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Presented by HCA Healthcare: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | | | With Daniel Lippman CONVICTED MALAYSIAN LEADER HIRES MEDIA HELP: The former Malaysian prime minister who’s been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in the looting of a state investment fund has hired Karv Communications to provide strategic communications and media relations support as a former Goldman Sachs executive allegedly involved in the scheme goes on trial in a federal court in New York, according to documents filed with the Justice Department on Monday and the firm. — Karv will serve as a subcontractor to former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s attorney, Tania Scivetti, for an initial period of two months “to help ensure Najib Razak’s actions and views are understood by U.S. journalists and presented accurately in any U.S. media coverage — including during the trial of Roger Ng currently underway in the Eastern District of New York,” a spokesperson for the firm told PI. According to the DOJ filings, Karv will receive $140,000 for two months of work. — Ng’s trial, which kicked off last month, “will most likely be the only trial that will take place on U.S. soil over the looting of the Malaysian fund known as 1MDB,” The New York Times reported at the time, with the alleged mastermind of the scheme, Malaysian businessperson Jho Low , on the run. Low was a key figure in charges against GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy, an ally of former President Donald Trump who was pardoned after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Broidy allegedly worked with two others to conceal efforts to soften the Trump administration's stance on the 1MDB fraud, which included alleged efforts by Broidy to set up a round of golf between Trump and Razak. SKDK DEREGISTERS: In another FARA filing, stamped March 2, Democratic consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker terminated its foreign agent registration. The firm had registered just days before to disclose it had offered pro-bono speech writing support to Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, one of several offers the ambassador said he had rejected. “The foreign principal has elected not to have Registrant engage in registrable activities on its behalf,” SKDK wrote in an amendment to its initial filing. Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Have a lobbying tip? Get in touch: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | A message from HCA Healthcare: For more than 50 years, HCA Healthcare has been caring for the communities where our colleagues live and serve. To further our commitment to these communities, the HCA Healthcare Foundation announced the Healthier Tomorrow Fund in 2021. This $80 million community impact fund focuses on addressing high-priority community needs and health equity through grants to nonprofit organizations. Read more on how we show up for our patients, communities and each other. | | | GIG COMPANIES FORM NEW LOBBYING GROUP: Some of the biggest companies that dispatch workers via apps have formed a new trade association as the gig industry continues to put down roots in Washington amid threats to its business model from the Biden administration, state capitals and municipalities. The coalition, called Flex, includes DoorDash, Gopuff, Grubhub, HopSkipDrive, Instacart, Lyft, Shipt and Uber, nearly all of which have dramatically ramped up their footprint in D.C. since the coronavirus pandemic, which saw the use of app-based delivery services explode and government scrutiny increase accordingly. — The coalition is marking its entrance in the nation’s capital with a seven-figure ad buy stressing emphasizing the flexibility afforded to gig workers, which is no coincidence considering the Biden administration’s support for classifying gig workers as employees, affording them certain benefits and the ability to unionize, as opposed to the independent contractors gig companies have fought to keep workers labeled as. The coalition's ad, which will air in the D.C. metro area, features purported gig workers touting their ability to balance app-based work while caring for families, juggling school or other commitments and declares that "independence works." — Apart from Uber, Lyft and Instacart, every Flex member except for HopSkipDrive registered its first federal lobbyists in the last two years, coming off an expensive victory in a California ballot initiative that’s now in appeals and snapping up former aides to President Joe Biden or Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, who have expressed support for reclassifying gig workers, or top antitrust lobbyists as concerns mount over industry consolidation. The coalition’s members combined to drop more than $6 million on lobbying last year, according to a PI analysis of disclosures. — Several of the coalition’s members are part of another group that formed in November 2020, the App-Based Work Alliance, but in an interview Flex’s chief executive Kristin Sharp said that while that group was focused mainly on labor issues, like preventing the passage of a Democratic labor overhaul bill, Flex has a broader focus and will advocate issues like sustainability and promote apps’ ability to expand businesses’ markets (though small businesses in some markets have accused the apps of exploitation). — “This is a $348 billion industry, in which … 52 million people are earning income,” Sharp told PI, adding that “one-third of all Americans have used a rideshare or delivery service. So we're excited to bring together for the first time this set of eight companies in order to advocate for their collective interests,” which she said generally includes “overall policies that support entrepreneurial people and businesses.”
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL SECURITY DAILY : Keep up with the latest critical developments from Ukraine and across Europe in our daily newsletter, National Security Daily. The Russian invasion of Ukraine could disrupt the established world order and result in a refugee crisis, increased cyberattacks, rising energy costs and additional disruption to global supply chains. Go inside the top national security and foreign-policymaking shops for insight on the global threats faced by the U.S. and its allies and what actions world leaders are taking to address them. Subscribe today. | | | | | MORE (VIRTUAL) FLY INS: Several trade associations representing the rail industry will kick off a two-day virtual fly in on Wednesday. The Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, Railway Tie Association, Railway Supply Institute, National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association and more will push lawmakers to fully fund and quickly implement the bipartisan infrastructure bill as well as push back against regulatory efforts the industry thinks “would adversely impact the railroads’ ability to invest now and into the future” and efforts to increase truck length or weight limits. — They’re set to meet with more than members and staff from over 200 offices over 48 hours, including with Reps. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), Chuy García (D-Ill.), Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), Donald Payne (D-N.J.), Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Seth Moulton (Mass.), Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore). BIDEN TO SET OFF ‘THE STARTING GUN’ ON CRYPTO OVERSIGHT: “President Joe Biden will sign an executive order as soon as midweek to marshal resources across the government to develop a sweeping plan to oversee cryptocurrencies, including whether the U.S. should issue a fully virtual version of the dollar,” two people familiar with the document tell our Sam Sutton and Victoria Guida. — “The long-awaited order will call on federal agencies to complete a series of studies over the next nine months. Biden will direct federal agencies to collaborate on analyzing the merits of a so-called central bank digital currency, which would be issued by the Federal Reserve. … While Biden’s order will stop short of directing policy, it’s an important step toward providing clarity for an industry that has already disrupted traditional banking and payment systems. Still, it may face resistance from many in the industry, who argue that the whole point of cryptocurrency is to avoid government control.” — “The document is expected to further unleash a wave of lobbying from banking and commercial sectors — to say nothing of well-funded crypto businesses that have been building a presence in Washington over the last year. ‘This is the starting gun,’ one person with direct knowledge of the order’s contents said in an interview.”
| | | |   | | | | | | — David London is joining Coinbase as their head of U.S. state public policy. He previously helped stand up DoorDash’s eastern U.S., Canada and federal government relations programs and is an eBay, PayPal and Cisco alum. — Michael Bilello has been promoted to be executive vice president for strategic communications and marketing at Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America. He most recently was senior vice president for communications and marketing at the organization. — Drew Kent is joining the Governing Majority Education Fund as its first executive director. He most recently was a lobbyist for the National Education Association, and is a Charlie Dent alum. — Samantha Segall will be an account executive for the public sector at health care data company Datavant. She was most recently vice president and head of federal government affairs at Clear. — Mariel Sáez will be a senior vice president of the public affairs practice at SKDK. She previously was director of broadcast media at the White House, and is a Biden campaign and Steny Hoyer alum. — Vignesh Ganapathy has joined Serve Robotics as vice president of public policy. He was previously director of state affairs for the Match Group. — Billy Hennessy, a former Moulton press aide, has joined United Public Affairs. The firm’s founder, Erick Sanchez, jokingly apologized to Moulton in a press release, saying, “My bad, dude.” — Brooks Aukamp, Kelsey McLaughlin, Andrew Markoff and Kira Halevy are joining Applecart. Aukamp will be a director of business development at Applecart after helming Twitter’s politics and issue advocacy team. McLaughlin will be a senior director of digital strategy and previously was a VP of media at Rising Tide Interactive. Markoff will be director of campaigns and previously was Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell ’s (D-Fla.) campaign manager. Halevy will be a managing director and head of client success, and previously was at SJR and Edelman and is an adjunct professor of business communication at Baruch College. — Brent Perrin is now a project manager at Majority Strategies. He is a Jack White campaign and NRSC alum.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S INAUGURAL HEALTH CARE SUMMIT ON 3/31: Join POLITICO for a discussion with health care providers, policymakers, federal regulators, patient representatives, and industry leaders to better understand the latest policy and industry solutions in place as we enter year three of the pandemic. Panelists will discuss the latest proposals to overcome long-standing health care challenges in the U.S., such as expanding access to care, affordability, and prescription drug prices. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | None.
| | | 2 Terms USA (PAC)
BLACK GREEKS UNITED (PAC)
Free America PAC (Super PAC)
| | New Lobbying Registrations | | Albertine Enterprises, Inc.: Skygenic Inc.
Fti Government Affairs: Law Offices Of Michael Jason Lee, Aplc (On Behalf Of Tether Operations Limited)
High Street Strategies LLC: Canton Stevedoring
K&L Gates LLP: Renewable Thermal Collaborative, The
Liberty Partners Group, LLC: Universal Technical Institute
Park&K Public Affairs LLC: New York Hall Of Science
R&R Partners, Inc.: Smart Wires Inc.
Skywater Technology Foundry: Skywater Technology Foundry
The Peterson Group Inc: Midwest Council On Agriculture
Welsh Rose, LLC: Bluestone Strategies (On Behalf Of Valyrian Smoke LLC)
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Cavarocchi Ruscio Dennis Associates, L.L.C.: American Heart Association
Guardian Consulting Group LLC: Emera Technologies
Michael Torrey Associates, LLC: Charlottes Web, Inc.
Mr. Jonathan Gregory: Cosco Americas, Inc.
The Russell Group, Inc.: Charter Communications, Inc.
| | A message from HCA Healthcare: Creating healthier tomorrows — that’s the idea behind the HCA Healthcare Foundation’s Healthier Tomorrow Fund. Launched in 2021, this $80 million community impact fund improves more lives in more ways by addressing high-priority community needs and health equity through grants to nonprofit organizations.
For more than 50 years, HCA Healthcare has been caring for the communities where our colleagues live and serve, and this fund further expands our organization’s philanthropy.
To date, the fund has provided $4.5 million to 13 organizations, including the American Heart Association, Girl Scouts of the USA, Volunteers of America, Central Texas Allied Health Institute and Educate Texas. The foundation plans to distribute up to $8 million this year.
For our patients, for our communities, for each other. You can count on HCA Healthcare to show up. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
