LegiStorm

Though her former boss is safely in place for another term, a senior congressional staffer has left the Hill to join a lobbying organization across the Potomac.

Mandy Gunasekara, who has worked in Congress in several capacities since 2011, this month became senior director of legislative affairs at the National Association of Chemical Distributors. Prior to the switch, she served as legislative counsel to Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) for more than two years.

The NACD employs several of its own lobbyists to work the Hill. The organization has lobbied since 2002, according to lobbying disclosures, primarily on issues related to the security of chemical facilities.

Before starting in Latta's office, Gunasekara worked in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee under Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and interned for Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) in 2011 and Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) in 2005.

In September, the NACD also took on Doug Leigh as legislative affairs coordinator. Leigh was previously an intern in the office of Rep. Bob Turner (R-N.Y.).

They have volunteered with the Peace Corps, produced TV news in Texas and helped write a retrospective on Mitt Romney's plans to transition to the White House.

The new staffers packing their bags to come to Capitol Hill in the coming weeks with new members-elect range in age and experience and hail from across the country.

Of the 11 transition aides that the new members elect have revealed so far, eight are men and three are women. Several completed bachelor's degrees in the 1980s while another was born that decade.

That younger aide, Daniel Kroese, incoming transition aide and chief of staff for Representative-elect John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), graduated in 2010 from the University of Pennsylvania. Kroese also worked on the Romney Readiness Project and is co-author of a 2012 book about lessons learned. 

Many of the aides worked on or led new members' campaign staffs, and at least four of them have worked in Congress before. Andrew Lachman, transitioning with Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), once interned with Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and worked for the House Democratic Caucus.

K. Ryan James, of incoming Rep. Bruce Westerman's (R-Ark.) office, worked for two other Republican representatives from Arkansas: Rep. John Boozman and Rep. Tim Griffin. A Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) transition aide, Scott Luginbill, started in 2007 on the Hill with Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and continued through early this year with Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.).

Jay Ruais returns to Congress with incoming Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.) after serving as his legislative correspondent and legislative assistant in Guinta's first term in office.

Only one of the 11, Ruais, has been a federally registered lobbyist. Ruais worked as government affairs manager for the Transportation Intermediaries Association and filed papers in 2013 before becoming Guinta's campaign manager this year.

The woman set to become incoming Rep. Don Beyer's (D-Va.) chief of staff may be new to the job, but her history with D.C. media runs deep.

Ann O'Hanlon, of Alexandria, was a reporter and national political researcher for The Washington Post in the 1990s and early 2000s.

O'Hanlon, who was Beyer's campaign manager, is also married to Politico editor-in-chief John Harris. She led NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and worked for the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. She graduated from Wesleyan University and served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador.

Harris told the Post in March he was taking no role in coverage decisions about the campaign and said O'Hanlon has a career "fully independent of my own."

O'Hanlon wrote about Beyer at least once, in 1997 when Beyer ran for governor and later lost, after he visited Manassas, Va. students before they staged a mock debate. One 11-year-old asked if he had any other "political aspirations."

O'Hanlon wrote that Beyer replied no, that governor of Virginia is the highest office in the land. He left with a stuffed donkey gift from the students.

Beyer defeated Republican Micah Edmond Tuesday to replace retiring Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.).

As thousands of other congressional staffers search for a safe job, a Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) employee didn't have to worry about that.

Soncia Coleman, education policy adviser for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), worked for four years on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee before leaving in October to become United Way Worldwide's director of public policy and advocacy. Harkin announced his retirement in January 2013, giving Coleman plenty of time to plan an exit.

United Way of America began lobbying efforts in 2003, advocating this year on education, health care and jobs issues.

Coleman has a law degree from the University of Connecticut and a bachelor's in political science from Spelman College. She got her start in politics in Connecticut, where she was senior attorney at the Connecticut General Assembly between 2004 and 2010.

A Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) congressional staffer has taken her experience to a government affairs job at the Nurse-Family Partnership.

Teri Curtis Weathers started on the Hill as a Mikulski intern during law school at Howard University in 2007 and returned in 2008 as law clerk with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In 2009, she began as Mikulski's legislative assistant and moved into the title of counsel in the spring of 2013.

But in October, Weathers switched to the Denver-based Nurse-Family Partnership to serve as director of federal policy and government affairs. The nonprofit connects nurses with vulnerable or low-income new mothers, starting with home visits during pregnancy and continuing until the child turns 2.

The organization began lobbying efforts in 2005 and has advocated on its impact on Medicaid recipients and on issues ranging from the Affordable Care Act to U.S. Health and Human Services appropriations.

Weathers earned her JD from Howard in 2008 and holds a bachelor's in government and politics, criminology and criminal justice from the University of Maryland, College Park.