LegiStorm

A onetime immigration lobbyist for the National Council of La Raza has shifted to Capitol Hill as counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Olga Medina completed law school at the University of Texas this year and has a passion for immigration reform. She was an immigration policy associate at La Raza for two years beginning in 2008 after earning her bachelor's degree from Stanford University. 

Medina has also clerked for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and was a White House Domestic Policy Council intern in 2013. She worked in Texas politics earlier this year as a policy intern for Texas state Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston). 

She lobbied for La Raza on issues including the Reuniting Families Act, DREAM Act and AgJOBS Act of 2009, according to filings. 

A longtime lobbyist and lawyer for several airlines and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has moved to a Senate job overseeing the aviation industry.

Tom Chapman worked for nearly two decades at AOPA beginning in 1981, rising to senior vice president of government and technical affairs by the time of his 1999 departure to Southwest Airlines Co., where he was legislative counsel for seven years. 

Since 2007, Chapman has served as vice president of government affairs for U.S. Airways Inc. But now, he's taken up a new vantage point of the aviation industry as counsel for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Aviation Operations, Safety and Security Subcommittee.

Chapman received his law degree from American University's Washington College of Law. 

 

A Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) staffer is now managing congressional relations for the Export-Import Bank of the United States as it faces an existential threat.

Gulick comes to the bank after many conservatives have called for shutting it down. The agency, which provides credit for private businesses engaged in exporting, has been reauthorized only through June 2015, setting up more uncertainty for the agency as it tries to prove its relevance.  

Erin Gulick worked for Cantwell from 2011 through September, beginning as a legislative assistant and rising to senior adviser. Now she is senior vice president for congressional relations at the bank.

Gulick came to the Hill in 2008 as a legislative correspondent for Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) before serving as a Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) legislative assistant until 2011. She is a University of Washington and Northwestern University graduate.

Before coming to Congress, Gulick was a policy associate for the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.

A senior Senate staffer from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee has taken his Hill expertise to the Bockorny Group.

Luke Theriot signed on as a principal for the lobbying giant after serving as a research analyst for Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), since she took over the committee six months ago.

Bockorny Group has a broad-based lobbying practice. One energy- and natural resources-related cause the firm has taken up is that of a Key Largo, Fla.-based client, Ocean Reef Community Association, in matters regarding Biscayne National Park in the waters south of Miami. 

Theriot brings with him more than six years of congressional knowledge. The LSU grad started off as a district aide for Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) before becoming his district director. After a two-year absence, Theriot followed Landrieu as a fellow on the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, where he stayed until she became the top senator on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Though earmarks may be out of fashion for today's lawmakers, they still find ways to brag that federal dollars are being steered to their constituents - to the tune of $722 million in the last week alone.

In the midst of a bitter election year with majority control of the Senate in play, Democrats far outstripped Republicans in bragging about new federal contracts and grants being awarded to their districts. Democrats announced $692.1 million in new funding last week alone, compared to $22.5 million announced by Republicans.

It's not clear how much of this 20 to 1 advantage toward Democrats reflects the reality of funding versus a proclivity of Democrats to boast of the funding.

The numbers come from a LegiStorm analysis of more than 1,100 press releases issued by Congress last week. Some 180 releases announced new federal funding for initiatives across the United States and its territories.

Dollars went to fighting violence against women in North Dakota and Montana's booming Bakken region, citizenship education classes in northern California and capital improvements at a college in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) all mentioned grants sent to the Bakken. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) bragged about the citizenship classes and Rep. Kilili Sablan (D-M.P.) named the funding to the islands.

Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) announced the top grant of $191 million to New York City after an application to the FTA Hurricane Sandy Competitive Resilience Program. The money was set to be spent on two new Staten Island ferry boats that could operate during a large-scale evacuation.

The contracts and grants were all provided directly by executive branch agencies. In the past, Congress played a heavier role in such funding decisions, often "earmarking" funds to pet projects. But in 2010, after public outrage about abuses, Congress put a halt to traditional earmarking. Congress still wields influence on the awards of contracts and grants, although it has become more indirect and often behind-the-scenes.