LegiStorm

A former staffer of Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.), who has worked as a lobbyist and special investigator since, has uncovered a new position for herself on the Hill.

Natasha Bui joined the House Judiciary Committee as a professional staff member this month after serving briefly as a special investigator for Computer Sciences Corp. She had also previously worked as a special investigator for both CACI International and U.S. Investigation Services and as a policy adviser to HBW Resources and Marlowe and Co.

Bui's last job on the Hill was with LeMieux as a legislative correspondent in 2010. She began her congressional career with Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) in 2008 and stayed in the office when LeMieux took over following Martinez's resignation in 2009.

When Bui left the Senate in 2010 she joined Marlowe and Co. where she served as a lobbyist on budgetary appropriations for towns in the Carolinas.

A former aide to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has come back to work for him on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee after working two years as a lobbyist.

Alicia Brown returned to the Senate after leaving her position as government relations manager at Harris Corp., a large defense contractor. In her two years with the firm, she lobbied on Federal Aviation Administration technology and infrastructure issues.

Brown's new role places her on the Space, Science and Competitiveness Subcommittee as a professional staff member and reunites her with former boss Nelson, who serves as the ranking member on the committee.

Brown first joined Nelson's office as an intern in 2008, was hired as a scheduler later that year and was promoted to legislative assistant by 2012.  She also worked on Nelson's 2012 re-election campaign as a special assistant.

An influential aide to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) who ruffled the feathers of GOP leadership is letting Heritage dictate her future.

The senator's office lost Rachel Bovard this month after she took the position of director of policy services at the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank. Under Lee, Bovard served as the policy director for the Senate Republican Steering Committee and caused a stir in July with an email that aggravated Senate GOP leadership. According to POLITICO, Bovard's email, which advocated the use procedural tactics to force a vote on Obamacare, caused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to call a special sitdown to dismiss the notion.

Prior to joining Lee and the Steering Committee, Bovard also worked as policy director for Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and served as Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) legislative director. Her time with Paul earned her the designation as one of the "most influential Washington women under 35" by the National Journal in 2013.

Bovard had been working on the Hill since 2006, first for Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) and then for Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) before joining Paul in 2011. 

The son of former presidential candidate, television host and conservative activist Alan Keyes is rising through the ranks in his new House.

Andrew Marcel-Keyes was promoted this month to the position of legislative assistant in the office of Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas). Marcel-Keyes began his congressional career with Gohmert three years ago as a research assistant and became a legislative correspondent in 2013. His most recent promotion comes on the heels of the departure of Gohmert's deputy chief of staff, Justin Tanner, earlier this month.

The elder Keyes and Gohmert have a friendly history with one another and take similar positions on a variety of conservative causes. In 2013, both men made headlines in the liberal blogosphere when Keyes gave a radio interview to Gohmert. The bloggers accused the two conservatives of suggesting that efforts to combat global warming are a plot to depopulate the planet.

Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) has just taken youth outreach to a whole new level.

In a world of 2,000 page bills, Congress and children's books don't generally go hand in hand. That hasn't stopped Duncan from welcoming children's book author Caroline DeBerry to his team this month as a legislative assistant.

DeBerry self-published her first children's book in June titled "Reflect: The Beginning (Volume 1)." The book sets up a fantasy adventure story of two youths and is advertised as the first volume of a forthcoming series. Before she ventured into children's literature, DeBerry also co-authored a political book in 2010 that was distributed by Hester Publications in Tennessee.

DeBerry's interest in politics goes back to at least 2003, when she served as a page for the Georgia General Assembly. Since then, she has worked on the campaigns of former Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-Ga.), Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). DeBerry also worked for the Federal Elections Commission for three years and ran her own consulting firm to advise politicians on campaign finance issues.