LegiStorm

As members of Congress weigh in on the debate over racial profiling by police, for at least one new Senate staffer, it's personal.

Ivan H. Lee II, who began as staff assistant in Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) office in September, once won a settlement in a case where he alleged racial profiling and unlawful search after a roadside strip search in view of passing cars.

Lee came to Manchin's office after serving as a courtroom clerk in West Virginia and field organizer for President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign.  He graduated from High Point University in 2009, and the alleged incident took place during his college years in 2006. 

Lee, who is black, contended in a suit against the City of South Charleston, W.Va. and police that the incident began when an officer confronted him after he stopped to observe a traffic stop of a friend. Following the conversation with the officer, Lee and two passengers drove away but a police car followed them, according to filings.

An officer then pulled Lee over for alleged traffic violations and asked to search the vehicle, which Lee refused. The officer asked him to step out of the car, handcuffed him and patted him down. Officers discovered marijuana in searches of the two passengers, then returned to Lee and strip-searched him without finding any drugs.

A judge dismissed Lee's racial profiling complaint but let other allegations proceed. The case settled in 2009, according to the ACLU of West Virginia.

Protests have broken out nationwide in recent weeks after grand juries decided not to indict in two racially charged cases of deaths at the hands of police officers in New York and Missouri.

A legislative assistant for Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) has left the soon-to-be-closing office for Lowe's Cos. Inc.

Meredith Preloh spent her five-year congressional career with Coble, beginning as constituent liaison in 2009 before becoming legislative assistant in 2010. Her new title at Lowe's is government affairs manager.

The home improvement chain, which was founded in North Carolina, has lobbied for years on issues ranging from the Marketplace Fairness Act to elements of the Affordable Care Act and lead renovation and repair. The company spent $230,000 on in-house lobbying alone in the third quarter this year.

Preloh earned her bachelor's in communications from Elon University in 2005.

The Kennedy political dynasty may have a new future standard-bearer with one of Ted Kennedy's grandsons, Edward Moore Kennedy III.

Newly released salary records indicate that the youngest Ted Kennedy spent time this summer in Congress through the Senate Page Program. His father, Ted Kennedy Jr., was also elected Nov. 4 to the Connecticut Senate.

But Ted Kennedy III's political ambitions may have started even younger than many of his family members'. He announced his candidacy for the 2044 Senate race five years ago, aged 11, in an interview with New England Cable News.

Senate pages must be high school juniors, at least 16 and attend school.

A former Senate staffer who registered to lobby for several years on agriculture issues will join the staff of the House Agriculture Committee in January.

Christine Heggem has served as a lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association since 2010 after lobbying between 2008 and 2010 with mCapitol Management Inc. She left the Hill in 2008 to become vice president at mCapitol Management.

Heggem, of Montana, began her congressional career in 2000 as legislative assistant for Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.). She became professional staff member at the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2006 before leaving Congress two years later.

The NRECA has long invested in lobbying, registering this year to advocate on issues including the agriculture appropriations bill and the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2013.

A Senate staffer who was once the mayor of Cleveland has left Capitol Hill for an advocacy job.

Jane Campbell this month joined the National Development Council as director of public policy and advocacy after leaving the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, where she has been a senior adviser since June. Campbell was Cleveland's first female mayor and served from 2002-2006.

Campbell came to the Hill in 2009 as Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-La.) chief of staff, a position she held until early 2013. She was staff director of the Senate committee between 2013 and earlier this year.

The former staffer has also operated her own consulting firm, after leaving the mayor's office, and comes to an organization that has filed as a lobbying client since 2007. The National Development Council, a nonprofit that works for economic development in underserved communities, has lobbied this year on transportation, housing and urban development.

Campbell took several privately funded trips during her time in Congress, traveling to Tunisia, Louisiana and Istanbul, and has never registered as a lobbyist.