LegiStorm

An embattled former committee staffer and financial industry veteran has left Capitol Hill in favor of his own Hill-focused firm.

Peter Haller made headlines in 2011 when ThinkProgress revealed that he had previously worked for investment giant Goldman Sachs under the name Peter Simonyi, and had legally changed it before taking a job in Congress. The story raised conflict of interest concerns from consumer activists.

Haller began his career doing economic research before working for both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2005, Haller, then known as Simonyi, left the regulatory body for investment banking giant Goldman Sachs. He then joined lobbying firm Brickfield, Burchette, Ritts and Stone in 2008 and legally changed his name.

In 2011, Haller was hired by House Oversight Committee Chairman and noted deregulation advocate Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to work for the committee as senior counsel. Issa himself has ties to Goldman Sachs, having come under criticism for purchasing bonds from the investment bank while defending it from a congressional investigation.

Haller asserted in 2011 that the name change was meant to carry on his mother's maiden name to honor her family.

Haller left his most recent position on the House Financial Services Committee to start Hill Strategy LLC. According to its website, the company seeks to assist "financial institutions in communications with Congress, regulators and the press."

Twice a chief of staff to House members, John Monsif has left Capitol Hill to start a third career, becoming senior director of lobbying at global nonprofit Save the Children.

Monsif was most recently Rep. John Delaney's (D-Md.) top staffer. He also served as chief of staff to Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.).

A Connecticut native, Monsif interned for Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) while attending the University of Virginia. He also volunteered for Bill Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996.

Monsif's professional career did not start in politics, however. After graduating college he took a sales job for a Boston-area food company.

Monsif returned to politics at the ripe age of 32, joining then-Rep. Chris Shays' (R-Conn.) staff in 2007 as systems administrator. When the moderate Republican was defeated in his 2008 election bid, Monsif went back across the aisle to join Slaughter's staff.

Now, after reaching the top staff job in the House, Monsif has changed careers once again to develop lobbying campaigns for the nonprofit's new lobbying wing, the Save the Children Action Network.

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) chose a place of death to discuss health.

Gosar will hold a town hall on forest health next week at the Messinger Funeral Home in Payson, Arizona.

Forest health is a hot topic there because of the Slide Fire, which has burned in Arizona for more than a week. The blaze has scorched more than 30 square miles of the state, and is currently considered under control.

Gosar is a longtime supporter of increased forest fire prevention efforts, having sponsored or co-sponsored mutltiple bills to that end. In the midst of the Slide Fire, Gosar has renewed his push for passage of the Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2013, a bill he sponsored.

Gosar criticized federal land management practices and environmentalists in 2011 following a hearing spurred on by another Arizona wildfire. During the hearing, Gosar advocated increased activity from the timber industry to battle overgrowth.

A top national security adviser for the Obama administration is now working on the military budget from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

R. Collin Lee has become the newest staff assistant for the House Appropriations' Defense Subcommittee. Unlike on the rest of the Hill, where staff assistant is generally considered the lowliest of staff jobs, on the House Appropriations Committee it is a policy job of considerable influence.

Under subcommittee chairman Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), the James Madison graduate will oversee all funding bills for the Department of Defense, the CIA and other military agencies. The subcommittee will meet this Friday morning to discuss any proposed markups for the FY 2015 Defense Appropriations Bill.

Before assisting Congress with its allotment decisions, Lee has served as the chief of staff and as a legislative liaison officer for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Additionally, he was the director for legislative affairs with the National Security Council. Before that, Lee was a senior consultant for IBM Global Services and a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

K Street is not the only revolving door destination for congressional staffers.

John Maniscalco, most recently a senior legislative assistant to Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), has left the congressman's office to be director of congressional affairs at the libertarian Cato Institute. The move is not a huge leap: his old boss is a signator of the Liberty Compact by the Republican Liberty Caucus.

Maniscalco began his political career working in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel during the George W. Bush administration. He left Pennsylvania Avenue in 2007 for Blank Rome Government Relations, lobbying there for 4 years.

Maniscalco returned to politics in 2011 when he began working in Garrett's office as a legislative assistant. He covered a wide variety of issue areas while working for the congressman, including energy, education and civil rights.