LegiStorm

Rep. Bill Enyart (D-Ill.) has hired a new legislative staffer who is is a decorated Afghanistan War veteran.

Ian Staples, a military police captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, has come on board Enyart's staff as a legislative aide. Staples served a year in Afghanistan where he took part in training the Afghan National Army, planned for visits from public officials and foreign dignitaries and briefed senior officers on issues related to detention policy. From his time in the Army, Staples received the Bronze Star Medal and the Army Commendation Medal, both of which are awarded for acts of heroism or merit.

Before joining Enyart's office, Staples gained experience on the Hill interning in the office of Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.). He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Kansas.

Brian Moulton, longtime counsel and lobbyist for Human Rights Campaign left the LGBT rights organization this month in favor of a legal counsel position in Sen. Tammy Baldwin's (D-Wis.) office.

Baldwin simultaneously became the first openly gay U.S. senator-elect and first female senator from Wisconsin in 2012 when she defeated her Republican opponent. Baldwin is known for her strong views on gay and women's rights as well as a markedly liberal voting record.

Moulton joined HRC full time in 2004 after completing law school at George Washington University. Prior to his departure, Moulton worked as HRC's Legal Director, managing a team of lawyers and himself focusing on "issues including employment, health, marriage and relationship recognition."

Moulton will work on variety of issues for Baldwin's office including the judiciary, gun rights and immigration.

Each business day this year, two congressional aides on average traded in their Capitol badges for jobs as federally registered lobbyists.

In the first quarter, 129 congressional staffers filed lobbying registrations, records show. This figure was evenly split along partisan lines. By comparison, 328 former staffers became lobbyists during the entire last election year of 2012.

Paula Burg was one such staffer. She is now Pfizer's new senior director of federal government relations after serving as the Senate Budget Committee's director and senior adviser of health and entitlements under Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Jake Menefee is another. He was Rep. Jim Renacci's (R-Ohio) deputy chief of staff before becoming Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s federal government affairs manager.

The switch from public service to K Street comes as many staffers are frustrated by political gridlock, stagnant wages and uncertainty from the upcoming mid-term election.

LegiStorm is able to track the revolving door in detail by gathering all lobbying registrations and monitoring the job movements of congressional staff in real time.

A Senate Finance Committee aide has taken a bite into a new government affairs job at Apple Inc., the tech giant.

Kristin Smith joined the government affairs staff at Apple after serving two years on the Hill. Most recently Smith worked as an assistant to the staff director for the Senate Finance Committee under Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and, before that, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). She got her start in the Capitol in Baucus' office as a staff assistant.

Smith holds a bachelor's degree in international relations and comparative politics from the University of Montana.

A neurosurgeon convicted of hiding millions of dollars in income from the IRS is the latest lobbying client for former Rep. Jim Slattery (D-Kan.), who is advocating for "restoration of Medicare billing privileges."

Dr. Arvind Ahuja of Greendale, Wis. was convicted on two tax fraud-related charges in August 2012. The Department of Justice and the IRS proved that he filed a false tax return and failed to report his HSBC bank account in India, which was valued at $8.76 million in 2009. Judge Charles Clevert Jr. sentenced Ahuja to three years of probation, three months of house arrest and ordered him to pay $350,000 in fines. The IRS had recommended 41-51 months of prison time. The Wisconite neurosurgeon was acquitted on five other charges related to the case. He currently practices medicine with the Neurosurgery and Endovascular Associates of Milwaukee.

The seven-term congressman is also currently lobbying on the behalf of Oleksandr Tymoshenko, husband of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, for increased U.S. support for Kiev. The Kansas representative served on the House Budget Committee, House Financial Services Committee, House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Veterans' Affairs Committee during his tenure.