Tesla Motors hires Dianne Feinstein's staff after Dianne Feinstein Gets Tesla their taxpayer cash after her family buys stock market stock in TESLA!

 By Rachel Leven - 12/19/11 11:00 AM ET 


The upstart electric car company Tesla Motors has hired its first in-house Washington lobbyist. 

Daniel Witt, a former staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), will be the sole legislative and policy associate for Tesla Motors in Washington, according to a registration form.

The company will lobby on “energy and transportation appropriations, tax reform, vehicle fuel economy and safety standards, domestic manufacturing regulations and incentive,” the company said in Senate records filed Friday.

Witt left Capitol Hill in late 2011 and was most recently a legislative aide, records available on Legistorm show. He went to work for Feinstein in July 2007, starting out as a staff assistant. 

Tesla Motors is not a newcomer to the advocacy game. Cauthen Forbes & Williams, K&L Gates and McBee Strategic Consulting have all lobbied for the company since 2007. McBee was the only firm that lobbied for Tesla in the most recent quarter and was paid $30,000 to lobby the House, Senate and White House on tax, transportation and energy issues. 

Tesla Motors did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lobbying registration.