SENATE INTEL STAFFER HEADS TO MONUMENT: Chad Tanner is leaving the Hill after 13 years to join Monument Advocacy’s cyber and tech policy practices as a lobbyist. Tanner has served as a professional staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee since 2009, and has also worked for former Reps. John Boccieri and Ted Strickland. — In a statement, Tanner said he was eager to bring a national security lens to Monument’s work. “With more and more cybersecurity and technology issues intersecting with national security policy, this is a great time for me to be joining such a strong firm and team at Monument,” he said. HOW MUCH TRADE GROUP HONCHOS DOWNTOWN MADE: “It pays to be an energy association leader in Washington. Just ask Thomas Kuhn. The longtime leader of the Edison Electric Institute, the main trade group for investor-owned electric utilities, made $5.2 million in pay and benefits in 2020.” — “He wasn’t the only one making big bucks that year,” E&E News’ Timothy Cama and Robin Bravender report. “An E&E News analysis of energy and industry trade groups’ leaders found that at least 10 of them brought in seven-figure compensation packages in 2020, despite the economic downturn brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some influential environmental leaders earned more than $500,000 during that time.” — “Kuhn may be the highest-paid energy trade executive, but he wasn’t the best-paid industry association leader in 2020. The heads of business trade groups that often lobby on energy and environmental regulations received massive compensation packages.” — “Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers , earned more than $8 million in 2020, the filings show. That represents a huge leap from the $3.7 million Timmons received the previous year. His 2020 pay reflects a two-year bonus and the vesting of a six-year deferred compensation package, said NAM spokesperson Jamie Hennigan. — “Tom Donohue, who led the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2020, raked in a hefty $7.1 million in 2020, the tax filings show. Donohue left the business group last year after more than two decades at the helm of the organization. The group advocates for energy and environmental issues on its members’ behalf — often taking positions that match the fossil fuel industry’s. Other energy executives also took home big paychecks. Michael Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, made $3.96 million in 2020, a bump from his $3.88 million pay the previous year.” WALL STREET BRISTLES AT BIDEN TREATMENT: “President Joe Biden is trying to calm Americans this week with a new focus on the economy, including an inflation plan rolled out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, a meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and a pile of senior officials hitting cable TV to tout the White House’s achievements. But the messaging push may not be enough to overcome a vicious blame game on the economy emerging between corporate leaders and the White House,” POLITICO’s Ben White reports. — “Biden and Democrats say some of the fault rests with greedy companies artificially hiking prices, skimping on new domestic investments and paying too little in taxes. Corporate executives and business groups blame Biden for — among other things — pumping too much stimulus into the system at the wrong time, not moving fast enough on supply chain fixes or eliminating more Trump-era tariffs.” — “The finger pointing will only grow more intense as the midterm elections get closer, financial markets continue to gyrate on every bit of news on inflation and consumers continue to spend down their Covid-era savings to keep up with higher prices. And some top executives, especially in the banking sector, are now complaining that while Biden pays lip service to caring about their views on how to fix things, he doesn’t actually listen to them or solicit their input. The finance industry is especially alarmed at the moment given the big losses in stocks and the impact of changing interest rates on their businesses.” ANNALS OF DARK MONEY GROUPS: “A left-wing dark-money group targeting Elon Musk has been suspended from operating in California and several other states after it failed to file required details about its finances,” the Washington Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman reports. — “The North Fund, a nonprofit group that has been using the alias ‘Accountable Tech’ to organize a corporate boycott against Musk's Twitter bid, is ‘not in good standing and is prohibited from engaging in conduct for which registration is required, including soliciting or disbursing charitable funds,’ according to a delinquency notice sent in January to the group by California attorney general Rob Bonta (D.). Bonta said the group must file required financial disclosure records to be reinstated.” — “The North Fund's charitable standing is also expired or revoked in 12 other states, according to government records. These states include Wisconsin, where the fund has been using the trade name ‘Opportunity Wisconsin’ to run millions of dollars in attack ads against Sen. Ron Johnson (R.).” WHO’S IN CONSERVATIVES’ CROSSHAIRS: “Top Republican congressional aides huddled this month with conservative think-tank leaders on Maryland's Eastern Shore to hone tactics and messaging for Biden administration probes,” reports Axios’ Lachlan Markay. — “If the GOP wins control in the midterms, leaders want to kick off high-profile investigations as soon as the new Congress is seated. Republicans plan to draw on investigative power from allies across Washington. The retreat was hosted by the Heritage Foundation, the Conservative Partnership Institute and the American Accountability Foundation, a nonprofit run by Trump administration alumni that's dogged Biden nominees with independent investigative work.” — “Over two days, congressional aides at the retreat got briefings from prominent conservative activists and organizations on a host of investigative tactics,” while the event itself “provides a glimpse of where Republicans see potentially fruitful oversight avenues.” — “The Oversight Committee, whose chief counsel for oversight attended, has a broad mandate. Its ranking Republican, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), has recently signaled scrutiny of Biden's immigration policies, his son Hunter’s business dealings abroad and tech companies' ostensible political bias. … The Ways and Means Committee, which sent two Republican aides to the retreat, is a powerful panel with oversight jurisdiction over tax and financial policies at the center of a national furor over inflation.” — Republican oversight won't be confined to federal agencies or the White House, [Heritage’s Mike] Howell said. ‘Big Tech is in the crosshairs,’ he said. ‘They're going to be subject to document requests and subpoenas and depositions.’” IN MEMORIAM: “Nancy Clark Reynolds, a confidante and aide to Ronald and Nancy Reagan who parlayed her influence within Republican circles into a long career as a Washington lobbyist and power broker, died May 23 at an assisted-living facility in Santa Fe, N.M,” The Washington Post’s Emily Langer reports. — Reynolds served as a press aide to Ronald Reagan while he was governor of California, and later served on the transition team of incoming first lady Nancy Reagan. “Mrs. Reynolds’s ties with the Reagans made her a sought-after figure in Washington, particularly when she partnered with Anne Wexler to form one of the city’s first bipartisan lobbying operations,” per the Post.
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