Bob Casey’s brother registers to lobby

From: POLITICO Influence - Wednesday Feb 22,2023 11:42 pm
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By Caitlin Oprysko

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With Daniel Lippman 

CASEY’S BROTHER REGISTERS TO LOBBY: Patrick Casey, the brother of Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey who joined Dentons Global Advisors Government Relations last year as a partner, registered to lobby in the fall, and reported lobbying the Senate on issues ranging from implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act to online travel policies last year, disclosures show.

— While there is no statutory restriction governing contact between a member of Congress and an immediate family member who is a lobbyist, Senate ethics rules require that a lawmaker whose spouse or immediate family member is a lobbyist bars their staff from having any “lobbying” contact with that person. Mairéad Lynn, a spokesperson for Bob Casey, told PI that their office abides by those rules. Dentons did not respond to a request for comment.

Semiconductor Components Industries, a chipmaker known as onsemi, hired Dentons in October to lobby on the implementation of the chips bill passed in July, which included $52 billion in subsidies to boost U.S. chip manufacturing. Patrick Casey is one of four Dentons lobbyists who reported outreach to both the House and Senate in the final three months of 2022, according to disclosures.

— Dentons is the first and so far only federal lobbying hire for the Phoenix-based company, which has a manufacturing facility in Mountain Top, Pa., where employees are clamoring for new funding. Last week, onsemi hosted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and a Commerce Department CHIPS implementation adviser for a ribbon cutting ceremony at a newly acquired fab in the Hudson Valley.

— Patrick Casey also reported lobbying the House, Senate, Commerce and Transportation departments and White House last quarter on behalf of the Dutch hotel booking site Booking.com.

— Casey and four others at Dentons, which is also Booking.com’s only outside firm, worked on issues relating to online travel legislation, Section 230, federal policy regarding airline refunds and ancillary fees, taxes and sustainable accommodations policies, according to the filing. Dentons also reported lobbying on competition policy for the site, which has faced antitrust pressure in Europe and fought against its inclusion in the EU’s landmark digital competition law.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI, where your host is gonna need a minute. Send K Street gossip and coping advice for ‘90s kids: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

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ESG FOR ME, BUT NOT FOR THEE: “Republican lawmakers who railed against ‘woke capitalism’ in the 2022 midterm elections have taken tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from some of the same Wall Street money managers they have attacked for pushing what the GOP calls ‘far-left’ positions on environmental, social and corporate governance issues,” CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports.

— “Conservative activists have been pressuring Republicans to wield their new power in the House to block corporations and executives that use their influence to promote ESG plans such as clean energy investments or corporate policies that support abortion rights or LGBTQ rights, among other issues.”

— “Matt Schlapp, chairman of the influential Conservative Political Action Conference, called on Republican lawmakers in a September letter to agree not to meet with ‘corporate woke elitist(s)’ once they regained control of Congress.

— "Republicans have vilified BlackRock, Vanguard Group and State Street for leading the push on Wall Street to promote clean energy and what GOP lawmakers often title ‘left-wing social priorities.’”

— “Still, many Republican lawmakers received money from the very firms their party is criticizing. Ten of the 29 Republicans on the Financial Services Committee, including [Chair Patrick] McHenry, took in a combined $140,000 in campaign donations from those three investment firms during the 2022 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings.”

— “McHenry and Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., who chairs the Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and was tapped to lead the ESG working group,” each took the maximum contribution of $10,000 from BlackRock’s PAC — “the third election cycle in a row that both lawmakers took donations from the firm’s PAC.”

PI LEGAL CORNER: A D.C. judge has ruled that a countersuit in an intellectual property fight between Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and software company Xcential over bill-drafting software may move forward. The lobbying powerhouse sued Xcential last year to contest ownership of the software Xcential sought to patent.

— Akin Gump alleges that in-house attorney Louis Agnello created the software, which Xcential denies, accusing Akin Gump of trying to take credit for its product after demoing its bill amendment capabilities to the firm in 2019. Xcential filed its countersuit weeks later, accusing the firm of some of the same violations that Akin Gump claimed, including breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets, and arguing that the patent application it filed was specific to its existing bill-writing software.

— In an order issued last week, Judge Juliet McKenna of the D.C. Superior Court ruled that most of Xcential’s counterclaims were “plausible” enough to proceed. She denied Akin Gump’s motion to dismiss Xcential’s claims of violating software licensing and confidentiality agreements, misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of implied contract. She granted a motion to dismiss Xcential’s claim of slander of title by Akin Gump.

— A spokesperson for the firm told PI that “we believe Xcential’s claims are meritless, and we look forward to proving our case in court.” Grant Vergottini, a co-founder at Xcential, claimed victory in the ruling, saying in a statement: “I am pleased that the judge saw through Akin Gump’s blatant attempt to deny our firm the opportunity to show in a court of law why only Xcential could have invented our bill-drafting technology.”

— McKenna is set to hear a separate motion by Akin Gump on Friday. The firm is also seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Patent Office from moving forward with Xcential’s patent application.

FIRST IN PI: When local broadcasters hit the Hill next week for the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual fly-in, they’ll be doing so with a broad mandate opposing legislation to grant performance royalties for plays on broadcast radio. Broadcaster associations in all 50 states and Puerto Rico have unanimously approved a resolution opposing those royalties, which broadcasters contend is a tax on small broadcasters.

— The more than 500 local broadcasters coming to town next week will primarily urge their members of Congress to sponsor the Local Radio Freedom Act, a perennially introduced resolution affirming opposition to performance royalties for broadcast plays that typically attracts broad bipartisan support in each chamber.

— The House version of the measure, which was reintroduced earlier this month, already has more than 100 sponsors. But this year’s fly-in comes on the heels of advancement in the last Congress for the recording industry’s push for radio royalties. As the legislative calendar wound down last year, the House Judiciary Committee approved the American Music Fairness Act, which would grant broadcast radio royalties, by voice vote, sending it to the House floor.

— NAB contends it’s not intimidated by the royalties bill’s progress. “Broadcasters appreciate that time and again Congress has taken a stand for local radio stations and their listeners by opposing a new performance fee on radio,” NAB spokesperson Alex Siciliano told PI. “Next week, local broadcasters from across the country will have the chance to personally thank these broadcast champions, while continuing to advocate that policymakers oppose job-killing fees on local radio stations.”

ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE: “Former President Donald J. Trump, who throughout his business career had a reputation for not paying lawyers, spent roughly $10 million from his political action committee on his own legal fees last year,” The New York TimesMaggie Haberman reports.

— “The money that went to Mr. Trump’s legal bills was part of more than $16 million that Mr. Trump’s PAC, Save America, spent for legal-related payments in 2021 and 2022, the filings show.” Some of that amount “appears to have been for lawyers representing witnesses in investigations related to Mr. Trump’s efforts to cling to power. But the majority of it — about $10 million — went to firms directly representing Mr. Trump in a string of investigations and lawsuits, including some related to his company, the filings showed.”

— “The recent spending related to Mr. Trump is notable not just for the sheer volume … but also because Mr. Trump is now a declared candidate for president again.” It’s raising questions among campaign finance experts, who argue that “having [Trump’s] PAC continue to pay his legal bills now that he is a candidate would be seen as a contribution to him, and therefore be subject to legal limits.”

Jobs Report

— Former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) is joining Third Way as a senior visiting fellow in the climate and energy program.

Kevin Keane will serve as interim president and CEO of the American Beverage Association. Keane will succeed Katherine Lugar, who recently announced she will become executive vice president for global corporate affairs at Hilton.

Robin Burns has joined Lumen Technologies as director of federal legislative affairs. Burns most recently oversaw federal public policy and government affairs at robotics company Nuro and is a Lyft alum.

Drew Felz is joining LEGO Group as its director of government and public affairs. He was previously at General Mills.

Kelsey Griswold-Berger joined ArentFox Schiff as a government relations director. She was most recently a legislative assistant to former Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.).

Elizabeth Northrup is joining ROKK Solutions as its first agency-wide chief client officer. She most recently served as executive vice president of corporate affairs at BCW Global.

The Hub Project has added Allyson Marcus as deputy executive director for campaigns at and Chrystian Woods as a senior director for campaigns. Marcus most recently was political director at American Bridge 21st Century and is an Antonio Delgado and DCCC alum. Woods most recently was senior adviser to the Georgia Coordinated Campaign and is an American Bridge and NARAL Pro-Choice America alum.

Linda Rouse O’Neill has been promoted to senior vice president for supply chain policy at the Health Industry Distributors Association.

Bradley McKinney is joining the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue as vice president of strategic initiatives. He most recently was the founder and managing director of Imperative LLC.

— The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, which is incorporating as a 501(c)(3), has named Rachel Weintraub as its first executive director. Weintraub led the CSS lobbying committee for the past several years as legislative director and general counsel at Consumer Federation of America, which co-chairs the coalition with Public Citizen.

Kyle Reliford, Robert Buckley, Julia Portela and Chris Martin have launched Look Ahead Strategies, a new firm focused on strategic research and communications consulting. Reliford, Buckley and Portela were previously at America Rising Corporation. Martin was previously at Bullpen Strategy Group and is an America Rising PAC alum.

Brian Chen is joining Data & Society as director of policy. He previously was a senior staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project.

Cross River Bank’s Phil Goldfeder will be the next CEO of the American Fintech Council starting in March, per Morning Money. Goldfeder is a New York State Assembly, Michael Bloomberg and Schumer alum.

 

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New Joint Fundraisers

New York Majority Makers (Reps. Nick LaLota, Anthony D’Esposito, Brandon Williams, Marc Molinaro, NRCC)

New PACs

Data Driven Democracy (Super PAC)
Georgia Freedom Fund (PAC)
Government Accountability PAC (Leadership PAC: Christian Castelli)
INSPIRING AMERICA'S RENEWAL PAC (Super PAC)
Leading American Microelectronics PAC (Lam Research PAC) (PAC)
Rennie Hill Mann For US Senate (Super PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Capitol Tax Partners, LLP: Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners Inc.
Fbb Federal Relations: Global Agriculture Productions, LLC
Invariant LLC: Unlock Aid
Jpc Strategies, LLC: Restoration Project Foundation
Legation Strategies, LLC: American Nuclear Insurers
Lne Group: Mead Township
Lne Group: Nextstep Kansas City
Lne Group: University Heights
Michael Best Strategies LLC: Modine Manufacturing
Pat Williams And Associates: Fox Corporation
Subject Matter (Fka Elmendorf Ryan): Fisher & Phillips LLP, On Behalf Of Packers Sanitation Services, Inc., Ltd.
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: By The Hand For Kids
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: Quaker Valley School District
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: The Borough Of Sewickley
The Conafay Group, LLC: Foundation Fighting Blindness

New Lobbying Terminations

Board Of Trustees - Northern Illinois University: Board Of Trustees - Northern Illinois University
Mr. Landon Fulmer: Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino

 

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