Southwest lobbies up

By Caitlin Oprysko

Presented by Stop the Deficit Squawks

With Daniel Lippman

SOUTHWEST LOBBIES UP: Southwest Airlines has brought on new lobbying firepower for the first time in almost half a decade, as the airline weathers new scrutiny in Washington over the scheduling meltdown last month.

— Your host reports that the carrier hired former Rep. Jerry Costello earlier this month to lobby on the upcoming Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, according to disclosures filed over the weekend. The Illinois Democrat, who left Congress in 2013 after 25 years in the House, previously served as chair of the aviation subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure panel that has jurisdiction over the airline industry and FAA.

— The airline spent $1.1 million on federal lobbying last year — the same as in the previous year. But Costello’s firm is the first new addition to Southwest’s roster of outside lobbyists — which already includes fellow former lawmakers Kit Bond and Kenny Hulshof — since 2018, when lawmakers were crafting the last FAA reauthorization.

— The hire comes as Southwest faces pressure on numerous fronts in Washington — and perhaps worse, became fodder for “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend. The airline industry had already been on thin ice with policymakers who skewered airlines for their failure to keep up with surging post-pandemic travel demand despite a $50 billion bailout from Washington.

— While a winter storm just before last month’s holidays triggered widespread disruption across all major airlines, Southwest canceled more than 16,000 trips as it struggled to recover from the storm, part of which the company blamed on issues with its scheduling software.

— The Transportation Department announced last week that it had opened an investigation into Southwest’s scheduling practices, and whether the airline set schedules it knew it couldn’t properly staff.

— Southwest executives announced on an earnings call that the airline posted a $220 million loss last quarter as a result of the debacle, and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, said that the panel would hold a hearing to examine Southwest’s “massive operational and customer service failures.”

Happy Monday and welcome to PI. We hope you’re having a better morning than the Eagles fans who plunged through the roof of a Philly bus stop last night. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

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FIRST IN PI — FORBES TATE ADDS CRUZ AIDE: Sam Leahy has left the Hill after more than a decade to join Forbes Tate Partners as a senior vice president. Leahy has worked for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for his entire tenure in the Senate, most recently serving as a senior legislative assistant managing Cruz’ national security and foreign policy portfolio and as his liaison to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

— Before joining Cruz’ office, Leahy worked for former Sen. Jim DeMint. She will register to lobby, and plans to focus on national security and defense issues at the firm, as well as issues under the Senate Commerce Committee, where Cruz is ranking member.

— Leahy “has been a major component of my Senate office from Day One,” Cruz said in a statement provided by the firm. “She has a well-deserved reputation for being able to get things done – even across the aisle – in the Senate,” he said, adding that he expects her to remain in the fold.

— Victoria Coates, the former deputy national security adviser, added in a statement that Leahy “will be an invaluable source of insight and strategy” in a divided government, and that she “is also highly respected in both national security and diplomatic circles in Washington, all of whom will take note of this important appointment.”

A VERY D.C. GAME OF TELEPHONE: “Health care lobbyists around Washington are telling ghost stories,” POLITICO’s Megan Wilson reports. “At cocktail parties, during meetings and on calls, they’ve been telling each other tales of what Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has not been shy about his disdain for K Street, will do as the leader of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.”

— “The most prevalent story that circulated over the last several weeks is that lobbyists would have to sign a ‘waiver’ to meet with Democratic committee staff. A waiver from what? No one could say. In some versions of the story, waivers were swapped for ‘disclosures.’ And, have you heard about a requirement that all meetings with lobbyists be videotaped?”

— “Word also circulated that staff would have to get permission from the committee’s staff director, Warren Gunnels — a longtime Sanders aide — to meet with lobbyists. Some worried about an all-out ban on meetings with them. Except that none of it is true, according to Sanders' office.”

— “Still, the ubiquity of the rumors underscores just how unnerved many on K Street are at the prospect of a Sanders-led Senate HELP Committee, and how grim they see their task for, at least, the next two years. Told that Sanders’ office denied the rumors, a Democratic health care lobbyist and former Senate staffer remained dubious that lobbyists with corporate clients would get a fair shake.”

MORE NEW BUSINESS: NAACP Empowerment Programs, the charitable arm of the marquee civil rights group, has registered to lobby to push for investments in municipal water systems after beleaguered water treatment plants in Jackson, Miss., crashed and left tens of thousands in the majority-Black capital city without safe drinking water for weeks at the height of summer.

— The organization retained Mark Linton and Estuardo Rodríguez of the Raben Group in November, according to newly filed disclosures. Linton was previously acting chief of staff for former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, while Rodríguez previously served as an attorney at the agency.

— The Raben Group is the first lobbying hire by the NAACP’s 501(c)3 arm, but the main organization dropped $290,000 on lobbying in 2022, including on water infrastructure and clean water equity, while the group’s separate legal defense fund reported $420,000 in lobbying expenditures last year.

— The NAACP last year filed a federal complaint accusing state agencies in Mississippi of engaging “in a long-standing pattern and practice of systematically depriving Jackson the funds that it needs to operate and maintain its water facilities in a safe and reliable manner.” EPA’s new Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, part of a Biden administration effort to prioritize environmental justice initiatives, launched a civil rights probe into the matter in October.

— The organization, whose president is a resident of Jackson, was part of a broad coalition that successfully pushed for the inclusion of $600 million in emergency funding for Jackson’s water infrastructure in last year’s omnibus spending package on top of millions of dollars more in earmarks for water projects for the city.

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ICYMI — DOJ WAVES FEC OFF SANTOS: The Washington Post’s Isaac Stanley-Becker, Jonathan O'Connell and Emma Brown report that “the Justice Department has asked the Federal Election Commission to hold off on any enforcement action against George Santos, the Republican congressman from New York who lied about key aspects of his biography, as prosecutors conduct a parallel criminal probe, according to two people familiar with the request.”

— “The request, which came from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, is the clearest sign to date that federal prosecutors are examining Santos’s campaign finances. The request also asked that the FEC provide any relevant documents to the Justice Department, according to the knowledgeable people.”

— The FEC typically complies with such requests, which stem “from a 1977 memorandum of understanding between the agencies that addresses their overlapping law enforcement responsibilities. ‘Basically they don’t want two sets of investigators tripping over each other,’ said David M. Mason, a former FEC commissioner. ‘And they don’t want anything that the FEC, which is a civil agency, does to potentially complicate their criminal case.’”

— “The request ‘indicates there’s an active criminal investigation’ examining issues that overlap with complaints against Santos before the FEC, said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer at D.C.-based Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg.”

BLACKROCK BOOSTS LOBBYING: “BlackRock sharply increased its spending on lobbying in the US last year as the world’s largest asset manager came under attack over its use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in investing,” Financial Times’ Brooke Masters reports.

— The firm reported $2.4 million in lobbying expenditures last year, an increase of 63 percent from 2021. BlackRock also “more than doubled the amount of money it paid to high-powered lobbying companies to” $1.2 million.

— “State lobbying registers show that the company also added five registered lobbyists in Texas and two in Florida,” — up from none a few years ago —where Republicans “have been leading the attack on investment groups they consider hostile to fossil fuel. Congress is expected to pick up the baton now that Republicans control the House of Representatives.”

FULCRUM ADDS ANOTHER REPUBLICAN: Fulcrum Public Affairs has added Emily Lavery as a vice president, as the firm continues to grow its Republican ties. Lavery most recently was an investment adviser to ultra-high net worth investors at AllianceBernstein, and before that she spent nearly seven years working for Sen. Tim Scott(R-S.C.), the top Republican on Senate Banking.

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— Jessie Stolark will be the next executive director of the Carbon Capture Coalition. Stolark was the coalition’s first full-time staff hire in 2019 and currently serves as its public policy and member relations manager.

— Abhi Rahman has joined Penta Group as a senior director for strategy. He was most recently a vice president of communications at Abernathy MacGregor (now known as H/Advisors Abernathy) and is a Beto O’Rourke, Stacey Abrams and Texas Democratic Party alum.

— Eric Chewning has joined HII as executive vice president for strategy and development. He was most recently a partner at McKinsey and is a Trump DoD alum.

— Liz Jurinka is now operating director for health care policy at the Vistria Group. She previously was special assistant to the president.

— Courtney Knight is now a policy adviser for the Senate Agriculture Committee. She most recently was a policy adviser at Pioneer Public Affairs, and is a Senate Majority PAC alum.

— Peter Herzog has joined the Crypto Council for Innovation as its associate director for state and local government affairs. He was previously a senior associate on Better.com’s government relations team and is a Health and Medicine Counsel alum.

— Jacob Dowd is now assistant director of federal relations for Washington State University. He previously was advocacy and government affairs specialist for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

— Xochitl Hinojosa is returning to the Justice Department as director of the Office of Public Affairs. She most recently has been a managing director at Bully Pulpit Interactive.

— Jess Pavel is now director of global health advocacy for malaria at the U.N. Foundation. She most recently was senior health policy adviser for Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

— Keith Nagy is now press secretary for Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.). He most recently was an associate at Pocket Aces Consulting.

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Bracewell LLP: Cessation Therapeutics
Cardinal Infrastructure LLC: The Routing Company
Continental Strategy, LLC: Tether Operations Limited
Don Murphy Capitol Consulting: The Marijuana Leadership Campaign
Figs: Figs
Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: Action Now Initiative, LLC
John Grzebien: Bioprocess H2O
Mz Advising, LLC: Roosevelt Group LLC (On Behalf Of Utah Defense Alliance)
Rbw Group, LLC: Almond Alliance Of California
Riot Platforms, Inc.: Riot Platforms, Inc.
The Gaboton Group, LLC: St. Thomas University
The Jerry Costello Group, LLC: Southwest Airlines
The Raben Group: Naacp Empowerment Programs, Inc.
Washington Navigators: Campus Compact
Washington Navigators: Colby College
Washington Navigators: The Missouri Valley Conference

Cannae Policy Group LLC: Veterans Assembled Electronics
Hartwell Capitol Consulting: Niacom Holdings LLC
Hilltop Advocacy: Meta Platforms, Inc. (Fka Facebook)
Park Strategies, LLC: The Independent Group Home Living Program, Inc.
Sebastian O'Kelly: Robertson Monagle & Eastaugh (Formerly Hoffman Silver Gilman & Blasco)
Taylor + Company: American Bail Coalition

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