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Presented by Senior Living Advocacy – Tell Our Stories: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by Senior Living Advocacy – Tell Our Stories | With Daniel Lippman MERCURY, OTHERS DROP RUSSIAN CLIENTS: The flood of lobbyists severing ties with clients in Russia continued today after the White House rolled out a new wave of sanctions on Russian financial institutions a day earlier. “In compliance with U.S. sanctions, Mercury terminated our engagement with Sovcombank,” Mercury Public Affairs spokesperson Katya Myagkova said in a statement. The bank had retained Mercury just last month in a bid to avoid being ensnared in U.S. sanctions packages. It didn’t help — Sovcombank was included in the Biden administration’s latest tranche announced Thursday. — The firm also cut ties with EN+ Group, the energy and mining conglomerate which Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska was previously the controlling owner of. The company has avoided sanctions thus far, thanks to the Biden administration’s decision to spare hits on Russia’s energy sector for the time being. Mercury first signed a contract in 2018 to represent Greg Barker , a member of Britain’s House of Lords and EN+ Group’s chair, to negotiate a deal with the Trump administration in which sanctions on EN+ were removed in exchange for Deripaska giving up his controlling stake in the company. The account was then amended to list EN+ directly, rather than Barker, as the foreign principal, according to documents filed with the Justice Department in 2019. Since 2018, Barker and EN+ have paid Mercury nearly $2.5 million, according to DOJ filings. — This afternoon Venable filed termination paperwork ending its relationship with the state-run Sberbank, Russia’s largest financial institution, which Treasury also slapped sanctions on. “Sberbank is uniquely important to the Russian economy, holding about a third of all bank assets in Russia,” the department said Thursday. The bank paid Venable $240,000 last year to monitor sanctions issues before the House, Senate and State Department, disclosures show. — POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs reports that “the law firm Sidley Austin also moved to end its relationship with a Russian client, VTB Bank , which also found itself sanctioned by the Biden administration. A firm spokesperson told POLITICO in a statement on Friday that ‘VTB Group is no longer a client of Sidley Austin LLP in compliance with U.S. sanctions.’ In an announcement of new sanctions on Thursday, which included the onetime Sidley Austin client, the Treasury Department said that VTB Bank — Russia’s second largest financial institution — was ‘one of the largest financial institutions Treasury has ever blocked.’” — Geopolitical Solutions, a firm under which Qorvis Communications vice president Grace Fenstermaker was registered to lobby on behalf of the state-run Vnesheconombank , “moved to formally terminate its relationship with the bank on Tuesday,” a source familiar with the matter told Hailey, the same day “the administration announced sanctions on the Vnesheconombank, Promsvyazbank and 42 of their subsidiaries. The Treasury Department said that those two entities were ‘state-owned institutions that play specific roles to prop up Russia’s defense capability and its economy.’” Good afternoon and welcome to PI. We made it to Friday. Got some lobbying tea? Spill away: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | A message from Senior Living Advocacy – Tell Our Stories: Throughout the darkest days of the pandemic, workers in senior care communities have shown up and provided care and support to our nation's most vulnerable individuals. Now, seemingly forgotten, those who continue to work in senior care are in the fight of their lives to keep the nation's health care system afloat amid the worst staffing shortages among ALL health care providers nationwide. It's time for Washington to fund senior care. Learn more at tellourstories.org/no-relief | | | DLA PIPER ADD’S DeLAURO’S TOP AIDE: The Washington office of law and lobbying firm DLA Piper has hired Liz Albertine, a longtime aide to House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) as a policy adviser. Albertine plans to deploy that expertise gained from serving alongside the House’s top appropriator, according to the firm, which said she will advise clients on federal funding and appropriations issues as well as defense, space, infrastructure, labor, health care, industry and other issues. — Budget and appropriations experts have become something of a hot commodity on K Street as Democrats seek to advance key party priorities through reconciliation, the budgetary procedure that allows the caucus to bypass the filibuster in the evenly divided Senate. Appropriations bills are also one of just a few pieces of legislation that must pass each year, increasing their importance as a potential vehicle for other legislative items. — “Liz has more than a decade of firsthand experience working for a highly respected member of Congress and has a tremendous depth of knowledge on a multitude of issues, including appropriations,” Edward “Smitty” Smith, managing partner of the firm’s D.C. office, said in a statement, calling Albertine’s “skill set and deep connections in Congress … highly valuable to our clients.” DEFENSE IN DISARRAY: “Frustration is boiling over at a top Washington aerospace and defense trade association following a series of policy losses in the first year of the Biden administration,” our Lee Hudson and Daniel report. “Boeing, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems — and potentially other firms — are going so far as to withhold annual dues to the Aerospace Industries Association over what they consider a lack of leadership from Eric Fanning, the group’s CEO and president, according to emails obtained by POLITICO.” — “In a February email to AIA Chief Operating Officer Peter Prowitt , representatives from the three companies wrote that they were not receiving an adequate return on investment from the trade association to tackle industry-wide problems, and instead are relying on other groups such as the National Defense Industrial Association and Professional Services Council to better represent their interests.” — “‘We’ve turned to other organizations (PSC, NDIA) who anticipate our needs, respond to our calls for assistance immediately, and drive action on our collective behalf,’ the representatives wrote,” referring to the Professional Services Council and the National Defense Industrial Association. — “POLITICO also interviewed three industry officials, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, who confirmed that some members are withholding their dues. They claim that Fanning hasn’t effectively voiced concerns on behalf of industry to members of Congress and the administration. The people said that over the past year they have needed AIA to be their advocate as Congress weighed Covid protections for contractors, the Biden administration pursued vaccine mandates and the Pentagon increased scrutiny of defense mergers.”
| | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | | 2016 STRAW DONOR TRIAL KICKS OFF: “A defense attorney for a California businessman accused of conspiring to illegally donate more than $3 million to back Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race offered a simple explanation for her client’s decision to break out his checkbook: He feared that Donald Trump’s promised ban on Muslim visitors to the U.S. would devastate his travel-oriented business,” reports our Josh Gerstein. — “‘He believed that his contribution to Hillary Clinton’s campaign would save his business,’ defense lawyer Megan Church said of Los Angeles luxury transport provider Rani El-Saadi. ‘His company catered to clients who were travelers from Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East — the same people Mr. Trump intended to ban from the U.S. A Trump presidency posed a fatal threat to Mr. El-Saadi’s business. That’s why he donated.’” — “However, as the trial for El-Saadi and a co-defendant opened in federal court in Washington on Thursday, a prosecutor offered an equally simple explanation for the $150,000 El-Saadi personally ponied up to attend a Clinton fundraiser in Las Vegas in October 2016: Another, much wealthier man — digital payments magnate Andy Khawaja — secretly gave El-Saadi the money.” As Josh notes, “in reality, nothing about the case is simple. While jurors aren’t being told many of the most attention-grabbing details, what they did hear Thursday was enticing.” SWALWELL HAPPY TO TAKE FOX CASH AFTER ALL: After Insider reported earlier this week that half a dozen Democratic lawmakers appear to have rejected campaign contributions from the political action committee for Fox News and other Fox entities, one of those lawmakers, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), corrected the record for The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger. — Swalwell “told The Daily Beast that his campaign team had a ‘bank fraud issue that delayed cashing of checks.’ ‘That check was reissued and cashed, my team tells me,’ Swalwell said. ‘On the larger issue,’ Swalwell continued, ‘despite daily lies against me from Fox News, I’ve worked well with Fox Corp, which includes their studios and sports network.’ Both of those entities are based in Swalwell’s home state of California. ‘The lies of Fox News have cost my campaign thousands in personal security. The Fox Corp contributions help offset that,’ he said.” — “Ultimately, all of those donations that appear to have been returned might be clerical issues,” Sollenberger notes. “The contributions, all marked ‘void,’ add up to $12,500—a small fraction of FOX PAC’s overall contributions to Democrats.” And while “Fox News makes its bread by boosting conservatives and bashing liberals, when it comes to spending that bread, FOX PAC doesn’t seem to play by the same rules. In fact, in the 2020 election cycle, FOX PAC—bankrolled almost exclusively by executives, including patriarch Rupert Murdoch , lobbyist honchos, and the top brass at Fox News—set one of the most evenhanded examples of bipartisan support in the country.”
| | | | A message from Senior Living Advocacy – Tell Our Stories:   | | | | | | — Andres Castrillon is now director of government affairs at Qualcomm. He most recently worked on federal government relations at Stellantis. — Brittany Carmon is now federal clean vehicles and fuel senior advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council. She most recently was associate director for legislative affairs in the Office of the Vice President. — Hallie Fuchs (not to be confused with POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs!) has joined the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association as manager for public affairs. She was most recently marketing manager at The United Group. — Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Forum has added Ewelina Czapla as director of climate policy to its expanding policy team. She was most recently director of energy policy at the American Action Forum. — Heather Johnson has joined T-Mobile as director for antitrust, per Morning Tech. She was previously acting deputy director in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. — Matthew Palmisano is now director of advance at Axiom Strategies, Playbook reports. He previously was director of strategic operations for Glenn Youngkin’s Virginia gubernatorial campaign, and is a Trump White House alum. — Cameron Edinburgh is now communications officer at the Center for a New American Security. He most recently was comms director for Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.). — Jodi Seth is now head of corporate and policy comms at Lyft, per Playbook. She most recently was head of policy comms at Amazon, and is a Facebook and John Kerry alum. — Wyatt Ronan is now a strategic comms manager at Crosscut Strategies. He most recently was senior press secretary at the Human Rights Campaign.
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| | | Citizens for Nevada PAC Inc (Super PAC)
Education First Alliance Inc (PAC)
Jordan Henry For Glendale City Council (Super PAC)
The Real Estate Board of New York, Inc. Federal Political Action Committee (PAC)
Turnout IE PAC (Super PAC)
| | | | DON’T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO’s new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Accenture, LLP
Federal Street Strategies, LLC: Bristol Myers Squibb Company
K&L Gates LLP: California Manufacturing Technology Consulting
K&L Gates LLP: New York Embroidery Studio, Inc.
Mcguirewoods Consulting (A Subsidiary Of Mcguirewoods LLP): Phc Holdings, LLC
Neale Creek, LLC: The Freedom Initiative
The Picard Group, LLC: Rowc Energy Services, LLC
The Raben Group: The Sentencing Project
Van Scoyoc Associates: Action Now Initiative, LLC
Van Scoyoc Associates: The Center For Mind Body Medicine
Viking Navigation LLC: Fpn-USa, Inc.
Williams And Jensen, Pllc: American Exploration And Production Council
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | A10 Associates, LLC: Vineyard Wind, LLC
Bgr Government Affairs: Altimmune, Inc.
Bgr Government Affairs: Nord Stream 2 Ag
Gardiner Policy Group: International Association Of Heat And Frost Insulators And Allied Workers
Rasky Partners, Inc.: The Greater Boston Food Bank
The Edw Group: Proseal, LLC
The Edw Group: Together Achieving Goals
The Edw Group: Tougaloo College Research And Development Foundation
The Hamm Consulting Group, LLC: City Of Chattanooga, Tn
Townsend Public Affairs: Antelope Valley East-Kern Water Agency
Townsend Public Affairs: Central Basin Municipal Water District
Townsend Public Affairs: City Of South El Monte
| | | | A message from Senior Living Advocacy – Tell Our Stories: Throughout the darkest days of the pandemic, workers in senior care communities have shown up and provided care and support to our nation's most vulnerable individuals.
Now, seemingly forgotten, those who continue to work in senior care are in the fight of their lives to keep the nation's health care system afloat amid the worst staffing shortages among ALL health care providers nationwide.
We are long past calling this a crisis, now that thousands of American soldiers have been deployed to nursing homes across the nation to care for our seniors. It's time for Washington to STOP the siphoning and restore Provider Relief Funds. Without comprehensive relief, life-or-death repercussions will follow, as senior care staffing shortages increase hospital admissions and the risk of patient death. Learn more at tellourstories.org/no-relief | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
