With Theodoric Meyer and Daniel Lippman FIRST IN PI — JONES CHIEF OF STAFF HEADS TO K STREET: Dana Gresham, who was chief of staff to Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), has landed on K Street following Jones’ reelection loss. He’ll be a principal at Mindset, the lobbying firm previously known as the Cypress Group before rebranding late last year. He plans to register as a lobbyist, according to the firm. He served as the Department of Transportation’s assistant secretary of governmental affairs in the Obama administration before Jones hired him as chief of staff following his 2017 special election victory. BROWNSTEIN REACHES INTO FLORIDA: Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is expanding its reach to the south, announcing a new strategic partnership with one of Florida’s top lobbying firms, Rubin, Turnbull & Associates. For Brownstein, which consistently ranks among the top-grossing firms in D.C. but whose offices are mostly based in the Western U.S., the alliance will bring access to a state that managing partner Marc Lampkin notes is seeing an uptick in business activity in spite of the pandemic. — “Growth of businesses means government interaction with business becomes more important” and increases the need for lobbying and advocacy expertise, Lampkin said in an interview. The firms will do joint pitches together when appropriate, he said, and will be listed as co-lobbyists when applicable. “This joint effort will maximize opportunities for both firms and deliver strong services to our expanded client roster,” Heather Turnbull, Rubin Turnbull’s managing partner, said in a statement. Good afternoon and welcome to PI. If you haven’t already, check out and subscribe to our fantastic new newsletter The Recast, which breaks down how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Send tips and other K Street gossip: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. TOP GREEN AIDE JOINS NYSE PARENT COMPANY: Robert Eskridge, who was most recently chief of staff to Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), is leaving the Hill after nearly a decade to become director of government affairs at Intercontinental Exchange, the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange. He will register to lobby on behalf of the stock exchange and Intercontinental Exchange as well as its clients and NYSE-listed companies. Prior to serving as Green’s chief of staff, Eskridge spent eight years as a counsel to the House Ethics Committee. DISNEY TAPS ITS NEW TOP LOBBYIST: The Walt Disney Co. has named Susan Fox as its new senior vice president of government relations, a post vacated late last year with the sudden death of the entertainment empire’s previous chief lobbyist, Richard Bates . “I was very fortunate to work closely with my dear friend and mentor Richard Bates for nearly 20 years and watched him build one of the strongest and most respected policy teams in Washington, D.C.,” Fox said in a statement, adding that she is “grateful to have been part of that team, and look forward to contributing to the important work it continues to do on behalf of The Walt Disney Company in my new capacity.” Fox first joined Disney in 2001 and most recently served as the company’s vice president of government relations. BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE OBJECTS TO MINIMUM WAGE HIKE IN STIMULUS BILL: The Business Roundtable, one of the top corporate lobbying groups in Washington, called on lawmakers Tuesday to drop their push for an federal increase in the minimum wage as part of the latest pandemic relief bill. In a letter to congressional leadership, Joshua Bolten , the group’s chief executive, called for the “swift” passage of a bipartisan aid package. Bolten reiterated that the roundtable, whose members include corporate America’s top executives, supports a regionally based increase in the minimum wage, but he wrote that the group believes that “these issues would be better debated in future legislation so as not to delay urgent resources for the public health response and economic recovery.” ON MINIMUM WAGE, ALL EYES ON SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN: As Democrats prepare to pass President Joe Biden’s nearly $2 trillion relief bill as soon as Friday with language that would include a gradual increase of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, the fate of the proposal will fall to Elizabeth MacDonough, “the arbiter of strict Senate rules that limit what can be included in the package.” MacDonough, The New York Times’ Emily Cochrane reports, “has become the subject of an intensive lobbying campaign by senators in both parties to bless their favored items, or nix those they oppose.” — “Studies and reports have been obtained, arguments drafted and tea leaves obsessively examined — all in a bid to persuade Ms. MacDonough, who will determine the fate of several key liberal provisions, including a federal minimum wage increase Mr. Biden has championed. The decision on the wage increase could come as early as Wednesday.” McKINSEY PARTNERS OUST GLOBAL MANAGING PARTNER: “McKinsey partners have voted to replace Kevin Sneader as global managing partner in a historic rebuke over his handling of a succession of crises,” Financial Times’ Arash Massoudi, Andrew Hill and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson report. “This year’s vote by the firm’s 650 senior partners was seen as a referendum on Sneader’s handling of crises, including US litigation over the consultancy’s advice to opioid manufacturers and its work in autocratic countries around the world.” The vote comes weeks after McKinsey paid $574 million to settle lawsuits in nearly every state in the country “over its advice to Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers accused of fuelling an epidemic of prescription drug overdoses. The consultancy expressed ‘regret’ but admitted no guilt.” | 
