Noem’s office hires lobbyists

From: POLITICO Influence - Thursday Mar 30,2023 10:07 pm

Mar 30, 2023

Presented by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

With help from Daniel Lippman

KRISTI NOEM’S OFFICE TURNS TO K STREET: With President Donald Trump’s reelection defeat leaving South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem down a close ally atop the federal government, her office has turned to K Street to help make inroads with the new administration. Noem’s office retained Navigators Global last month to set up meetings at the White House, Agriculture Department and Interior Department, according to Cesar Conda, one of the lobbyists on the account.

— Noem met last month with Mitch Landrieu, the White House adviser in charge of implementing the bipartisan infrastructure bill, as well as Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Conda told PI in an email. The aim of the meetings, he said, was to “make sure that South Dakota is getting their fair share of all the taxpayer money they send to the federal government” and Conda called the trip a success. (A photo with Vilsack on Noem’s Instagram also mentions the upcoming farm bill.)

— Though he denied that the hiring stemmed from any issues with Noem getting an audience with the administration, Conda added that Noem had requested a meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss her constituents’ issues with the federal government, which has yet to take place. Conda said in an email that he and Brian Darling were tapped for a month-long engagement to help Noem and her staff coordinate the recent D.C. trip, and that the firm will continue to represent Noem’s office “on an as needed basis.”

— Plenty of state and local governments rely on K Street to represent their interests before the federal government, and Noem is not the only state executive that retains a lobbying firm in Washington.

— The office of Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, for instance, has paid Squire Patton Boggs more than half a million dollars since 2019 to lobby on issues that most recently included marijuana and hemp policy, as well as Afghan refugee resettlement and major legislation passed last year.

— And Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office brought on former David Perdue aide Ben Ayres’ firm inSession Strategies last summer to lobby on implementation of the infrastructure bill and Biden’s coronavirus relief bill, disclosures show.

Happy Opening Day and welcome to PI. Send your best K Street tips and your hottest MLB takes: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

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KUHN STEPPING DOWN AT EEI: Tom Kuhn is stepping down as head of the Edison Electric Institute after more than three decades atop the powerful utility lobby. Kuhn has been with the trade group for even longer than that, joining in 1985 as an executive vice president before being tapped as the association’s president and chief executive in 1990.

— Kuhn will stay in his post through the end of the year to allow for a “comprehensive national search” for his successor. Executive search and leadership advisory firm Spencer Stuart has been tapped to help with the search.

— The group, which represents investor-owned utilities including FirstEnergy Corp., Exelon, National Grid, Southern Company, PG&E Corporation, Entergy and NextEra, is routinely one of the top lobbying spenders in all of Washington and within the energy sector. EEI dropped more than $10.4 million on federal lobbying last year, as the group lined up behind even friendlier provisions for utilities in Democrats’ climate package than previously expected.

WHO’S ON TIKTOK’S TEAM: As Washington continues trying to assess the damage from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s brutal outing on the Hill last week, two new stories today give us a better look at how the embattled video platform got here and the D.C. insiders who’ve been lending a hand (and their rolodexes) to help the company.

— TikTok’s fight for survival stretches back to at least 2018, “long before concerns about TikTok’s Chinese ownership reached their current pitch,” POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs, Clothilde Goujard and Daniel Lippman write in a transatlantic deep dive on its influence campaign. The company’s efforts are a “study in how a wealthy, foreign-owned corporation can use its financial might to build an impressive-looking network of influence — and also in the limitations of what lobbying can do to protect a company at the center of a geopolitical firestorm.”

— The piece reveals that TikTok was willing to pay handsomely as it sought to overcome hesitancy around its parent company ByteDance’s China ties and assemble its roster of allies in Washington and Europe alike, including winning over SKDK, after the Biden-connected consultancy turned down the platform’s initial overtures in 2020.

— As concerns about TikTok grew on both sides of the Atlantic, Chew schmoozed decision makers at global confabs and more recently the company has leaned into its immense popularity: “A person familiar with TikTok’s strategy said that in conversations with Democrats on the Hill, the company has privately compared banning the app to ‘Prohibition,’” — another instance when the government banned “a highly addictive consumer product seen as dangerous by federal lawmakers.” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter “disputed that this was an approved part of the company’s message.”

— The Wall Street Journal’s Kirsten Grind and Erich Schwartzel, meanwhile, have uncovered even more big names who helped prep Chew for last week’s hearing: former Barack Obama strategists David Plouffe and Jim Messina, and longtime Disney comms chief Zenia Mucha. “All three helped coach” Chew for more than a month, according to people familiar with their roles.

— “In hiring the trio of U.S. advisers, TikTok … is turning to people who made their name selling the world some of the most prominent American brands: Barack Obama and Disney. They also have experience straddling business and politics. Mr. Plouffe worked at Uber Technologies Inc. after the White House, and Ms. Mucha advised Republican politicians in New York for years before her two-decade career at the entertainment giant.”

— “The app also received advice for the congressional visit from Tony Sayegh, a senior adviser during Donald Trump’s presidential administration and former Fox News contributor who now works with one of ByteDance’s investors, according to people familiar with his role.”

+1 FOR NAVIGATING CRISES FROM HAWAII: “Smaller banks are looking like the big winners of this week’s hearings on the failures of two regional lenders, with top regulators signaling that they’re likely to avoid both tougher rules and higher costs,” POLITICO’s Victoria Guida and Sam Sutton report.

— “Federal Reserve regulatory chief Michael Barr on Wednesday said he’s considering raising loss-absorbing capital standards only for larger banks. ‘We’re not intending to increase capital requirements on community banks,’ Barr said at a House Financial Services hearing on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.”

— “FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg also suggested he’s open to letting smaller institutions bear less of the burden for replenishing the deposit insurance fund. The fund is estimated to take a $22.5 billion hit from paying for SVB and Signature’s collapse, after the U.S. government decided to back all uninsured depositors at the two failed firms.”

— “Two Wall Street sources who were granted anonymity to speak about the potential for an FDIC assessment said they weren’t surprised by the focus on raising fees on big banks. That’s because of the public fight that smaller institutions have threatened to put up if they’re forced to plug any holes created by the FDIC’s backstopping of uninsured depositors.”

CAN’T LIVE WITH ‘EM, CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT ‘EM: “Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is no longer a Democrat. But her willingness to truly quit the party has its limits,” POLITICO’s Jessica Piper writes.

— “The independent Arizona senator, who POLITICO reported has been deriding fellow Democratic senators in recent private fundraisers with Republican donors, this month rolled out a new online fundraising page with Anedot, a platform that has also been used by Republican and third-party candidates.”

— “But her ActBlue page is still active and in use by her campaign committee. The Democratic fundraising platform is the most important fundraising portal in all of politics, and access to it can mean a substantial small-dollar fundraising advantage. Sinema’s continued presence on the platforms shows the limits of her disdain for the Democratic Party: She might dislike sitting next to the party’s senators during lunch, but she’s still willing to take money from its small-dollar donors.”

— “An ActBlue spokesperson confirmed this week that the Arizona senator is still eligible to use the site as an independent with a record of caucusing with Democrats. Sinema was a substantial fundraiser on ActBlue during her 2018 Senate campaign, bringing in more than $11.7 million via the platform that cycle, according to FEC data, although her small-dollar support has largely dried up in the past few years. Between her Dec. 9 announcement that she was leaving the Democratic Party and the end of the year, she had raised a bit shy of $25,000 via the platform.”

A message from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation:

Jobs Report

SPOTTED at a fundraiser last night for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hosted by Fulcrum Public Affairs’ Dana Thompson and Oscar Ramirez, Truth Public Relations’ Shera Higgs Thompson and Higher Heights’ Hasoni Pratts, per a tipster: Fulcrum’s Josie Villanueva, Luz Martinez and Sarah Monteith, Danaher’s Mayealie Adams, Palantir’s Mandi Miller, Cognizant Technology Solutions’ Jon Beamer, Procter & Gamble’s Nicole Collier, Ithaca Energy’s Linden Edmondson, Pacific Life’s Uzoma Ekenna, State Farm’s Morgan Farrington, The Vessel Group’s Robert Franklin III, National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Dan Gillison, Columbia Care’s Adam Goers, First Financial Group’s Clay Goldsborough, T-Mobile’s Dana Gray, Holland & Knight’s Janene Jackson, Truist’s Ernie Jolly, George Washington University’s Anne Reid, Salesforce’s Justice Reid, Apollo Global Management’s Craig Radcliffe, American Medical Association’s Chris Sherin, the International Association of Machinists’ Hasan Solomon, News Corp.’s Joanne Dowdell, Womack Development’s Gerald Womack, InterDigital’s Blair Watters and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ Kate Fox Wood.

— And at a meet and greet for freshman House Democrats hosted by BGR Group, per a tipster: Reps. Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), Dan Goldman (N.Y.) and Jeff Jackson (N.C.); Chris Morton of the American Land Title Association, Andrew Schwab of Oak Street Health, Sarah Morgan of S&P Global, Tatanya Szeliga of SAS Institute, Jason Altmire and Joanne Zurcher of Career Education Colleges and Universities, Ian Mair of GeoComply, Howard Moon of Amgen, and Jonathan Mantz, Remy Brim, Fred Turner, Mark Tavlarides and Anna Sullivan of BGR Group.

— Edelman Smithfield has named Chris Donahoe head of AI strategy, expanding on his role as executive vice president.

— John Simons has joined Brunswick Group as a partner. He was most recently executive editor at Time Magazine.

— Alliance to Save America’s 340B Program has named Thomas Johnson as executive director. He was previously a senior adviser at Groundswell.

— Soren Dayton has joined the Niskanen Center as director of governance. Dayton was most recently a policy advocate with Protect Democracy.

— Gisel Aceves is joining MVAR Media as a partner. She most recently was constituency media director for the DCCC’s independent expenditure and is a CHC BOLD PAC, DSCC and EMILY’s List alum.

— Nicholas Gladd has joined Wilson Sonsini as senior counsel in the energy and climate solutions practice. He was previously a partner at Pierce Atwood and is a Kirkland & Ellis and FERC alum.

— Lauren Chou is now deputy director of campaign communications at EMILY’s List. She previously was communications adviser for Sen. Raphael Warnock’s (D-Ga.) runoff campaign and deputy communications director for Mandela Barnes’ campaign.

— Tia Bess is now national director of outreach at Moms for Liberty, per Morning Education.

— Ashley Lewis has joined the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board as deputy director of the Office of Communications and Engagement. She was previously a senior vice president at Edelman and communications director for the Senate Banking Committee.

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New Joint Fundraisers

None.

New PACs

Colorado Freedom Coalition PAC (Super PAC)
Defend American Jobs (Super PAC)
Love ABOVE All (Super PAC)
Nebraskans Against Government Overreach (PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Apco Worldwide LLC: Dp World Fze
Bell & Lindsay, Inc.: Blast Resolve (Formerly Brain Resolve)
Capitol Resources, LLC: Grey2K USa Worldwide
Capitol Resources, LLC: Hinds Community College
Cibc Bank USa: Cibc Bank USa
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium
Forbes-Tate: Homeward Health
Forbes-Tate: Regenesis
K&L Gates, LLP: Clark Street Associates On Behalf Of Boston Electrometallurgical Corp.
K&L Gates, LLP: Clark Street Associates On Behalf Of USa Rare Earth, LLC
Navigators Global LLC (Formerly Dc Navigators, LLC): Office Of The Governor, State Of South Dakota
Phoenix Strategies Inc.: Shared Services Leadership Coalition
Phoenix Strategies Inc.: Tigerlily Foundation
S-3 Group: Advanced Thermoplastic Composites
S-3 Group: National Electrical Manufacturers Association
Tch Group, LLC: Greater Lake City Alliance
The Conafay Group, LLC: Psychedelic Medicine Coalition
The Nickles Group, LLC: General Dynamics
The Nickles Group, LLC: Hilyard Capital
The Nickles Group, LLC: Vita Inclinata Technologies, Inc.

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New Lobbying Terminations

K&L Gates, LLP: Water Innovations Alliance
K&L Gates, LLP: Water Innovations Foundation
K&L Gates, LLP: Zapata Computing, Inc.
The Smith-Free Group, LLC: Mr. Manar Zarroug

A message from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation:

Traditional banks tend to focus on larger, more profitable business loans. But many small businesses don't need much when they're just getting started — making so-called microloans an important part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Alternative lending like this is just one of several strategies that the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is advancing in order to increase lending opportunity. Learn more.