie Allen joined Kilmer's office this month as a legislative assistant after a short lobbying stint with Pike Associates LLC. She had been with the firm since February, lobbying on marine and fishery issues.

Kilmer's office is Allen's second job with Congress. Prior to her position with Pike Associates she served as a John A, Knauss Sea Grant Fellow under Rep. Kilili Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands) on the House Natural Resources Committee, Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs Subcommittee.

Allen studied marine science at the University of Auckland and is completing a PhD at the University of South Carolina in integrative biology.

Kilmer represents Washington's 6th district, which includes a large stretch of coastline along the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound. His congressional website highlights the environment as a key issue and emphasizes the protection of the Puget Sound region.