Former Harris aide will lobby for Airbnb

From: POLITICO Influence - Thursday Jun 30,2022 09:01 pm
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By Caitlin Oprysko

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HARRIS, HUD AIDE HEADS DOWNTOWN: Meaghan Lynch, a former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, will join Airbnb as a public policy manager next month, joining a growing number of former Harris staffers downtown. Most recently, Lynch served as press secretary at HUD and as an aide to Secretary Marcia Fudge.

— Before joining the Biden administration, Lynch was Harris’ press secretary and deputy communications director in the Senate, and worked for Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) during his time as head of the Congressional Black Caucus. Lynch will register to lobby Congress.

MORE ABORTION FALLOUT: Another Democratic abortion rights group brought in historic amounts of cash following last week’s Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. EMILY’s List , which works to elect Democratic women supportive of abortion rights, had its second-biggest digital fundraising day ever, press secretary Sara Spain told PI.

— The ensuing days were the organization’s best four-day period ever, and EMILY’s List has had its biggest June ever, she added. “We also just made the biggest expenditure of the cycle so far on the Nevada Senate race,” and the group heard from more than 500 women looking to run for office in the first few days after the ruling, Spain said.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI. What’s going on out there? Send your best leads, tips or other musings: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

 

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BIG TECH’S FAVORITE LAWMAKER: “It’s hard to find lawmakers willing to publicly side with the big tech companies these days. But Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have a powerful champion left on Capitol Hill ,” POLITICO’s Emily Birnbaum reports: Democratic Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state.

— “And as Congress gets increasingly close to a vote on an anti-monopoly bill that would rein in the tech titans’ power, the lawmaker from Amazon and Microsoft’s home state could be a major reason that it fails. DelBene has used her perch as chair of the business-friendly New Democrats caucus to push back on some of the most aggressive efforts to regulate or restrain Silicon Valley, which she claims would hurt the economy and hamstring the tech industry.”

— “Now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are under pressure to hold a vote this summer on the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, S. 2992 (117) — a bill that would prevent tech companies from using their gatekeeper power to disadvantage competitors.”

— “And the tech industry has DelBene in their corner, leading opposition in the House. ‘We love Representative DelBene,’ said Rob Atkinson, founder and president of the tech-funded think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation . (DelBene is an ‘honorary co-chair’ of the think tank.) Atkinson said DelBene is a key proponent of policies that favor ‘innovation.’”

— But while some of DelBene’s colleagues criticize her relationship with the industry, “DelBene — who has also condemned antitrust efforts in Europe against tech companies and spent years pushing privacy legislation backed by industry — argues she is an even-handed lawmaker with a special understanding of the tech industry from her 12 years as an executive at Microsoft, and startups before that.”

GOP MEGADONORS TURNED OFF BY JAN. 6 HEARINGS: “Support from some of the Republican Party’s biggest donors for a 2024 White House run by former President Donald Trump is dwindling, especially after damaging new details of his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, were revealed at a hearing Tuesday by the House select committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol,” CNBCs Brian Schwartz reports.

— “Republican financiers and their advisors have been privately meeting since the committee started to release the initial findings of its probe in a series of public hearings earlier this month, according to interviews with top GOP fundraisers who have helped the party raise millions of dollars. Most of the people asked not to be named because they didn’t want to provoke retribution from Trump or his allies.”

— “The people have been discussing the November midterms and who they’re going to support in 2024. One name that doesn’t often get brought up as a potential presidential candidate is Trump, these people explained.

— “‘Donors are very concerned that Trump is the one Republican who can lose in 2024,’ Eric Levine, an attorney and longtime GOP fundraiser, said after the hearing Tuesday featuring testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. ‘I think donors were already moving away from Trump,’ he noted.”

ACROSS THE POND: “The biggest crypto exchange in the U.S. is trying to convince EU legislators to keep it off the hook for investors’ bad bets on the market,” POLITICO Europe’s Bjarke Smith-Meyer reports.

— “The focus is a bill that will regulate the bloc’s market in crypto assets, dubbed MiCA. Coinbase’s chief policy officer, Faryar Shirzad, flew to the EU capital from Washington last week to get a lightning round of lobbying in before legislators meet next Thursday to iron out policy divisions among European Commission officials, MEPs and EU capitals.”

— “Given the high stakes and ongoing disagreements, these talks may still need time to conclude. But Shirzad and his team are taking no chances, as Coinbase and other crypto companies harbor concerns over who will be held responsible if and when investors lose money when digital assets collapse in value.”

— “The push comes after U.S. investors filed multiple lawsuits against Coinbase in recent months on claims that the exchange lured them into a false sense of security when buying certain so-called stablecoins — which aim to stay on par with a national currency like the U.S. dollar — before they crashed in value.”

— “In Coinbase’s view, however, it’s the company issuing the crypto asset that should face the courts. Not the exchange. ‘It's critical not to put platforms ... such as ourselves in a position where we bear liability for things that are outside of our control,’ Shirzad told POLITICO during his two-day visit to Brussels, declining to comment on the lawsuits in question. ‘Our goal is to make sure that the liability rests on the right place.’”

2 MORE JUMP FROM SQUIRE TO DENTONS: Callan Smith and Nicole Golden are the latest lobbyists from Squire Patton Boggs to follow a number of their former colleagues to Dentons following the departure of former Rep. Joe Crowley. Smith will be an associate with the health care group, while Golden will be an associate managing director in the public policy practice. Smith previously worked in the New York Executive Chamber and is a Max Baucus and Senate Finance alum.

CORRECTION: Wednesday’s edition of Influence misstated Fulcrum Public Affairs’ work for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber opposes privacy legislation that includes a private right of action. PI regrets the error.

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Jobs Report

— The Independent Community Bankers of America hired Scott Marks as assistant vice president of congressional relations. He most recently served as government relations manager for the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

Amazon Web Services has promoted Alla Goldman Seiffert to head of U.S. federal public-sector public policy and Olivia Igbokwe-Curry to head of congressional and political affairs. Seiffert is an Internet Association and GSA alum and Igbokwe-Curry was previously AWS’ lead House Democrat and is a Xerox (now Conduent) alum.

Paul Forshay has joined Holland & Knight as a partner in the public policy and regulation group. He was most recently a partner at Eversheds Sutherland , where he co-chaired the liquefied natural gas/natural gas regulatory practice.

 Myra Simon is returning to Cambia Health Solutions as director of federal policy. She was most recently a principal at Avalere and before that spent seven years at AHIP , and served as a regulatory analyst and trainer at Cambia until 2014.

Todd Inman, former DOT Secretary Elaine Chao’s chief of staff, has joined APCO Worldwide as a senior director in the Office of the Executive Chairman.

Soumi Saha will be senior vice president of government affairs at Premier. Saha, a pharmacist and lawyer, joined the health care company in 2018 and most recently worked as vice president for advocacy.

Tyler Gilbert is now director of public affairs and communications at Marathon Strategies. He most recently was associate vice president at DDC Public Affairs.

 

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New Joint Fundraisers

Budzinski Victory Fund (Nikki for Congress, Democratic Party of Illinois)

New PACs

Americans For America (Super PAC)
Citizens for a Better Ohio (Super PAC)
SAVE AMERICAN FREEDOM (Super PAC)

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New Lobbying Registrations

Au Strategies LLC: Chg Healthcare
Au Strategies LLC: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
Au Strategies LLC: Reinsurance Group Of America
Banner Public Affairs, LLC: National Association Of Clean Water Agencies
Banner Public Affairs, LLC: National Recreation And Park Association
Banner Public Affairs, LLC: Rural Communities Assistance Partnership
Banner Public Affairs, LLC: Snow Proof Signals
Carmen Group Incorporated: Accu Reference Medical Lab
Combest, Sell & Associates, LLC: Sedron Technologies
Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment Pty Ltd Atf
Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda
Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: The Lactation Network LLC
Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: U.S. Chamber Of Commerce
Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: Zoominfo Technologies Inc.
Horizon Government Affairs: Mckesson Corporation
Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid, LLC: Chargepoint, Inc.
Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid, LLC: Chevron Phillips Chemical Company Lp
Polsinelli Pc: Automated Health Systems, Inc.
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: Allegheny County Airport Authority
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: City Of Pittsburgh
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: Pittsburgh Regional Transit
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: The Ritescreen Company
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: Urban Redevelopment Authority Of Pittsburgh
The Peterson Group Inc: Combest, Sell And Associates On Behalf Of Sedron
Tiber Creek Group: Delfi Diagnostics

 

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

 
 
New Lobbying Terminations

Dentons US LLP: City Of Long Beach, California
King & Spalding LLP: Appvion Inc (Formerly Known As Appleton Papers Inc )
King & Spalding LLP: Banker Steel Company

 

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