LegiStorm

Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-La.) nephew, one of several of her relatives with Capitol Hill ties, is back at the Senate.

Tyler Landrieu, a 2014 New York University graduate, first came to the Hill in 2008 as a Senate page, a paid job bestowed upon high school juniors. In August, he returned to take a real job as research assistant with the Senate Finance Committee.

Tyler Landrieu earned a bachelor's degree in economics and spent summers during college working for the New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo campaign, the Receivables Exchange and Raymond James Financial Inc.

But the committee's new employee is just one Landrieu family member in a network that goes back several years on the Hill. Tyler Landrieu's' brother, Jacques Landrieu, the senator's son Connor Snellings and nieces Hannah Sensenbrenner, Erica Sensenbrenner and Claire Landrieu were also Senate pages. Niece Grace Landrieu was a page in 2005 and page coordinator in 2007.

The senator's cousin, Kent Satterlee III, is also a Shell Oil Co. lobbyist and her husband, Frank Snellings, is a prominent Washington real estate agent.

Fresh off a journey to the Middle East, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) will hold a town hall meeting in her district to discuss ISIS.

Although domestic issues usually dominate in congressional town hall events before midterm elections, Hartzler's focus on ISIS is an example of how Republicans are trying to highlight President Obama's handling of the emerging threat.

Hartzler and other members of the House Armed Services Committee visited Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco during the 10-day meeting with heads of state and defense officials from the region. At the meeting next week in Harrisonville, Mo., she plans to discuss the threat ISIS poses to U.S. allies in the region.

Some of Hartzler's travel companions have not been shy about speaking up about lessons from their trip. Upon his return, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) urged Obama in a press release to "get off the sidelines" and start leading. In a statement last week, Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) cited a lack of leadership on the issue, calling it "deeply concerning and downright dangerous."

Following a speech from Obama in which he outlined his administration's strategy for dealing with ISIS, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), who serves as chair of the Armed Services Committee, held an event outlining his own plan, which emphasizes ground troops and firepower to "wipe them out."

Obama's strategy relies on airstrikes and the training of rebels. So far, he has been reluctant to commit ground troops to the effort.

A legislative staffer for Rep. Rich Nugent (R-Fla.) has left Congress to be director of government affairs for The Charles Group LLC, a lobbying and consulting firm.

Laura Cooper was most recently a legislative assistant for Nugent's office. She began working for Nugent in 2011 as legislative correspondent, and was promoted to legislative assistant later that year.  Cooper covered issues related to the environment and animals, government operations, public lands, Native Americans, science and transit.

Cooper holds a bachelor's in history from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  

The Charles Group bills itself as " chiefly for those focused on law enforcement, homeland security, high technology and national security sectors."

A Senate committee aide has left Capitol Hill once again to represent corporate interests in Washington.

In her latest trip through the revolving door, Mimi Braniff, a special counsel for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has gone to work as a policy counsel for Delta Air Lines.

In her previous stint on Capitol Hill, Braniff worked as a legislative assistant for another Alaska Republican, Sen. Ted Stevens. She continued working for Stevens on the Appropriations and Commerce committees until she moved to K Street in 2009. There, she began serving as principal for Capitol Partners Inc. and then later as a vice president of federal and government affairs for NRG Energy Inc. She continued at NRG until the beginning of this year, when she joined Murkowski's team.

The top communications aide to Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) has left to be head of government affairs for a major industry association.

Chandler Smith, formerly Heller's communications director, will now serve as vice president of communications for government affairs for the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

AH&LA represents all segments of the U.S. lodging industry, focusing on advocacy, communications support and educational resources. The industry employs an estimated 1.8 million people.

Smith graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor's in political science and communication studies.