LegiStorm

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) has sold $1.25 million to $2.5 million worth of stock in the five Big Tech companies. The six-day selling spree began Oct. 27 with a sale of as much as $500,000 worth of Facebook stock, according to a disclosure he filed with Congress last Friday.

The sale of these assets comes three weeks after LegiStorm first reported that Hickenlooper held as much as $500,000 worth of stock in Facebook while questioning Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in a committee hearing about how the company's bottom line could be affected by policy changes.

In addition to his stock in Facebook, Hickenlooper sold between $250,001 and $500,000 worth of stock each in Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google parent company Alphabet between Oct. 29 and Nov. 1, according to the disclosure. While Hickenlooper has fully divested his holdings in Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet, he still holds between $500,001 and $1 million worth of stock each in Apple and Microsoft.

According to Hickenlooper's most recent annual financial disclosure filed in May, and taking into account recent transactions he's made, the total value of his assets ranges from $6.7 million to $19.5 million. The exact value of assets is not publicly known, as members of Congress are only required to disclose values within broad ranges. 

After working for three members in a single year, a GOP staffer has found a new home off the Hill.

Yvonne Barker started this month as government-relations manager at Schneider Electric. The Fortune 500 energy-management company lobbies on issues including grid modernization, infrastructure and manufacturing.

Barker most recently as Rep. Victoria Spartz's (R-Ind.) deputy chief of staff and counsel. Before that, she did a short stint with Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) and spent five years with then-Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) until his departure from Congress at the end of last term.

After working for West Virginia members in both chambers, a GOP aide has landed at the telecom industry's biggest Washington advocate.

Sydney Pettit is now government-affairs director at CTIA - The Wireless Association. The trade group is on track to spend more than $11.1 million on federal lobbying this year and, according to OpenSecrets, is the highest-spending telecommunications lobbying group.

Pettit comes from the office of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), where she was a legislative assistant. Before that, the West Virginia native worked for Rep. David McKinley (R-W.V.).

A GOP Hill staffer is back to the House as Rep. Dan Bishop's (R-N.C.) legislative director and counsel.

Scott Knittle started yesterday with Bishop's office. He most recently worked as senior counsel to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Before leaving for HUD, Knittle worked for Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.) and for former Reps. Karen Handel (R-Ga.) and Keith Rothfus (R-Pa.).

Rep. Matt Rosendale's (R-Mont.) new chief of staff might be new to the Hill, but he's no stranger to the Washington establishment.

Trevor Whetstone spent most of the last decade working for the federal government, most recently working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as senior policy counsel. He's also done several stints with the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs and served as a justice adviser to Donald Trump's Domestic Policy Council.

Whetstone replaces James Braid, Rosendale's original chief of staff, who left last month for the Conservative Partnership Institute.