MAHLER’S MOVEMENTS. Jason Mahler, chief of staff for Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., since 2003, is taking a position as vice president of government affairs for Oracle Corp. From 1999-2003, Mahler was vice president and general counsel at the Computer & Communications Industry Association. During a tour on Capitol Hill from 1994-1995, he was a legislative assistant and legislative fellow for Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. From 1995-1999, Mahler was a legislative assistant and counsel for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Duke University before getting a law degree from the University of North Carolina. He started out in Washington as an associate with law firm Krivit & Krivit.
SOLO ACT. Lobbyist Missy Edwards has decided to start a government affairs firm, Missy Edwards Strategies. Edwards has been working as a senior vice president at Clark & Weinstock. Before that, she worked at the Washington Group, which eventually merged with Clark & Weinstock. She still expects to have a business relationship with Clark & Weinstock, but she says the details have yet to be worked out.

“I was at the point in my career where I wanted to do something a little bit more entrepreneurial,” says Edwards. “My intention is to grow and hire some folks as soon as I can.” The firm’s focus will be on health care, energy and financial services, three hot issues in Congress. And the firm will work on “Republican development,” says Edwards, a fundraiser for Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Edwards was director of development and finance at the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles under its chairman then, Minority Leader McConnell. She has also spent time as assistant director of congressional relations for the American Medical Association. She got her start in Washington working for six years as an aide for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., where she dealt with health care, appropriations and other issues. “It was certainly an interesting time to work for him,” she says, mentioning the earlier big fight over health care during former President Bill Clinton’s first term. Edwards is a local, growing up in Northern Virginia. Her father, Macon Edwards, is a longtime agriculture lobbyist who also runs his shop. His roots are in Mississippi, where Missy attended the University of Mississippi.

Gregg Sangillo
Reporter
National Journal
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