Chamber goes in for the kill on BBB

From: POLITICO Influence - Thursday Dec 16,2021 09:19 pm

Dec 16, 2021

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THE CHAMBER GOES IN FOR THE KILL ON BBB: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is readying a multi-pronged campaign aimed at keeping the pressure on two of the reconciliation bill’s key holdouts in the Senate, Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, your host reports, going in for the kill on the $1.7 trillion climate and social spending bill now that it’s secured a huge win in the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

— In West Virginia, the Chamber is going up with a TV ad in which residents of the state, who were vetted by the group, thank Manchin for “fighting for my business,” as one woman puts it, and “standing up for my family,” as another says. “Keep fighting for us, senator,” another person in the spot says of Manchin, who has reemerged of late as the primary roadblock to the bill. “We can't afford higher taxes and more inflation.”

— The group is also going up with TV and print ads in Arizona to target Sinema and fellow Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, the latter of whom is facing a tight reelection battle next year, and a TV ad in Nevada targeting Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto , who is also likely to face a close reelection fight next fall. The ads urge the senators to “protect American workers” and reject “reckless tax increases” on corporations.

— In addition to the TV ad blitz, the Chamber is putting up digital billboards in cities throughout West Virginia and Arizona, and taking out full-page ads in the Sunday editions of newspapers around both states this weekend. The U.S. Chamber and its state counterparts in Arizona and West Virginia also hosted a tele-town hall Tuesday and Wednesday, which the organization said drew thousands of constituents apiece. All of that is on top of radio campaigns in the senators’ home states launched earlier this month.

— The full-court press underscores the power that a single lawmaker has in the evenly divided Senate, and the Chamber’s blitz is far from the only one zeroing in on Manchin. As PI reported Tuesday, the anti-tax advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform went live with a seven-figure ad buy this week hitting the West Virginia Democrat, Cortez-Masto and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) over the bill. Data from the ad-tracking firm Ad Impact shows three different groups have spent more than $300,000 since the end of November on ads urging Manchin to keep digging in his heels on reconciliation.

— And several advocacy groups are pushing their interests by running polls in the state. The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors released polling this week that found that 53 percent of West Virginians opposed the reconciliation bill and that two-thirds felt Congress should pump the brakes given inflation concerns. On the flip side, Paid Leave for All, a national advocacy group pressing Manchin to drop his opposition to including paid leave in the reconciliation bill, released its own survey earlier this month that found nearly three-quarters of West Virginia voters support some kind of paid leave policy.

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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PUTTING THE ‘PAC’ IN AIPAC: “The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC, will launch a super PAC ahead of the 2022 midterms, wading into direct spending for and against candidates for the first time,” POLITICO’s Elena Schneider reports. “The group announced the move to launch two bipartisan PACs, a federal PAC and a super PAC, to supporters on Thursday morning, ‘to make us more effective in fulfilling our mission in the current political environment,’ according to an email sent to members that was shared with POLITICO.”

— “The PACs ‘will highlight and support current pro-Israel Democratic and Republican members of Congress, as well as candidates for Congress,’ continued the email, which was signed by AIPAC President Betsy Berns Korn. ‘Hyper-partisanship, high congressional turnover, and the exponential growth in the cost of campaigns now dominate the landscape. As such, the Board has decided to introduce these two new tools.’”

— Marilyn Rosenthal will lead the federal PAC, and the super PAC will be led by Rob Bassin , according to an AIPAC official. The organization, whose advocacy efforts have previously stuck to lobbying, “declined to share more information on which specific races or candidates the group might weigh in on, nor did the group confirm whether it planned to spend money on primaries for either party.” But its venture into direct spending comes as Democrats in the party’s more liberal wing have grown more comfortable breaking with the party line, criticizing Israel over human rights issues. AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann said the committees “will work in a bipartisan way.”

HAMILTON PLACE PROMOTES 3: Hamilton Place Strategies has promoted Andrea Christianson, Bryan DeAngelis and Christina Pearson to partner at the strategic comms firm. Christianson has been with the firm since 2013, most recently serving as managing director, while DeAngelis, a former aide to Biden confidant and former senator Chris Dodd , and Pearson, a Trump HHS alum, joined in 2019.

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ANNALS OF MAR-A-LAGO FUNDRAISERS: Since former President Donald Trump “returned from his New Jersey club to Palm Beach, Fla., this fall, Mar-a-Lago has become a hotbed for Republican fundraisers , with candidates jockeying to line the former president’s pockets in hopes of winning his endorsement, get a photo with him or simply give donors a chance to be in his presence,” The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey and David Farenthold report.

— It’s “a revenue stream that began during his time in the White House and has only strengthened since he left office. Rather than hosting fellow Republicans, Trump is charging them for the privilege of using his venues.” The Post “identified at least 30 events held by GOP candidates or conservative groups at Trump properties through mid-December, based on campaign finance records and social media posts. That’s more than The Post tallied in any previous year; in 2020, the Post counted 13 such fundraisers — most of them paid for by Trump’s own reelection campaign.”

MARIJUANA LOBBY TAPS ILLINOIS CANNABIS CZAR: “The top marijuana official in Illinois, Toi Hutchinson, is leaving her state job to work for the national lobbying group that led the push to legalize cannabis in the state,” Robert McCoppin and Dan Petrella report for the Chicago Tribune.

— “Hutchinson, who was Gov. JB Pritzker’s senior adviser for cannabis control, stepped down to become president and CEO of the Marijuana Policy Project , or MPP, which took credit for writing much of the legalization law in Illinois.” As a former state senator, Hutchinson “worked with the MPP to write and pass the statute that legalized the sale and possession of recreational cannabis for adults, which became effective in 2020,” buthe has been criticized for equity and implementation stumbles.

— “Hutchinson’s departure comes just before a new state ethics law takes effect Jan. 1. A provision in the law prohibits executive branch officials from taking jobs that involve lobbying at the state level for six months after leaving their government jobs,” though a spokesperson for MPP told the Tribune that its advocacy efforts focus on states where cannabis has not yet been legalized.

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Jobs Report

— Brooke Hempell is joining Pinkston as senior vice president of research. She was previously senior vice president of research for Barna.

— Erin Streeter will be named executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers. She is currently senior vice president of communications and brand strategy there. Carolyn Lee has been named president of NAM’s Manufacturing Institute, Keith Smith will serve as chief administrative officer, and chief of staff Alyssa Shooshan will also assume leadership of NAM Board strategy, in addition to a slew of other promotions.

— Brandi Hoffine Barr is now senior director of policy communications at Peloton. She previously was in policy communications at Facebook.

— Nate Gatten has been named senior vice president of corporate affairs and chief government affairs officer at American Airlines. He was previously the airline’s vice president of global government affairs.

— Jim Carter has been named director of the Center for American Prosperity at the America First Policy Institute. He most recently was vice president of government affairs at Emerson, and is a Bush administration alum.

— Ben Needham is joining the ACLU as deputy director in the national political advocacy department. He previously was director of strategic initiatives at the Human Rights Campaign.

— Richard Pianka will be the American Trucking Associations’ new general counsel and executive vice president for legal affairs. Jennifer Hall, who previously held that position, is heading to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to serve as general counsel and chief of staff.

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New Joint Fundraisers

None.

New PACs

American Israel Public Affairs Committee Political Action Committee (PAC)
Conservative Leaders PAC (Super PAC)
WinMO PAC (Super PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Alcalde & Fay: City Of Palm Bay, Florida
Atlas Crossing LLC: Kuzari Asset Management LLC
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Alden Torch Financial LLC
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: C5 Capital
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: United Holding Group
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Dillon Aero, Inc.
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Headlight Technologies, Inc.
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Peraton Corporation
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Tc Services, Inc.
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Technet
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: United States Steel Corporation
Cypress Advocacy, LLC: Klarna Inc.
Fabiani & Company: Midasian Trading Fzc
Fgh Holdings, LLC (Formerly Known As The Glover Park Group LLC): Teletracking Technologies, Inc.
Hanka Advisor LLC: Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority
Invariant LLC: Project Vesta
Invariant LLC: Verifone
Klarna Inc.: Klarna Inc.
Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C.: Adranos Inc.
The Russell Group, Inc.: The Good Food Institute, Inc.
The Vogel Group: Klal Yisroel Inc.
Thorsen French Advocacy LLC: National Alliance To End Sexual Violence
Todd Strategy, LLC Dba Todd Strategy Group: Siemens Corporation
Troutman Pepper Strategies (Fka Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group, LLC): Thunderbird LLC
Twenty-First Century Group, Inc.: Evolv Technology

New Lobbying Terminations

Center For Popular Democracy: Center For Popular Democracy Action
Tiber Creek Group: Zymergen Inc.

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