Bolton-St. Johns comes to D.C. — Venn adds Whitehouse chief — Broderick Johnson heads to Comcast

From: POLITICO Influence - Tuesday Jul 13,2021 10:02 pm

Jul 13, 2021

Presented by

With Daniel Lippman and Theodoric Meyer

FIRST IN PI — BOLTON ST. JOHNS OPENS UP SHOP IN D.C.: Bolton-St. Johns , one of New York’s top lobbying shops, is branching out to Washington to open its first office in the nation’s capital. The firm, which has offices in Albany, Buffalo and New York City, is still searching for the location of its physical office in D.C. but has already signed three new clients for its new office: Freedom for All Americans, Fluid Truck and Rural Organizing . It’s a natural extension for a firm whose clients include New York-based corporations that already do a ton of work in Washington. It also comes as New Yorkers like Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Carolyn Maloney, Jerry Nadler and Elise Stefanik gain top leadership positions on the Hill, said Emily Giske, a senior partner at the firm who leads BSJ’s Albany and Manhattan offices.

— “There’s always been a huge intersection” between New York and Washington, she said in an interview, pointing to Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams ’ visit to the White House on Monday as one example of the deep connections. Before, Giske said, working with clients in New York who had business in D.C. “was like we were missing a silo, because we represent them not only in New York City, but also in Albany, so it was very important that we hit the ground running in Washington, as well.” What Bolton-St. Johns hopes to offer, she said, is that clients “know that we understand the new New York nuances” — and “they get the accent for free,” she joked. The firm expects to be heavily involved on immigration issues, as well as rural issues and the infrastructure bill, Giske said.

— Bolton-St. Johns has already added to its Washington office, bringing on Michelle Nawar as managing director. Nawar previously was director of legislation at the Service Employees International Union, serving as its chief lobbyist for the Affordable Care Act. The firm already includes Anne Marie Anzalone , who served as district chief of staff to former Rep. Joe Crowley, as well as Debra Feinberg, who was previously general counsel for the Partnership for New York City and former director of operations at Steiner Studios.

VENN ADDS WHITEHOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Sam Goodstein, a longtime chief of staff to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), has left the Hill and joined Venn Strategies as an executive vice president. There, he’ll be involved with Venn’s oversight and investigations practice, in addition to lobbying for “a broad spectrum” of clients on issues from tax to infrastructure to environment to health care. In an interview, Goodstein said he just felt that it was time to leave the Hill after nearly two decades — he also worked for Ken Salazar, the former Interior secretary and current nominee for ambassador to Mexico, when he was still in the House. “Senator Whitehouse is an amazing senator, and an incredible boss,” Goodstein said. “But I think anyone would agree that 10 years as a Senate chief and 16 years on the Hill is a good long run and I’m just excited for the next opportunity.”

BRODERICK JOHNSON HEADS TO COMCAST: Broderick Johnson is joining Comcast as executive vice president for public policy and head of the telecom giant’s push for equity in broadband access. Johnson, a former assistant to President Barack Obama as well as his Cabinet secretary, joined Covington & Burling as senior of counsel in 2019 and was previously a partner at Bryan Cave. Johnson will work with Mitch Rose , the firm’s executive vice president for federal government affairs, and both will report to chief legal officer Tom Reid.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send K Street tips and musings: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

A message from Altria:

Moving beyond smoking. Altria’s companies are leading the way in moving adult smokers away from cigarettes – by taking action to transition millions toward less harmful choices. We are investing in a diverse mix of businesses to broaden options beyond traditional, combustible cigarettes. See how we’re moving.

FIRST IN PI — TOP UBER LOBBYIST DEPARTS COMPANY: Rideshare giant Uber’s head of federal affairs, Danielle Burr, is stepping down from her role and leaving the company. In a statement to PI, Burr, who joined Uber in 2017 after a stint at Peck Madigan Jones (now Tiber Creek Group) and after three years working for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, would not reveal her next steps but touted the company’s successes during her tenure, including its acquisition of delivery app Postmates and its decision to offer free rides to Covid-19 vaccines.

J&J’S BARNARD JUMPS TO AKIN GUMP: Michael Barnard is leaving Johnson & Johnson, where he was director of federal affairs, and joining Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s swiftly growing health practice as a senior policy adviser. Barnard, who spent six years as a health adviser to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) prior to his four years with Johnson & Johnson, told PI in an interview he’s excited to get involved in the various health fights on the Hill, from drug pricing to the infrastructure bill, as well as on the regulatory side. Barnard is the fifth new hire for Akin Gump’s health practice this year, behind Anna Abram, Jose Borjon, Mario Ramirez and Matthew Hittle.

BUCK, LEE ASK FOR AMAZON TO TESTIFY ON JEDI INFLUENCE EFFORTS: A pair of GOP lawmakers has called on Amazon to testify in Congress about its efforts to win a $10 billion Pentagon cloud computing contract after previously unreleased emails “show that Pentagon officials in 2017 and 2018 lavished praise on several of the tech executives whose companies expressed interest in the original contract, especially Amazon, while concerns about the company’s access appear to have been glossed over,” according to The New York Times’ Ken Vogel and Kate Conger. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the top Republicans on the House and Senate subcommittees overseeing antitrust and frequent tech critics, want to grill the company about “whether it tried to improperly influence the largest federal contract in history,” known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, project.

— The Pentagon just canceled that contract and plans to replace it with another lucrative project to move the department’s servers to the cloud after Amazon sued, claiming that political interference by then-President Donald Trump resulted in the contract’s being awarded to Microsoft instead. But the newly released emails “show in the months leading up to the JEDI fight, top Pentagon officials and Silicon Valley executives engaged in an admiring courtship that led to high-level access for some of the firms that would later express interest in the contract.”

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

— “An investigation by the Defense Department’s inspector general dismissed the most serious allegations about Amazon and Pentagon officials improperly tilting the contracting process to the company,” but a report last year did not include, among other things, expressions of concern about a 2017 demonstration at Amazon’s headquarters that “seemed to morph into an AWS sales pitch” to then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that reportedly made the secretary uncomfortable. In another email, Sally Donnelly, a Mattis adviser who once counted Amazon among the clients at her consulting firm, weighed setting up a meeting between Mattis and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, writing that Bezos “is the genius of our age, so why not.”

BUSINESS GROUPS LOBBY AGAINST BIDEN LABOR PICKS: “David Weil, President Biden’s pick to run the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, is facing fierce opposition from several business groups,” The Hill’s Karl Evers-Hillstrom reports. “Business lobbying groups, including the National Restaurant Association, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and International Franchise Association (IFA), sent a letter to committee leaders Tuesday urging them to reject Weil’s nomination,” ahead of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health Committee on Thursday. Michael Layman, IFA’s vice president of federal government affairs, asserted to The Hill the groups feel Weil, who previously held the role under the Obama administration and issued rules businesses opposed, “cannot be trusted to enforce the law in a neutral manner” and expressed concern that he might try to enact labor-friendly regulations that have run into roadblocks in Congress.

— Meanwhile, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, whose members include the aforementioned groups, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Small Business Association, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Grocers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the International Council of Shopping Centers and the American Trucking Association, urged lawmakers to reject two of Biden’s nominees to the National Labor Relations Board. The group asserted that David Prouty and Gwynne Wilcox, both longtime union lawyers, would pose a “glaring conflict of interest” due to their past litigation and also expressed concerns that they could be impartial.

ACTIVIST GROUP ASKS TOYOTA TO REQUEST REFUNDS FROM ELECTION OBJECTORS: Liberal group End Citizens United is asking Toyota to request refunds of the nearly $60,000 in political contributions it’s made this year to members of Congress who objected to Biden’s electoral college victory in the wake of January’s insurrection. According to data compiled by the left-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington , the automaker was by far one of the top donors to election objectors, despite saying after the insurrection that it would be reassessing its contribution criteria. Last week, after backlash over its contributions and hearing from “troubled stakeholders,” the company said its PAC would no longer give to those lawmakers.

— End Citizens United wants the company to go further, asking in a letter to North America CEO and President Tetsuo Ogawa and head of government affairs Stephen Ciccone to request a refund of its donations and “to make clear this is a permanent, not temporary, pause.” Anything less, the group’s president, Tiffany Muller, asserted, “will expose the latest announcement as just another public relations stunt designed to provide cover and mitigate reputational damage until it is safe to donate again.”

Jobs Report

— Narrative Strategies has hired Christine Hennessey as a director. She most recently served as communications director for Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), working on various issues including healthcare, tax, technology, trade, the environment, and financial services. The firm also hired Riley Doyle as an associate.

— HillStaffer has added Glenn Ruskin to its senior team. Ruskin most recently served as vice president for external affairs and communications for the American Chemical Society.

— Global Strategy Group hired Amanda Thayer and Marnee Banks as vice presidents of communications and public affairs. Thayer rejoins GSG after four years at NARAL Pro-Choice America , where she led political and national communications. Banks was most recently chief communications and operating officer at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. She’s also a Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) alum.

— Tiffany Derentz has joined Berry Appleman & Leiden’s government strategies team. She was previously an adviser and supervisory attorney in the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Visa Office at the State Department, then an attorney in the Office of the Legal Adviser, including as a senior adviser to the department’s chief legal adviser for immigration affairs.

— Rachael Novier Marsh is rejoining Bracewell as a partner in its energy regulatory practice. Marsh was at FERC for seven years, most recently serving as a top legal advisor to former chair and now Commissioner Neil Chatterjee.

— Peter Wright is joining Barnes & Thornburg as a partner in its D.C. office. Wright was previously assistant administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management at EPA.

— Matthew Pottinger will be head of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He was previously former President Donald Trump's deputy national security adviser.

— Chris Berardini has joined Becker as a senior international and government relations director in its federal lobbying practice. He was most recently with Iron Bridge Strategies, a boutique international government affairs and political intelligence firm that he founded.

— Former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening has joined Scarlet Oak Strategies as a senior adviser. He most recently spent two decades as president of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute.

— Dish Network has promoted Jessica Straus and Alison Minea to vice president. Straus was previously a director of government affairs in Dish’s Washington office and Minea was previously senior counsel and director of regulatory affairs.

— Trident DMG has added Helen McCarthy as senior account manager and Emma Novak as an assistant account manager. McCarthy was most recently an associate at Weber Shandwick.

SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel.

New Joint Fundraisers

None.

New PACs

None.

A message from Altria:

Moving beyond smoking. Altria’s companies are leading the way in moving adult smokers away from cigarettes. Today, we are taking action to transition millions toward less harmful choices.

From cigarettes to innovative alternatives. By investing in a diverse mix of businesses, Altria is working to further broaden options. Our companies are encouraging adult smokers to transition to a range of choices that go beyond traditional, combustible cigarettes.

From tobacco company to tobacco harm reduction company. And while Altria is moving forward to reduce harm, we are not moving alone. We are working closely with FDA and other regulatory bodies, and will work strictly under their framework.

See how we’re moving.

New Lobbying Registrations

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld: Texas Southern University
Ben Barnes Group Lp: Green Ocean Sciences
Ben Barnes Group Lp: Santa Fe Farms
Blount Strategic Initiatives: Exotic Wildlife Association
Blount Strategic Initiatives: National Sheriff's Association
Blount Strategic Initiatives: Starc Systems
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP: Montgomery Area Chamber Of Commerce
Clyburn Consulting, LLC: Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority
Clyburn Consulting, LLC: City Of Aiken, Sc
Dent Strategies: American Family Mutual Insurance Company
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC (F/K/A Ervin Hill Strategy): Comcosm International, Inc.
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC (F/K/A Ervin Hill Strategy): Everest Business Funding
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC (F/K/A Ervin Hill Strategy): Fort Cady California Corporation
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC (F/K/A Ervin Hill Strategy): Sempre
Everylife Foundation For Rare Diseases: Everylife Foundation For Rare Diseases
Healthsperien LLC: Exact Care Pharmacy
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (Formerly Hunton & Williams LLP): Denbury Inc.
Klein/Johnson Group: Television Operators Caucus (Toc)
Lincoln Policy Group: The Blockchain Association
Mcdermott Will & Emery LLP: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, Inc.: Witricity
Nvg, LLC: Friends Of The Earth
Squire Patton Boggs: Quikr
Stapleton & Associates, LLC: Loc Performance Inc.
The Aegis Group, Ltd.: Go Mama Go Designs
Tiber Creek Group: Sap America Inc.

New Lobbying Terminations

Beacon Street Strategies, LLC: Rapid Micro Biosystems, Inc.
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Pc: Ani Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Pc: Murray Hill Group Inc.
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Pc: Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative
Capstone National Partners: Brain Aneurysm Foundation
Delta Development Group, Inc.: Innovative Manufacturers' Center
Ghazal & Associates, LLC: Advanced Technology Systems Company
Leger Strategies, LLC: Wpx Energy
Miller & Chevalier, Chtd: Alight Solutions
Squire Patton Boggs: Fintech Advisory Inc.