The partisan lobbying firm changing of the guard

From: POLITICO Influence - Monday Feb 13,2023 11:13 pm
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By Caitlin Oprysko

With Hailey Fuchs, Megan R. Wilson and Daniel Lippman

GOP FIRMS SEE A BUMP: Republican-led lobbying firms around town are seeing a surge in new business since the party won back control of the House in last year’s midterms, while several lobbyists with ties to the White House have parted ways with prominent clients in recent weeks. The proudly all-Republican firm CGCN Group has signed four new clients so far this year, according to disclosures filed over the weekend.

— The firm, whose lobbyists include two former top aides to now-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, will lobby for News Corp, the parent company of New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, on intellectual property and competition issues.

— CGCN also signed Reynolds American, the tobacco giant that makes Newport and Camel cigarettes, to lobby on general tobacco issues and the metals and mining leader Rio Tinto to lobby on issues related to critical minerals, trade and the mining industry. United by Interest, the bipartisan lobbying partnership that includes some CGCN partners, added CGCN as a subcontractor for Hilcorp Energy Company.

— Majority Republican firm Ballard Partners, meanwhile, has bagged a half dozen new clients since the beginning of the year, newly filed disclosures show — bringing their total of new clients to nine since the midterms. SunCoke Energy hired Eugene O’Flaherty, a former top aide to departing Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, to work on “DOL rules and regulations.”

— Former Rep. Jeff Miller, who joined Ballard in December, will continue to subcontract for McDermott+Consulting on behalf of Abbott Diabetes Care. The former House Veterans Affairs chair will also lobby on veterans’ health services for in-home health care services company LHC Group as a subcontractor for Capitol Hill Consulting Group, along with Brian Ballard and Dan McFaul.

— The firm also signed the plasma technology firm Radom Corporation, algaecides maker SePRO Corporation, and the Lee County, Fla., board of county commissioners earlier this year, and the tech lobbying group Computer & Communications Industry Association and trading platform Robinhood at the end of last year.

— Apart from CGCN and Ballard, groups with business before the government have also flocked to Miller Strategies, the firm run by McCarthy confidant Jeff Miller (not to be confused with the former congressman).

— The firm signed eight new clients in the back half of 2022, including the Federation of American Hospitals, the embattled PGA Tour and cloud software giant Oracle (which also recently retained the former lawmaker Miller).

Happy Monday and welcome to PI. Send your best lobbying tips or UFO theories: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

 

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PUTALA SPLITS FROM PHRMA, COMCAST: Putala Strategies has parted ways with two major clients, newly filed disclosures show. According to the termination disclosures, Chris Putala, who previously worked for now-President Joe Biden on the Senate Judiciary Committee, parted ways with Comcast and PhRMA at the end of last year.

— Comcast had been one of Putala’s longest-running clients, paying his firm nearly $3.4 million since 2009, when the telecom giant retained Putala to lobby on its bid to buy NBC Universal, disclosures show. More recently, Putala reported working on telecom provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Inflation Reduction Act and privacy and antitrust issues.

— PhRMA was among the flood of new business Putala began receiving after Biden’s election. The drugmakers’ lobby hired Putala in 2021 as congressional Democrats ramped up their push to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of drugs. A version of that policy was signed into law last year, handing the pharmaceuticals industry one of its most significant losses in decades — and White House visitor logs show Putala was on the South Lawn the day of the signing ceremony.

— The drug lobby also split recently from two other outside lobbying firms, including another Biden-connected lobbyist it brought on since the election. Ricchetti Inc.’s Jeff Ricchetti, the brother of Biden senior counselor Steve Ricchetti, reported receiving $240,000 from PhRMA over the past year. Baker & Hostetler, which had lobbied for the trade group since 2017, also ended its contract with the PhRMA at the end of the year, disclosures show. PhRMA declined to comment on the terminations.

— Putala has signed several new clients recently, however: the energy investment firm Eolian, energy storage developer esVolta and battery storage company Plus Power. He’ll lobby for all 3 on Section 301 tariffs related to “certain storage battery technologies necessary to ensure a reliable and efficient electric grid,” according to disclosures filed over the weekend.

CORNERSTONE ADDS WHITE HOUSE AIDE: Shuwanza Rebecca Goff will join Cornerstone Government Affairs next month. She was previously deputy assistant to the president at the White House, where she served as the liaison to the House. House leadership — on both sides of the aisle — praised Goff, as she heads through the revolving door.

— “It was my privilege to get to know Shuwanza during her time in the House of Representatives,” McCarthy said in a statement provided by the firm. “She developed strong relationships with Members and staff on both sides of the aisle, demonstrated deep understanding of the institution, and exhibited good judgment and expertise. Both the House and the White House benefited from her intellect, hard work and dedication.”

FIRST IN PI — NARRATIVE ADDS DESARNO: Nick DeSarno has decamped for Narrative Strategies, where he’ll be a senior adviser. He spent the past seven years at the Public Affairs Council, the trade group for public affairs professionals, as its director of digital and policy communications and head of its global consulting practice.

— Narrative is also expanding its recently launched creative practice, adding Brad Blackburn as head of video production and Annie Bentley as graphic designer. Blackburn previously ran his own production company and is an OnMessage alum, and Bentley was most recently at Tier One Partners.

ANTI-WOKE ENTREPRENEUR EYING PRESIDENCY: Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur who made hundreds of millions of dollars in biotech before becoming an anti-woke intellectual, is planning to run for president, Daniel reports. He recently visited Iowa, speaking to farmers and local Republican politicians, and has more trips planned to New Hampshire and back to Iowa later this month.

— Ramaswamy, who was dubbed by The New Yorker as the “C.E.O. of Anti-Woke, Inc.,” is now the founder of Strive, a new asset management firm that competes against the likes of BlackRock but differentiates itself by telling companies to stay out of politics.

— “I believe that I’ve developed a vision for American national identity that I have deep conviction for and is the product of my own journey of having lived the gifts that this country has afforded me,” Ramaswamy told Daniel in Iowa. “And the combination of both doing it intellectually and having personally experienced that vision of our nation makes me well suited to articulate that and deliver on it.”

— Ramaswamy’s growing team now consists of nearly 20 people, including former Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Kathy Barnette to lead his potential grassroots efforts and Tricia McLaughlin, who led communications for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s 2022 reelection campaign, as his press secretary.

— He’s hired Republican operative Rex Elsass’ political consultancy The Strategy Group, based near Ramaswamy’s home in central Ohio, to run his potential operation, and Elsass’ top deputy Ben Yoho is expected to serve as “CEO” of any future campaign.

TRUMP INC.: “In early 2021, as Donald Trump exited the White House, he and his son-in-law Jared Kushner faced unprecedented business challenges,” Michael Kranish writes for The Washington Post. One ally, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, moved quickly to the rescue.”

— “The day after leaving the White House, Kushner created a company that he transformed months later into a private equity firm with $2 billion from a sovereign wealth fund chaired by” the crown prince. “Kushner’s firm structured those funds in such a way that it did not have to disclose the source, according to previously unreported details of Securities and Exchange Commission forms reviewed by The Washington Post. His business used a commonly employed strategy that allows many equity firms to avoid transparency about funding sources, experts said.”

— “A year after his presidency, Trump’s golf courses began hosting tournaments for the Saudi fund-backed LIV Golf. Separately, the former president’s family company, the Trump Organization, secured an agreement with a Saudi real estate company that plans to build a Trump hotel as part of a $4 billion golf resort in Oman.”

— “The substantial investments by the Saudis in enterprises that benefited both men came after they cultivated close ties with Mohammed while Trump was in office,” and “Democrats who have launched congressional investigations into Trump’s and Kushner’s ties to Saudi Arabia … expressed concern that such business ties could leave them beholden to the crown prince if they return to the White House.”

Jobs Report

— Former Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is now a distinguished visiting fellow in the practice of public policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

Ashton Davies has been promoted to director of external and regional communications for the Tennessee Valley Authority. She was previously a senior partner for strategic communications and media relations for TVA and is a Lamar Alexander alum.

Christopher Grieco is now general counsel and chief compliance officer at Web3 company Rain. He most recently was general counsel at Fei Labs, and is a Trump White House and DOJ alum.

Jason Peña is now a legislative assistant for Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas). He previously was a program manager for the policing and public safety initiative and legal policy programs at the Manhattan Institute.

Kurt Sanger, former deputy general counsel of U.S. Cyber Command, has founded Integrated Cybersecurity Partners, a new cyber and national security consultancy.

Amanda Toman will lead NTIA’s new Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. She most recently worked at the Department of Defense, where she was responsible for coordinating 5G efforts across the DoD and directing “5G to Next G” research and development portfolio.

Sara Cawley is joining the Interior Department as adviser in the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. She most recently was senior legislative representative for federal oil and gas policy at Earthjustice.

Alex Parets has left the Treasury Department where he was the chief of staff to the under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. He is now senior director and head of sanctions risk management at Capital One.

Evan Chapman is now U.S. federal policy director at Clean Air Task Force. He previously was deputy chief of staff and legislative director for the late Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) and Virginia’s 4th District.

Kurtis Miller is now a legislative assistant for Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). They previously were technical associate at Nexight Group.

David R. Osborne is now honorary senior fellow at the Institute for the American Worker. He is also senior fellow for labor policy at the Commonwealth Foundation, of counsel at Goldstein Law Partners and special counsel to Americans for Fair Treatment.

New Joint Fundraisers

None.

New PACs

BRODIE FOR PRESIDENT (PAC)
LIVE FREE OR DIE PAC (PAC)
Project 72 WI PAC (Super PAC)
Southeast Bluegrass PAC (Super PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Apco Worldwide LLC: Etch, Inc.
Ballard Partners: Capitol Hill Consulting Group (On Behalf Of Lhc Group)
Ballard Partners: Lee County Board Of County Commissioners
Ballard Partners: Mcdermott+ Consulting (On Behalf Of Abbott Diabetes Care)
Ballard Partners: Radom Corporation
Ballard Partners: Sepro Corporation
Ballard Partners: Suncoke Energy
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Credit Acceptance Corporation
Cgcn Group, LLC (Formerly Known As Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen, LLC): News Corporation
Cgcn Group, LLC (Formerly Known As Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen, LLC): Rai Services Company
Cgcn Group, LLC (Formerly Known As Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen, LLC): Rio Tinto Services Inc.
Cgcn Group, LLC (Formerly Known As Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen, LLC): United By Interest, On Behalf Of Hilcorp Energy Company
Fgs Global (US) LLC (Fka Fgh Holdings LLC): Scipher Medicine Corporation
Healthcare Legal Resources Network, LLC: Healthcare Legal Resources Network, LLC
Larkin Hoffman: City Of North St. Paul
Larkin Hoffman: Community Dental Care
Larkin Hoffman: Lower Sioux Indian Community
Putalastrategies: Eolian Lp
Putalastrategies: Esvolta, Lp
Putalastrategies: Plus Power, LLC
Rosewood Global Advisors, LLC: Roche Diagnostics Corporation
St. Baldrick'S Foundation: St. Baldrick'S Foundation
The Conafay Group, LLC: Ocugen, Inc.

New Lobbying Terminations

Larkin Hoffman: National Sports Center
Larkin Hoffman: Rani Engineering
Larkin Hoffman: Sw Transit
Larkin Hoffman: Uponor North America
Larkin Hoffman: US Solar
Oldaker & Willison, LLP (Formerly Oldaker Law Group, LLP): National Fish And Wildlife Foundation
Peebles Kidder: Fort Independence Indian Reservation
Peebles Kidder: Ho-Chunk, Inc.
Peebles Kidder: Modoc Tribe Of Oklahoma
Putalastrategies: Comcast Corporation
Putalastrategies: Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America
Tim Yehl, LLC: Coalition Of Ignition Interlock Manufacturers

 

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