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Caught Our Eye items are posted daily. LegiStorm Pro subscribers have access to all posts a few hours before other users, and are also able to search the full Caught Our Eye archive. Log in as a LegiStorm Pro user or learn more about subscribing.

Members of Congress celebrate Eagle Scout Day

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Aug. 1, 2022

Eagle Scout Day, officially Aug. 1, might as well be everyday on the Hill: Members of Congress have disproportionately earned the honor, according to LegiStorm data.

Of those currently serving in Congress, at least 5% of male representatives and 9% of male senators attained the Eagle Scout award in their youth.

The Boy Scouts of America have historically granted the Eagle Scout award, the organization's highest honor, to 2%-6% of all Boy Scouts. In 2010, a Gallup News poll found that about 39% of the general male population had ever claimed Boy Scouts membership.

Republicans make up three out of every four Eagle Scouts serving in the House and more than half in the Senate.

Unsurprisingly, Congress's Eagle Scouts are all men. But that may change with the times: The Boy Scouts of America now accepts girls after long restricting its membership to boys. The organization bestowed young women with its with Eagle Scout awards for the first time last year, and it's not implausible that female Eagle Scouts may join the halls of Congress in the next decade.

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez LD moves to Ally Financial

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 29, 2022

One of Rep. Anthony Gonzalez's (R-Ohio) top staffers has moved to a financial-services company.

Stephen Hostelley is now a government-relations director at Ally Financial. Ally, formerly the General Motors Acceptance Corp., spent almost $3.3 million on its federal lobbying program in the last year.

Hostelley was most recently Gonzalez's deputy chief of staff and legislative director. Gonzalez, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, is retiring at the end of this term. Hostelley got his start on the Hill working for then-Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio).

Rep. Curtis aide is heading to K Street

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 27, 2022

A Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) staffer is moving to the fast-growing Boundary Stone Partners.

Rebekah Rodriguez starts soon as a federal-affairs director at the bipartisan firm, which specializes in climate and clean energy. BSP has brought in more than $2.7 million in federal lobbying revenue since January - almost double the firm's lobbying revenue at this point last year, according to LegiStorm data.

Rodriguez was most recently senior legislative assistant to Curtis, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rodriguez was also deputy executive director of the Conservative Climate Caucus, which Curtis founded and chairs.

Ex-congressman registers as Ukrainian foreign agent

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 25, 2022

A former congressman with longstanding ties to Ukraine performed pro bono work for the country's parliamentary delegation, according to new Department of Justice filings.

Ex-Rep. Jim Slattery (D-Kan.) helped the delegation to arrange one-time meetings with 16 representatives and senators from both parties to "thank the U.S. for its support for Ukraine and answer any questions on the status of the war with Russia," according to one disclosure.

Slattery, who served in Congress from 1983-1995, has spent much of his time out of office representing various Ukrainian interests. He led an election-monitoring team in 2004, during Ukraine's Orange Revolution, and later attempted to secure former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's release from prison - unknowingly working against former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.

Rep. Wild staffer moves to life-sciences lobbying group

Posted by Keturah Hetrick on July 20, 2022

Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) staffer has lost a staffer to life-sciences lobbying.

Chris Cunningham left the congresswoman's office for the California Life Sciences Association, where he's now a director for federal government relations. The membership organization has already registered him as a lobbyist on a host of issues, from health care to taxes.

Cunningham was most recently a senior legislative assistant covering Wild's health portfolio, among other legislative issues. Wild sits on the House Science Committee. Cunningham has also worked for Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and then-Reps. Ben McAdams (D-Utah) and Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.).

About Caught Our Eye

We spend a large part of our days looking at data. Documents often come in by the dozens and hundreds. And while most are boring - how interesting can staring at a phone directory or salary records be, for example? - we find daily reasons for interest, amusement or even concern packed in the documents. So we are launching a new running feature that we call "Caught our Eye."

Longer than tweets but shorter than most blog posts, Caught our Eye items will bring back the interest in reviewing documents and researching people. Some items might bring hard, breaking news. Others will raise eyebrows and lead some into further inquiry. Others might be good for a joke or two around the water cooler. All will enlighten about the people or workings of Capitol Hill.

Caught our Eye items will be published each morning for LegiStorm Pro subscribers. Non-Pro site users will be able to receive the news items a few hours later. In addition to having immediate access to the news, LegiStorm Pro users will have a handy way to search and browse all past items.