LegiStorm

After ten years working for the Senate, a senior aide to Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) has a new job in federal relations.

Mackensie McKernan is now assistant vice president of federal relations for the University of Tennessee System. The university system lobbies on a host of appropriations issues.

McKernan spent the last five years as legislative director to Boozman, who sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee and chairs the Agriculture Committee. She's also worked for then-Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

One of Rep. David Rouzer's (R-N.C.) longest-serving staffers has moved to FTI Consulting.

The business-advisory firm added Ian Whitson this month as a senior director for government affairs. FTI brought in more than $4.5 million in federal lobbying revenue in the last year and counts the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and cryptocurrency company Tether Operations among its biggest clients.

Whitson had worked for Rouzer's office since 2015 and worked his way up from staff assistant to legislative director.

When Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) bragged during a Financial Services Committee hearing about one of his staffers moving to Bank of America, fellow committee member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was quick to call out the congressman on Twitter. What AOC probably doesn't know is that the banking giant had also quietly picked up a Democratic staffer from the House Small Business Committee around the same time.

Matt Gómez is now a BoA senior vice president for federal public policy. He spent his congressional career working for Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), most recently as senior counsel to her Small Business Committee.

BoA also hired then-Hollingsworth staffer Sruthi Prabhu to its federal relations team in September, prompting Ocasio-Cortez's criticism of congressional aides passing through revolving door. The bank disclosed spending just under $1.7 million on its federal lobbying program in the last year.

A longtime House Appropriations Committee staffer has made his first moves as a lobbyist.

Darren Benjamin registered as a lobbyist for the National Indian Health Board through Virginia-based Relation Strategy. He's working on health-care programs for American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, per a recent filing.

Benjamin spent the last 13 years with House Appropriations Republicans, most recently as professional staff to the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee. He originally came to the committee as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services detailee and was later a Department of the Interior detailee to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A former Silicon Valley CEO is the Ukrainian government's latest U.S. foreign agent.

Andrey Liscovich is lobbying the federal government to help Ukraine to purchase "non-lethal military equipment," according to recent Department of Justice filings. The registration also included a copy of a letter, signed by the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, asking for help in procuring more SpaceX Starlink terminals for Ukrainian internet access. He's doing the work for free, per the disclosures.

Liscovich hails from Ukraine and was CEO of Uber Works, an Uber app that helped shift workers find short-term jobs, until its dissolution in May 2020. Liscovich has since returned to his hometown of Zaporizhzhia, home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant. There, he runs a supply-chain operation to support the Ukrainian military against the Russian invasion.