El Segundo-based government relations and lobbying firm Vectis Strategies has opened a Washington, D.C., office with two former California congressmen as partners, the firm announced last week.

The six-member Washington office will lobby Congress and federal agencies on behalf of the firm’s California business clients. The office is anchored by Tony Coelho, 76, a former Democratic congressman from Modesto who rose to become majority whip in the House of Representatives in the late 1980s; and Ron Packard, 87, a former Republican congressman from Carlsbad who chaired a subcommittee on energy, water and military construction in the same body.

“Vectis DC creates a level of focus that better articulates our value in (Washington) D.C. – where we can work with existing lobbying firms or in-house teams to ‘carve out’ California,” said David Herbst, founder and managing partner of Vectis Strategies and a founding partner of Vectis DC. “No firm knows the Golden State better than Vectis DC.”

Among Vectis Strategies’ local clients: Pasadena-based engineering firm Parsons Corp., Aerospace Corp. in El Segundo, Rose Bowl Operating Co., Archdiocese of Los Angeles, LA BioMed and Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles.

Veteran Washington, D.C., congressional staffer Don Polese serves as managing partner of the D.C. office. Also on the team are former Hermosa Beach Mayor Michael DiVirgilio and Rick Olivarez, grandson of the late Rep. Edward Roybal.