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Presented by the Coalition for Medicare Choices: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by the Coalition for Medicare Choices | With Daniel Lippman, Megan Wilson and Kelsey Tamborrino O’BRIEN TO LEAVE FOX: Fox Corp.’s top lobbyist is exiting the company, leaving the cable and broadcast giant and owner of Fox News without its most prominent Democrat just as scrutiny of the network is reaching a fever pitch in Washington, your host reports. — Danny O’Brien, a top aide to President Joe Biden during his time in the Senate and during his penultimate presidential campaign in 2008, had been serving as the network’s main point person in Washington D.C. South Korean solar manufacturer Qcells announced that he will be joining as an executive vice president and head of U.S. corporate affairs. Puck News first reported O’Brien’s departure. The precise date of O’Brien’s exit from Fox is unclear and he did not return a request for comment. — The loss of O’Brien comes at a particularly rough patch for Fox, which is facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, which has accused the network of defamation for its role in spreading conspiracies around the 2020 election. That suit has dredged up damaging revelations about the network, which has prompted outrage from top Democrats in Washington and sparked discussions within Democratic circles about icing out the network. — Fox confirmed O’Brien’s departure in a statement. “FOX is currently interviewing for our Head of Government Relations role and speaking with internal and external candidates,” spokesman Brian Nick said. “We would like to thank Danny for his years of outstanding service to our Company and wish him the best of luck on his next endeavor.” — O’Brien joined Fox in 2018 as head of its Washington office, where he led the company’s legislative, regulatory and policy agenda and its government relations team. Before that, he served as a global government affairs and policy executive for GE Transportation. But it’s his past roles in the public sector that have made O’Brien’s place of employment especially intriguing. — At Fox’s departure still leaves the company’s government affairs shop, with two well-connected Democratic lobbyists in addition to its one in-house Republican and roster of outside lobbying firms. — And despite the partisan bent at Fox News, the network’s parent company — which includes Fox’s broadcast stations, Fox Sports and more — plays nice with both parties, giving roughly evenly to Republicans and Democrats ahead of last year’s midterms. — In his new role at Qcells, meanwhile, O’Brien will almost assuredly be working on the implementation of one of Biden’s legacy legislative achievements as president, the climate and tax spending bill passed last year. — Last month the company and Biden announced a $2.5 billion dollar investment for an existing Qcells solar manufacturing plant in Georgia that was attributed specifically to the Inflation Reduction Act. Qcells also recently announced a partnership with Microsoft, and said that O’Brien will lead its policy, communications and sustainability teams as Qcells “expands across the clean energy value chain in the United States.” Happy Monday and welcome to PI, where we’ve bookmarked this handy guide to 2023 events downtown, courtesy of Advanced Advocacy. What else is going on out there? Fill me in: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices: Despite strong bipartisan support for Medicare Advantage, the Administration is considering harmful cuts to the program that would result in higher premiums and fewer benefits. 85% of voters with Medicare Advantage believe that President Biden would be breaking his promise to protect Medicare if cuts are made to Medicare Advantage. More than 30 million seniors and people with disabilities depend on Medicare Advantage for high quality, affordable health care. Don’t cut their care. | | | FIRST IN PI: Former Amazon Web Services lobbyist Stoney Burke has lured a former colleague at Amazon’s cloud computing arm to his recently re-launched lobbying shop Aquia Group. Ryan Dattilo, who served as AWS’ head of competition policy and led their efforts on antitrust and content moderation policy, is joining Aquia Group as a partner. — Prior to joining AWS, which is an Aquia Group client, Dattilo worked as an aide on the top congressional panels with jurisdiction over antitrust policy, serving as an attorney for Republicans on both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee. ALL IN THE FAMILY: “One of Blackstone Group’s top external lobbying firms has stepped in to assist a food sanitation business owned by the private equity giant as it weathers a child labor scandal,” POLITICO’s Sam Sutton reports. — “Subject Matter was paid $10,000 to lobby on behalf of Packers Sanitation Services Inc., which was recently fined $1.5 million by the Labor Department for employing more than 100 teenagers — some as young as 13 — at more than a dozen plants across the U.S.,” according to disclosures filed last month. — “Blackstone is a longtime client of Subject Matter — a firm led by Steve Elmendorf, Paul Frick, Jimmy Ryan and Dan Sallick — which has billed more than $1.8 million to the private equity firm for lobbying on financial services and tax policy, as well as diversity and inclusion issues.” — “Blackstone purchased Packers Sanitation in 2018 and has used debt financing to take about $435 million in dividends from the company over the last five years, according to Moody’s. The firm, led by co-founder and Republican megadonor Stephen Schwarzman, is among the largest asset management firms in the world with a sprawling corporate footprint that includes more than 200 companies and a half-trillion-dollar real estate portfolio.” — “Subject Matter declined to comment on the work it will do for the food sanitation business. Spokespeople for Blackstone Group and PSSI, which is now under a Labor Department consent order, declined to answer questions about the hiring of Subject Matter.”
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | IF ALL ELSE FAILS, INDUSTRIAL POLICY: “President Biden has embarked upon the most ambitious use of federal economic power in several decades as he seeks to reshape major U.S. industries for long-term prosperity while pressing businesses to deliver immediate benefits for consumers by lowering prices today,” The Washington Post’s David Lynch and Tony Romm write. — At times, Biden “has stretched the powers given to him by Congress in pursuit of unrelated social policies. And where he lacks legislative authority, the president has jawboned corporate executives to cut drug prices, airline fees and the cost of internet access.” But the shift isn’t isolated to the Democratic administration, and not everyone is happy about it. — “‘There is an increasing willingness on both the left and the right — spurred on by growing levels of progressivism on the left and populism on the right — to use the power of the state to essentially micromanage businesses,’ said Neil Bradley, chief policy officer for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ‘The natural result of that is, frankly, crony capitalism and a much more inefficient private sector.’” — “The Biden administration’s embrace of industrial policy reflects its view of the lessons of the pandemic, the urgency of the climate challenge and the imperatives of strategic competition with China,” and “administration officials say they are acting to correct market failures. A business-as-usual approach did not produce the cost-effective, green-energy breakthroughs required to keep the planet from overheating. … The administration is trying to reverse those trends.” WHERE THE WIND COMES SWEEPING DOWN THE PLAIN: Husch Blackwell Strategies has opened its ninth state office with its new outpost in Oklahoma City. Brett Robinson, a longtime lobbyist in the state who launched and led the OKC-based firm Capital City Associates, will join HBS as a principal and head of its Oklahoma office. The new office is the tenth for HBS including its federal lobbying practice in D.C. FLYING IN: The National Association of Community Health Centers is hosting its annual fly-in and policy forum this week, bringing thousands of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, patients and senior executives to Washington. The gathering will focus on advocating for issues including addressing the provider workforce shortage, shielding the low-cost drug program known as 340B from changes, and affordable health care. — The medical tech industry will also be in town this week as part of AdvaMed’s State MedTech Alliance. Advocates are set to meet with lawmakers to discuss medical technology innovation, R&D tax credits, diagnostic reform, and CMS coverage of breakthrough technology. ICYMI — SENATE DEMS SQUEEZE ZELLE: “Top Senate Democrats are asking federal regulators to probe the customer reimbursement and anti-money laundering practices of the big banks behind the popular peer-to-peer payments network Zelle,” Sam reports. — “We raise these concerns about safe and sound operation of Zelle because depository institutions currently take the position that they are under no obligation under [current law] to make their customers whole when fraudsters use the network to steal their hard-earned money,” Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mark Warner of Virginia and Jack Reed of Rhode Island wrote in a letter last week to leaders at the Federal Reserve, the National Credit Union Administration, the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. — The lawmakers are also calling for a probe of the banking consortium that runs Zelle, Early Warning Services, which is owned by Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo. — “The letter marks an escalation in the Democrats' battle against Zelle, which they claim has failed to adequately protect customers from widespread accounts of fraud on its mobile payments platform,” which has exploded in popularity over the past few years, drawing the attention of criminals as well.
| | | | A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices:   | | | | | | — Saul Hernandez is now a principal at theGroup. He previously was vice president of government relations for NCTA – The Internet & Television Association and is a G.K. Butterfield alum. — Tyler Hardy has joined Elevate Government Affairs as vice president. Hardy most recently served as deputy legislative director for Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.). — Robin Juliano has joined the government relations team at Cornerstone Government Affairs. She was most recently staff director for Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee. — Kia Floyd has joined General Motors as executive director for state and local government. She was most recently director of U.S. state and local public policy at Meta. — Gina Adams and John Black have joined Entergy’s board of directors. Adams is corporate vice president of government and regulatory affairs for FedEx and Black recently retired from Deloitte & Touche. — Tobin Stone has joined New Democracy as community and communications manager. He most recently worked on Sen. Michael Bennet's (D-Colo.) reelection campaign. — Ira Hammerman has joined Bates Group as managing director. Hammerman was previously executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. — Garrett Hawkins is now communications director at the Institute of International Bankers. He most recently was director of public affairs and comms at Marathon Strategies. — Laura Salameh has joined the London Stock Exchange Group as senior manager for government relations and regulatory strategy. Salameh was most recently director of political engagement at TransUnion. — Laura Nasim is now director of development at Citizens United. Nasim previously was at the American Conservative Union, and is a Trump alum. — Jessica Altagracia Woolford is joining KNP Communications as a media trainer and public speaking coach. She was previously press secretary for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). KNP is also adding Emma Sprague and Matt White, co-founders of Upswing Strategies, as full partners. — James Hunt is now manager of government relations at Bramer Group. He was legislative representative for federal affairs at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Federal Affairs.
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | | Colorado Elects Women 2024 (Caraveo for Congress, Brittany Pettersen for Colorado)
Greater Minnesota Victory Fund (Reps. Brad Finstad, Pete Stauber, Michelle Fischbach, Let's All Keep Electing Republicans PAC, MNM PAC, Field Of Dreams PAC)
Jeffries Majority Fund (Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Jobs, Education, & Families First JEFF PAC)
| | | BUCKEYE VALUES PAC (Super PAC)
Gen X PAC (PAC)
Mothers for Democracy Action PAC (Hybrid PAC)
Real Populists (Hybrid PAC)
Youth & Progress (Hybrid PAC)
| | New Lobbying Registrations | | 1607 Strategies, LLC: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Aquia Group, LLC: Anthropic, Pbc
Asset & Equity Corporation: Prometheum
Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Advancing Mental Health For Military Families, LLC
Crosswinds Solutions: White Oak Initiative Government Policy Committee
G S Proctor And Associates, Inc: Junior Achievement Of Greater Washington
Holland & Knight LLP: Pallidus, Inc.
Jackson Lewis Pc: Equifax
Leeward Renewable Energy, LLC: Leeward Renewable Energy, LLC
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP: Emcore Corporation
The Livingston Group, LLC: Mccord Health Inc
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Abi Associates: Aristotle International, Inc.
Abi Associates: Arrival Automotive USa Inc.
Amryt Pharma: Amryt Pharma
Dana Goward: Resilient Navigation And Timing Foundation
| | | | A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices: Medicare Advantage is facing billions in cuts that would hurt the more than 30 million Americans who depend on Medicare Advantage for high-quality, affordable health care.
The consequences of cutting funding to Medicare Advantage are dire. A majority of senior voters with Medicare Advantage believe that cuts would impact their ability to afford health care.
Funding Medicare Advantage is an extremely important issue for senior voters. Voters with Medicare Advantage overwhelmingly believe that it is important for the federal government and the Administration to fully fund Medicare Advantage to cover increasing health care costs.
Medicare Advantage provides affordable health care to more than 30 million seniors and people with disabilities. 32% of Medicare Advantage enrollees are racial and ethnic minorities – compared to 21% of original Medicare enrollees.
Don’t cut their care. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
