CONSUMER BRANDS TAPS CHAVERN AS NEXT CHIEF EXECUTIVE: The Consumer Brands Association has named David Chavern as its next president and CEO. Chavern currently holds the same titles at the News Media Alliance , which represents more than 2,000 news organizations, including POLITICO owner Axel Springer, and previously spent a decade as an executive at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. — He’ll be the first new leader to take the reins of CBA, which represents the packaged goods industry, since the group’s transition from the Grocery Manufacturers Association in 2020. Geoff Freeman, who oversaw the rebranding and recruited back some of the group’s old members, left CBA earlier this year to lead the U.S. Travel Association . — “I have watched the incredible turnaround of Consumer Brands over the last three years and am honored to carry the association into its next phase and elevate the CPG industry that I am proud to now call myself a part of,” Chavern said in a statement. He’ll remain in his current role until the end of the year, where his trade group says it will continue its push for legislation to let news organizations collectively negotiate with online platforms that display their work. DEMS RIP CRYPTO REVOLVING DOOR: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are ringing alarms over the number of former federal officials who have taken top jobs with crypto industry startups,” POLITICO’s Sam Sutton reports. — “Five months after a series of blow-ups at digital asset lenders sparked a crypto market contagion, the progressive Democrats warned bank and market regulators in a letter that the revolving door of crypto hires is ‘corrupting the policymaking process and undermining the public’s trust in our financial regulators.’” — “Americans should be confident that regulators are working on behalf of the public, rather than auditioning for a high-paid lobbying job upon leaving government service,” Warren, Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) wrote in a letter sent to leaders at the SEC, CFTC, Treasury, Federal Reserve, FDIC, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and CFPB. “The rapidly spinning revolving door out of government and into the crypto sector, however, undermines both imperatives.” — The letter asks the agencies to “produce information about how they protect against undue influence from former employees who have since moved on to the private sector. It also asks for the agencies to provide details on conflict of interest and ethics policies.” CORPORATE AMERICA LOBBIES ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL: “About a dozen corporations are directly lobbying Capitol Hill for the first time in support of same-sex marriage rights,” POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs reports. — “Ten of those companies — including Toyota, Dell, General Mills and tobacco giant Altria — lobbied for the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that would write same-sex and interracial marriage protections into law. The latest filings, which cover the third quarter of 2022, show corporate America is putting some financial heft behind its increasingly public affiliation with socially liberal causes like marriage rights. They come as conservative leaders have amplified their attacks on corporations that are wading into politics.” — “But the politics of marriage equality don’t divide so cleanly along partisan lines. Dow Chemical , for example, has tasked the GOP firm Fierce Government Relations with lobbying the Senate on the bill. Others who have lobbied on the measure include UPS, Procter & Gamble, HP, and TechNet, a trade association whose members include tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Apple.” — “Justin Nelson, president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, said his organization has been pushing companies to utilize their K Street teams to support the Respect for Marriage Act, saying the legislation’s ultimate passage will require ‘a sustained lobbying campaign.’” — “Last month, the Human Rights Campaign organized a coalition of more than 220 companies that called on the Senate to pass the legislation. Ten of those companies also filed paperwork this month showing their lobbyists worked on the issue.” WESTEXEC ADDS FORMER BIDEN AIDE: Emily Horne, who left the White House earlier this year after serving as an aide to President Joe Biden and spokesperson for the National Security Council, has joined WestExec as a senior adviser. That makes Horne the latest staffer to pass between the Biden administration and the consulting firm, which was co-founded by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and has supplied the administration with dozens of staffers and top officials. In August, the firm hired Linda Lourie of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. — Horne runs Allegro Public Affairs , a foreign policy consultancy she formed earlier this year. Before joining the White House she served on Biden’s transition team, and is a Brookings Institution, Twitter and State Department alum. In a statement, WestExec co-founder and managing partner Sergio Aguirre said Horne “is already providing key insights to our client base on a host of complex issues, including by helping craft a strong, tailored narrative for clients to help achieve business wins.”
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