Posted by Keturah Hetrick on Feb. 5, 2024
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is retiring, but that isn't stopping him from hiring one of the only lobbyists his office has ever employed.
Stephen Newton has joined Romney's office from government-affairs firm Porterfield, Fettig & Sears. His big-name lobbying clients there included Nasdaq, M&T Bank, AirBnB and the American Bankers Association. He is now Romney's deputy chief of staff for policy.
This is not Newton's first position on the Hill, or even with Romney: He was one the senator's first hires when Romney took office in 2019. Newton is also an alumnus of Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) and the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
While this isn't Romney's first time employing Newton, it does reflect a departure from the senator's normal hiring patterns. In five years as a senator, Romney has added only two other registered federal lobbyists to his staff. Only one former Romney staffer has gone on to become a lobbyist after leaving the office.
Some people and organizations who "caught our eye" last week:
