Cheney gets backup from K Street — Former House Ag chair starts own firm — Business groups begin to push back on Biden, Dems

By Caitlin Oprysko

Presented by the American Beverage Association

With Daniel Lippman

K STREET COMES TO CHENEY’S DEFENSE: More than four dozen GOP lobbyists are set to host a fundraiser for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) next month, as the No. 3 House Republican takes on friendly fire for her vote this month to impeach former President Donald Trump. According to an invite for the event obtained by PI, the Feb. 8 fundraiser will require a $500 personal donation to get in the virtual door, $1,000 to be named a co-host and $2,500 to be named a host.

— Cheney was the only member of Republican leadership who voted to impeach Trump over his role in the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and is now facing a push from within the conference to strip her of that position. The Wyoming lawmaker also could also face a primary challenger back home, an idea with Trumpworld backing. But the invitation names more than 54 Republican lobbyists as hosts, including Cheney’s former colleague Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), now at Akin Gump, JPMorgan’s Shannon Boozman, S-3 Group’s John Scofield and Rose Strategies’ Sara Bonjean.

— A Republican K Street source called it an “incredibly strong showing of support for Liz” even as her colleagues who objected to certifying the electoral college results face blowback from major corporate fundraisers, an assertion echoed by another person involved with the fundraiser who insisted Cheney maintains strong support from the donor community and has a number of interested parties eager to support her because of her vote.

FIRST IN PI — CONAWAY TO START A LOBBYING SHOP: Former Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, who served as the top Republican on the House Agriculture Committee and led House Republicans’ investigation into Russian election meddling before retiring this year, is launching his own lobbying and reputation management firm alongside his onetime chief of staff Scott Graves. The Conway Graves Group will handle a broad range of issues, according to a press release, but will focus on agriculture, energy, intelligence, and defense.

— Federal law requires that Conaway take a yearlong “cooling off” period before lobbying his former colleagues, but he does intend to register. He’s the second former lawmaker out of last year’s class of retired or defeated lawmakers to head to K Street by PI’s count, joining former Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), who rejoined his old firm earlier this month.

— Graves, who was most recently a partner at Williams & Jensen and previously served as the House Ag staff director, said in a statement that the new firm will mix “the structure of a large firm with the hands-on service of a boutique firm so Mike and I can work directly with clients, collaborate with a talented team, and deliver results.”

Good afternoon and welcome to PI . Here’s to a calm January Wednesday for once. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

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CLICKERS: As Democrats grapple with whether to pass a coronavirus relief package along party lines through reconciliation, Monument Advocacy has been sending clients this helpful — illustrated! — guide to the process, gaming out who to watch and which provisions are on the chopping block. And the High Lantern Group has released its annual brand pressure index, an analysis of brands and industries facing the most public reputational pressure, showing that tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Alphabet and Apple have surged into the top five corporations in the public’s crosshairs.

THE KUMBAYA ENDS: As President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats push forward with their legislative agenda, the business community and K Street have dropped their warm welcomes to register disagreement with plans to raise the minimum wage to $15, move away from private prisons, and clamp down on fossil fuels and carbon emissions.

— A bill introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would increase the federal minimum wage and phase out a tipped minimum wage for hospitality workers would pose an “impossible challenge” for the already-battered restaurant industry, said Sean Kennedy, the National Restaurant Association’s top lobbyist. He warned eliminating the tip credit could “cut the take-home wages of thousands of tipped employees who make far above the proposed minimum hourly wage.”

— The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also opposed the plan, with its chief policy officer Neil Bradley telling The Hill that “there's nothing sensible” about a $15 minimum wage, though he said he was open to discussing other changes to the minimum wage. The International Franchise Association’s Matthew Haller told The Hill that his trade group has “concerns” about Sanders’ proposal, which Biden has also called for, given the recession caused by the pandemic.

— In a lengthy statement, The Day 1 Alliance, a trade group of private prison companies whose members spent millions lobbying last year, defended the use of private prisons and called Biden’s directive yesterday to move away from private prisons “rooted in several faulty assumptions about the work of private sector contractors at the federal level.”

— Fossil fuel groups have also quickly pivoted from welcoming Biden’s inauguration to knocking his moves to rejoin the Paris climate agreement, revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and an order coming today to halt new drilling leases on public lands and waters. Dan Naatz, a head of government affairs at the Independent Petroleum Association of America, accused the administration of working to “obliterate the jobs of American oil and gas explorers and producers,” while the American Petroleum Institute’s president and chief executive Mike Sommers warned that Biden’s order today will only impede the American energy sector.

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EVENTS INDUSTRY WANTS MORE HELP: The coalition of live events industry leaders is reiterating its calls for more help in the next coronavirus relief package, calling the wins it scored in December’s bill insufficient “to bridge the gap between now and the full return of live events.” The #SaveLiveEventsNow Coalition sent a letter today to congressional leadership asking lawmakers to extend unemployment insurance and unemployment assistance past mid-March and to increase benefits, pass a COBRA premium subsidy to allow workers to retain their health plans, expand the employee retention tax credit, and provide tax breaks for venues in any infrastructure package.

MEADOWS, POMPEO, KUDLOW FIND LANDING PLACES: Three top former Trump officials have landed new gigs now that their former boss is no longer in office, defying fears that Trump alumni would be ostracized after this month’s attack on the Capitol — though all are landing at traditionally conservative institutions. Former chief of staff Mark Meadows will become a senior director at the Conservative Partnership Institute, the advocacy group started by former Heritage President Jim DeMint to “train, equip and unite” conservatives.

— Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, is joining the Hudson Institute as a senior fellow, Axios’ Hans Nichols reported, where the potential 2024 presidential contender “will keep close to the debates — and donors — that matter to the Republican Party.” And former National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow is switching business networks, scoring a new weekday show on Fox Business, our Quint Forgey reports. Before joining the White House Kudlow was a contributor for CNBC.

CIA WARNS FORMER OFFICERS ABOUT FOREIGN WORK: “The C.I.A.’s counterintelligence chief sent a note to retired officers this week warning against working for foreign governments either directly or indirectly,” The New York Times’ Julian Barnes and Maggie Haberman report, alerting former officers to a “‘detrimental trend’ of ‘foreign governments, either directly or indirectly, hiring former intelligence officials to build up their spying capabilities.’”

— The email also raised fears that adversaries could piece together classified information by cobbling together various public statements made on TV or social media by former officers, provoking some to take offense at the warning, which an agency spokesperson told the Times was merely a reiteration of previous guidance. In recent years the intelligence community has seen former officials working with or consulting with foreign governments that have checkered human rights records or adversarial relations with the U.S.

CORRECTION: Tuesday’s PI misstated Holland & Knight’s 2020 revenues. They were $28.3 million, which moves them up to No. 4 in the firm rankings.

— Spencer Nelson has rejoined ClearPath as a senior research director. He was most recently a professional staff member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

— Holland & Knight has added Suzanne Joy as a senior public affairs adviser in its public policy and regulation practice group. Most recently, she was a senior associate for regulatory affairs at the American College of Physicians.

— Crowell & Moring has named Nicholas Diamond as a director focused on global health and regulatory policy. Diamond was previously a consultant at Avalere Health.

— David Connelly has joined Balch & Bingham’s D.C. office as partner in the Energy Practice. He was previously at Jones Day.

— Andrew Kilberg will be an associate at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, Playbook reports. He previously was counselor to Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.

— The Climate Leadership Council added Tiffany Adams as executive vice president, Morning Energy reports. Adams previously worked at the National Association of Manufacturers and most recently at Forbes Tate Partners.

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