ATR dropping another seven figures to target Democratic senators on reconciliation

From: POLITICO Influence - Tuesday Dec 14,2021 09:41 pm
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By Caitlin Oprysko

Presented by Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l

With Daniel Lippman

ATR DROPS ANOTHER MILLION-PLUS TO FIGHT BBB: Americans for Tax Reform is launching a seven-figure ad blitz targeting Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. The ads, which come as Manchin continues to withhold support for the roughly $1.7 trillion bill , will run online and in print, as well as air on TV and radio. The spot highlights rising inflation, arguing that the Democratic reconciliation package would “throw gasoline on the fire.”

— The campaign also takes aim at lawmakers’ drug pricing plans, calling them a “government takeover of drug pricing,” while warning they could “threaten new treatments” — though the CBO found last month that the House-passed version would result in one fewer drug coming to market over the next decade. The new buy is on top of $2.2 million the Grover Norquist -founded anti-tax group has spent opposing the bill, including a campaign launched in September targeting 30 House lawmakers.

LITTLER SNAGS RESTAURANTS’ LABOR LOBBYIST: Shannon Meade, a labor lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association, is departing the trade group to join the labor and employment law firm Littler Mendelson . Meade will be executive director of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, which lobbies on labor policies at the state and federal levels.

— Meade has been with the restaurant association since 2016 and most recently served as vice president of public policy and legal advocacy with a focus on labor, workforce development and immigration issues — all major issues for the trade association this year. She previously served as senior director of government and political affairs for the National Association of Travel Plaza and Truck Stop Operators and is a Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) and Jon Porter alum.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI . Have you or your firm signed any interesting clients lately? Drafting up any interesting memos for clients? Send them my way: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

 

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DEMOCRATS INTRODUCE BILL BARRING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MULTINATIONALS: Nearly two dozen House Democrats introduced a bill today that would block multinational corporations from donating money in U.S. elections. The bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), has introduced similar iterations of the legislation in each of the last two Congresses, but it has never gotten so much as a committee markup.

— Aimed at closing what Raskin, progressive groups like the Center for American Progress and government watchdog groups like Public Citizen call a loophole that was created in the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, the bill would ban companies with partial foreign ownership from giving to candidates, parties or committees or engaging in their own direct election spending.

— The bill defines partial foreign ownership as having one foreign owner who holds, owns, controls, or has beneficial ownership of 1 percent or more of the business; multiple foreign owners who hold, control or have beneficial ownership of 5 percent or more of the business; or one or more foreign owners who participate directly or indirectly in the company’s decision-making process with respect to political activities. It’s similar to a measure passed by the Seattle City Council last year targeting homegrown Amazon, and the activist group Free Speech For People in a press release touting the bill name-checked others like Meta (formerly known as Facebook), Uber and Airbnb as potential targets.

— “Six days after the Supreme Court invented corporate free speech rights in Citizens United, President Obama warned that the Court had just opened ‘the floodgates’ for foreign interests to funnel cash freely into American elections through corporations. He was right,” Raskin said in a statement, arguing that his bill “will stop this dangerous stream of foreign cash and influence from flowing in our campaigns through corporate spending.”

ADVOCATES FIND A NEW MEDIA TARGET TO GET ON BIDEN'S RADAR: During the Trump years, advocates looking to get a message to the president turned to Fox News. These days, POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs and Max Tani report, “a handful of organizations with legislative interests before the government have taken to running print ads in Delaware’s The News Journal in an effort to get their message in front of the world’s most powerful individual, one who is likely the paper's most famous reader.”

— “A review of the paper found that 17 ads have been run by these groups between September and mid-November alone. The ads’ messages range from calling on President Joe Biden to take action on renewable fuel policy, to imploring him to draw down the country's nuclear arsenal, to expressing gratitude that he preserved tribal cultural heritage sites in Utah. They often run alongside the paper’s more traditional ad content: print ads that urge local readers to buy a motorized scooter or hire a new local roofer.

— “Biden was known to read The News Journal during his tenure as vice president, and regularly fielded questions from the paper’s reporters on the 2020 campaign trail. That’s carried over, at least in part, to his time as president. POLITICO reported in May that the paper — which employs a few dozen reporters, has been in existence for more than 100 years and largely focuses on Delaware — was read in the White House and delivered to Biden’s Wilmington home. Just a few weeks after POLITICO’s story was published, a group advocating for Puerto Rican statehood ran an advertisement in The News Journal reminding the president of his previous support for that position, and urging him to back legislation advocating statehood.”

HOW CHINA IS LOBBYING ON THE DIPLOMATIC BOYCOTT OF OLYMPICS: “The Chinese government hired a firm to recruit social media influencers as part of a new digital operation amid controversies surrounding diplomatic boycotts of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics,” OpenSecretsAnna Massoglia reports.

— “The influence operation is being coordinated by Vippi Media , a consulting firm based in New Jersey, as part of a $300,000 contract that spans through March 2022. China’s Consulate General in New York paid $210,000 in advance on Nov. 23,” according to records filed with the Justice Department. “As part of the online influence campaign to promote the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and the 2022 Paralympics, the Chinese government is paying the firm to recruit influencers who are ‘to be activated to drive viewership, mass awareness and premium content’ for China.”

— “Most of the influencers’ posts are expected to focus on ‘Beijing & China elements,’ including ‘Beijing’s history, cultural relics, modern life of people, new trends,’ Chinese athletes’ preparations and ‘touching moments.’ At least 20% of the posts are supposed to focus on ‘cooperation and any good things in China-US relations,’” while “promoting news and trends from the consulate are expected to make up just 10% of the deliverables, meaning most of the content is coming directly from social influencers enlisted by the firm.”

— Massoglia notes that the “new $300,000 contract is far less than China spends on China Daily or CCTV , but it demonstrates how online influencers can have a wide reach without the high costs of physical newspaper production or television programming. While China Daily’s entire international print readership is estimated to be around 900,000, a single ‘celebrity’ influencer targeted as part of the Chinese government’s new campaign would have more than 2 million Instagram followers or 2.5 million TikTok followers.”

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FOOD FIGHT: “A transportation industry fight over vegetable oil and animal fats is heating up as the sector races to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” POLITICO's Catherine Boudreau reports. “Fuels made from plant and animal waste are in hot demand as companies that operate planes, trucks, trains and ships want to use them to lower climate impacts. Now, Congress is considering extra tax credits for an emerging sector: sustainable aviation fuel.”

— “A coalition of truck stop owners and diesel distributors argues that a provision in Democrats' Build Back Better Act would give the aviation fuel market an unfair advantage in accessing the limited supply of oils and fats, with negative consequences for the planet. SAF proponents say those concerns are overblown because clean aviation fuel is a nascent industry playing catch up, and also has strict environmental standards.”

— “Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) led the push for the tax credits with support from airlines, environmental groups and companies that make both clean jet fuel and renewable diesel. He said the proposal is a key part of the broader effort to combat global warming,” and argued that “other transportation sectors have multiple” other means for reducing emissions, unlike the aviation industry.

Jobs Report

Jen Friedman will lead global communications for NBCUniversal as executive vice president of communications, per The Hollywood Reporter. She was most recently the managing director for public affairs at Blackstone.

Kevin Boland is now director of corporate affairs at Saab. He most recently worked at Lockheed Martin and is a Granger and John Boehner alum.

Terrence Thompson will be vice president of U.S. government affairs at IT infrastructure services provider Kyndryl. He previously served as a director in the government affairs division at Dell Technologies.

Jaana Syme is joining Meguire Whitney as an associate. She most recently was a legislative correspondent for Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah).

Kate McLean will be executive director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. She was previously managing director and director of programs for the nonprofit.

Will Ruger will be the new president of the American Institute for Economic Research after eight years as vice president for research and policy at the Charles Koch Institute and vice president for foreign policy at Stand Together, per POLITICO's National Security Daily. Dan Caldwell will now head Stand Together’s foreign policy efforts.

John Rader recently started at Affinity Partners, Jared Kushner ’s new private equity firm, where he’s helping run day-to-day operations. He most recently was chief of staff to Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and is a Trump White House and NSC alum.

Alex Macfarlane will be director of public affairs at SKDK. She currently is communications director for Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.).

Brock Murphy is now governmental and public affairs lead at Interstellar Lab. He most recently was an executive assistant at SpaceX, and is a Trump OMB alum.

Elizabeth K. Harnik is now director of events and experiences at Edens. She most recently was a producer at Markham and worked for Biden's Inaugural Committee.

 

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New PACs

Blue CD2 New Mexico USA (Super PAC)
Collin County Young Democrats (PAC)
Ephrata Public Interest Committee (PAC)
The Fighting 10th PAC (Leadership PAC: Mitchell Swan)
Glendale Parents United (Super PAC)
Green Florida (Super PAC)
INDEPENDENT VOTER COALITION (PAC)
Texans for Freedom (Super PAC)

 

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New Lobbying Registrations

Keller Partners & Company: City Of Huntington
Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C.: Sio2
Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C.: The City Of Decatur, Al
Michael Powelson: Save The Redwoods League
Miller & Chevalier Chartered: The Carlyle Group
Rokala Public Affairs (Fka Mr Mark Rokala): 2Blades Foundation
Sconset Strategies, LLC: Finkelstein & Krinsk, LLP
The Vogel Group: Pacify Health
Washington Navigators: University Of Texas Austin

New Lobbying Terminations

North Star Liberty Group: Minorities For Medical Marijuana

 

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