Dentons poaches Denham

From: POLITICO Influence - Thursday Feb 02,2023 12:43 am

Feb 01, 2023

Presented by Stop the Deficit Squawks

With Daniel Lippman

DENHAM JUMPS TO DENTONS: Dentons has landed another former member of Congress for its fast-growing lobbying practice, poaching former California GOP Rep. Jeff Denham from K&L Gates to bring partisan equilibrium to the government relations shop led by former Rep. Joe Crowley, who recruited him to the firm.

— Denham, who was an ally of new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a member of his leadership team before losing reelection in 2018, is the second big get from the Hill in as many years for Dentons, which lured Crowley away from Squire Patton Boggs last spring to lead an expansion of the law giant’s lobbying arm. Denham joined K&L Gates in 2019, several months after leaving office.

— The former lawmakers had worked together in the House previously, including on a bipartisan immigration push, and Denham’s solid reputation with members of both parties is one reason Crowley sought to bring him on, the New York Democrat told PI, adding that “in this day and age, that's a commodity that's hard to come by.”

— “I'm not happy about Jeff coming over,” Crowley said. “I'm absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity to grow this practice with someone of his caliber, his talent, his reach, from California and beyond, quite frankly. His relationships on the Hill, in the … new House leadership are second to none.”

— It helps, Crowley noted, that while other members of the most recent class of departing lawmakers headed to lobbying gigs, Denham has several years in the influence community already under his belt and is “someone who can hit the hit the ground running immediately, doesn't have a ban of a year to wait, and has developed the relationships with clients helped.”

— For his part, “we certainly saw the synergies … the two of us have both from working bipartisan in the past,” Denham said. “It takes working with both sides of the aisle, especially in a very closely divided House and Senate,” he added, pointing to Crowley’s relationships in the Biden administration as another selling point for clients.

— “No question about it — it's a tough environment” for legislating, Crowley agreed. “But if anything's going to get done, we believe we’ll be a part of … making those things happen. That's why … those relationships we've built over the years, the trust that we built with the members on both sides of the aisle throughout the years, I think is what’s important to our clients.”

— Denham, who served on the Agriculture and Transportation and Infrastructure committees in the House, said that he’d received “a lot of interest” from now former clients as well as prospective clients after his hiring was announced this morning, but that for now there’s nothing to announce as far as clients following him to Dentons, and plenty of opportunity for shaping must-pass bills like the FAA reauthorization, farm bill, NDAA and more.

Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

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GUN GROUPS’ LOBBYING DIPS: “Many of the biggest groups lobbying on federal gun policy, including the National Rifle Association and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, spent less money to lobby the federal government in 2022 than in the previous year, even as Congress moved legislation,” Roll Call’s Kate Ackley reports.

— “The NRA posted the biggest decline in federal lobbying spending, reporting $2.5 million last year, compared with $4.9 million the prior year, according to lobbying disclosure reports filed with Congress.” The drop in spending, which does not account for grassroots advocacy, “came as lawmakers … moved a bipartisan measure to expand background checks for gun purchases and provide funding for some mental health initiatives” following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

— “The NRA, which has shown signs of declining influence in recent years, reported lobbying on a range of topics in its fourth quarter disclosure, including on background checks and on firearm bans and sales. ‘While others focus on inconsequential benchmarks, the NRA focuses on results for our members and gun owners,’” a spokesperson for the group told Roll Call, pointing to gun rights group's successful derailment in 2021 of President Joe Biden’s first pick to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

— “Other groups that lobby in support of gun ownership rights also posted a decline in spending or about the same amount. The National Shooting Sports Foundation reported spending $4.9 million on federal lobbying in 2022, down from $5 million in 2021. Gun Owners of America spent $2.8 million in 2021 but had only reported about $800,000 last year for the first quarter and did not file reports for the other three quarters, according to House and Senate disclosure databases.”

— “The National Association for Gun Rights reported spending $1.4 million last year, a decrease from nearly $1.6 million in 2021,” while “on the other side of the gun policy debate, Giffords and Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund both reported spending less in 2022 than in 2021.”

JOIN POLITICO ON 2/9 TO HEAR FROM AMERICA’S GOVERNORS: In a divided Congress, more legislative and policy enforcement will shift to the states, meaning governors will take a leading role in setting the agenda for the nation. Join POLITICO on Thursday, Feb. 9 at World Wide Technology's D.C. Innovation Center for The Fifty: America's Governors, where we will examine where innovations are taking shape and new regulatory red lines, the future of reproductive health, and how climate change is being addressed across a series of one-on-one interviews. REGISTER HERE.

SNUB SZN: “Elon Musk’s unannounced, whirlwind tour of Capitol Hill last week had a number of high-profile stops: A happy birthday visit to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a sit-down with GOP firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan, among others. He even met with White House officials to talk electric cars,” our Rebecca Kern and Nicholas Wu report. “One thing it didn’t include: Congressional Democrats.”

— “In Congress, all his scheduled meetings were with Republicans. An encounter with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries — the House minority leader — that he touted in a tweet, was actually an unscheduled run-in, according to Jeffries’ office. Twitter didn’t reply when asked why Musk didn’t schedule meetings with the minority party in the House.”

— “Democrats, for their part, still want to hear from him, even as they don’t put much faith in their Republican colleagues to hold him accountable. … Musk’s partisan trek through Congress stands in sharp contrast with many of his tech CEO brethren. Other D.C. regulars like Apple CEO Tim Cook purposely make their visits bipartisan, and while Musk is making inroads with the current party in power in the House, there are risks to taking sides so brazenly.”

— “For one, Democrats still control the Senate, and, of course, the political winds in Washington can turn on a dime, leaving allies on the outs and previously spurned lawmakers in positions of power.” But for now, “it appears that Musk’s goodwill tour is already reaping rewards, with the House Energy and Commerce Committee announcing Monday that its first tech CEO hearing is focused not on Musk — but on TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew and the handling of U.S. data on the Chinese-owned app.”

— “And with Jordan passing over big-tech foe Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) to lead the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, there’s seemingly less GOP appetite for taking a shot at breaking up the big tech platforms this Congress.”

TOP-ED: Former Rep. Lee Zeldin is throwing his support behind efforts to crack down on think tanks receiving foreign funding. The former congressman, fresh off a failed New York gubernatorial campaign, endorsed a bill from Republican Rep.Jack Bergman of Michigan and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa aimed at setting up a framework for greater transparency into think tanks’ foreign benefactors.

— “Think tanks wield an outsized influence with legislators, who often adopt their positions wholesale, presenting foreign governments a chance to covertly shape U.S. policy,” he wrote in an op-ed this morning in Newsweek. “But what happens when the ‘experts’ filling these roles are effectively paid agents of foreign governments like China, Russia, Iran, and Qatar?”

— Zeldin argued that “there is currently no way for members of Congress to discern which think tanks are funded by foreign governments—making think tanks effective vehicles for foreign funders to shape U.S. policy right under our noses.”

— Zeldin highlighted a pair of instances featuring beneficiaries in Washington of funding from Qatar, including the now-closed probe into whether former Brookings Institution President and retired Marine Gen. John Allen illegally lobbied on behalf of Doha and the international security think tank the Stimson Center, which Zeldin wrote lobbied against a measure that would help victims of foreign hacking activity and also accepted funding from the Qatari government.

— “We only know how much Qatar has funded this specific think tank because Stimson voluntarily released the information. We need transparency from all think tanks when it comes to foreign influence,” he noted.

— Bergman and Grassley’s bill would require think tanks and other nonprofits seeking to shape U.S. policy or public opinion to disclose to the Justice Department when they receive funding from foreign principals. The bill also would make public contracts or agreements they enter into with foreign principals within 90 days and it would direct DOJ to then make those disclosures available in an online database similar to FARA’s.

— The measure was introduced last fall amid a flurry of others focused at offering more transparency into foreign influence operations in the U.S., and though two such bills advanced out of the Senate, they did not make it out of the House to the president’s desk.

CORRECTION: Tuesday's Influence misspelled the name of Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. PI regrets the error.

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Jobs Report

— Keaghan Ames has joined BGR Group as a vice president in the financial services practice, where he’ll work with clients on financial services, agriculture and tax issues. Ames most recently served as a senior policy adviser and counselor to Republican CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham. He's also an Institute of International Bankers, Credit Suisse, PwC and J. Christopher Giancarlo alum.

— Celia Cooke is now regional finance director at the NRCC. Cooke previously was deputy director at the Republican State Leadership Committee.

— Troy Stock is joining Monument Advocacy’s technology practice. He was most recently policy counsel for the Senate Republican Policy Committee under former Chair Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

— Katie Prendergast has joined ClearPath as chief of staff to CEO Rich Powell. Prendergast was previously with No Labels and is a Trump White House and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) alum. Maggie Carroll, who was most recently chief of staff, has been promoted to senior director of development at ClearPath.

— Andrew DeStefano is now vice president at Pendulum Creative Group. He most recently was a political representative with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

— Dave Rexrode is now CEO/founder of Bluestone Strategies. He previously was executive director at the Republican Governors Association.

— Michael Hafner is joining The Lukens Company as regional political director. He previously was principal at Spartan Strategic.

— Kings Floyd is now policy and research associate on the disability economic justice at The Century Foundation. Floyd most recently was special assistant in the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Transportation.

— Lauren Hickey is now a legislative correspondent for Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). She was previously a staff assistant in the office.

— Mickeala Carter has joined the government affairs team at FTI Consulting as a senior director spearheading the team’s agriculture, retail and consumer goods practice. Carter was most recently deputy communications director at the Agriculture Department and is a House Ag alum.

— Jean Accius is now president and CEO of Creating Healthier Communities. He previously was senior vice president of global thought leadership for AARP.

— Benedetta Audia is joining DLA Piper as a partner and chair of the firm’s newly established international development practice.

— Tom Erickson is now a battleground director with the NRCC’s political team. He previously was an associate at OnMessage Inc.

— Axiom Strategies is launching AxCapital, a political compliance enterprise, with Tom Datwyler serving as CEO and Rob Phillips III as president.

— Bailey Mohr is now a principal at Ascend Digital Strategies. She previously was senior adviser for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s reelection.

— Melissa Waage is now a consultant for progressive organizations. She most recently was national campaign director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

— Dan Bosch has joined the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association as director of regulatory affairs, air and climate, and Hannah Hardin has joined as legislative affairs manager. Bosch most recently served as the director of regulatory policy for the American Action Forum and Hardin was most recently a project coordinator for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s political arm BPC Action.

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New Joint Fundraisers

None.

New PACs

AMERICAN EXCELLENCE PAC (Leadership PAC: Pete Ricketts)
BUILDING A NATIONAL KNOWLEGEABLE SECURITY PAC (Leadership PAC: Jim Banks)
Restore Democracy (Super PAC)
SHOW-ME STRONG PAC (Super PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Brody Group L.L.C. Public Affairs: Odyne Systems LLC
Capitol Tax Partners, LLP: Paramount Global
Dmm Consulting LLC: Tether Operations Limited/ C/O Shrm Trustee (Bvi) Ltd Trinity Chambers
Grassroots Political Consulting LLC: Realta Life Sciences, Inc.
Hillstaffer, LLC: Nafa Fleet Management Association
Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, P.C.: Northwest Center
Johnston Group, LLC: Family Health Centers
The Livingston Group, LLC: Team Gleason Foundation
Unfi, Inc.: Unfi, Inc.
Van Scoyoc Associates: City Of Baytown, Tx
Van Scoyoc Associates: Plasmatherm

New Lobbying Terminations

Bob Riley & Associates, LLC: Airbus America Inc
Mccarter & English, LLP: Nsp Management Services Of Long Island, Inc
Pine Street Strategies: Anheuser Busch LLC
Pine Street Strategies: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
Pine Street Strategies: City Of Birmingham, Alabama
Pine Street Strategies: National Bankers Association

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Groups like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget are helping MAGA Republicans force a debt limit crisis unless they get cuts to Social Security. Here’s the reality: the deficit squawks are funded by corporate and far-right special interests who are hell-bent on protecting the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations – all while dismantling vital and popular public investments and programs like Social Security and Medicare. Biases and ulterior motives drive the irresponsible policies these groups have been peddling for decades. Despite their cawing to the contrary, they are neither “experts” nor “objective” – and they shouldn’t be taken seriously by anyone who truly cares about smart federal budgets and an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest few. Learn more and sign up for our newsletter here.