Neal Patel strikes out on his own

From: POLITICO Influence - Monday Jul 10,2023 10:34 pm

Jul 10, 2023

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With help from Daniel Lippman

FIRST IN PI — NEAL PATEL STRIKES OUT ON HIS OWN: Republican lobbyist Neal Patel has left the Alpine Group to launch his own firm, Patel Partners. Patel joined Alpine Group as a vice president in 2019, and before that worked in the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration. He also spent around seven years working for Republicans on the Hill, and recently co-founded the Asian American Pacific Islander Lobbyists Association.

— His new firm, Patel Partners, is a solo operation for now. Patel is bringing three clients along with him thus far: the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, the government of Charleston County, S.C., and the think tank Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy.

— “I’ve always been entrepreneurial. So when the opportunity to be my own boss presented itself, I seized it,” Patel told PI in an email of the decision to strike out on his own, calling the leaders at Alpine Group “instrumental in my personal growth and professional development to have the confidence to take this risk.”

KINGSTON TO FUNDRAISE FOR DEMOCRAT: GOP congressmember-turned-lobbyist Jack Kingston will cross the aisle tomorrow to co-host a fundraiser for Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), according to details about the lunchtime event obtained by PI. In addition to Kingston, the Capitol Hill fundraiser will be co-hosted by the PAC for his lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs, Middleburg, Va., Mayor Bridge Littleton and the PACs for defense contractors Amentum and L3Harris.

— Tickets to get in the door cost $500 for individuals or $1,000 for PACs, while host privileges are reserved for individual donors who give $3,330 or PACs that cut a check for $5,000, according to the invite. It’s not unheard of for former lawmakers to raise money for members of the opposite party, especially after landing on K Street, though it isn’t a frequent occurrence.

— His involvement in Tuesday’s fundraiser for Garamendi, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee’s Readiness Subcommittee, appears to be the first time Kingston will have donated directly to a Democrat since landing on K Street. Garamendi’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the fundraiser.

— Kingston and his leadership PAC have stayed relatively active since the Georgia Republican left office in 2015, FEC filings show, giving to Republican lawmakers like Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) as well as PACs like Squire’s and the Fraternity and Sorority PAC.

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

A message from Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l:

Weakening air safety standards should never be up for debate. Yet that is precisely what Congress is poised to do as it considers changing qualifications for pilot certification. Jeopardizing the U.S.’s gold standard for air safety and threatening passenger safety is a colossal mistake. Learn more here.

BARRACK SPEAKS: Real estate investor and Trump fundraiser Tom Barrack won’t be advising his longtime friend’s third run for the White House, pointing in part to his acquittal last year on charges of illegally acting as a foreign agent while advising former President Donald Trump on Middle East issues during his first campaign and presidency.

— “I have great respect for him as a friend always,” Barrack said of the former president in an interview with Bloomberg’s David Westin released Friday. But Barrack, who chaired Trump’s inaugural committee, said he was deterred by the ambiguity that landed him in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors who accused Barrack and a former aide of illicitly working to advance the interests of the United Arab Emirates.

— “It’s a dangerous game. I’m a businessman, I have a point of view, I’m a Lebanese immigrant,” he said, echoing the gist of his defense in last year’s federal trial in Brooklyn. “I tried to contribute,” he continued, but ultimately, he argued, “it’s too confusing of a world for business people to get involved in politics.”

— Barrack shot down the notion that his prosecution, which was one of several high-profile cases that ensnared Trump aides, was politically motivated. Barrack reiterated his thinking in backchanneling with Trump’s campaign and Emirati officials, arguing that Gulf states were interested in learning “never for any evil purpose” who the emerging GOP standard bearer was.

— “I thought, this is a great opportunity to start chipping at the system, from somebody outside of the system,” Barrack said. “What got confused with me” was how intertwined sovereign wealth funds like those that poured millions of dollars into his businesses.

— While he maintained that his dealings in the Middle East were strictly business matters, “the rulers of all these countries also are the ones making all the business decisions,” Barrack conceded. “So the sovereign wealth funds, ultimately, are governed and ruled by a monarchy, these are all monarchies.” Still, there was “never an ounce of impropriety,” he insisted.

INSIDE SILICON VALLEY’S PUSH TO SHAPE TRADE DEAL: “Technology giants are drawing protests as they aggressively try to shape a new US trade deal with Australia, South Korea and other members of the Indo-Pacific region that account for 40% of global economic output,” Bloomberg’s Emily Birnbaum and Eric Martin report.

— Activists pushing to limit companies’ role in influencing the deal are stepping those efforts up as a fourth round of negotiations in South Korea begins this week, following a robust presence by tech giants and allied groups during previous rounds of talks.

— “When talks were held in Australia in November, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and IBM Corp. co-hosted an invitation-only reception for negotiators. In the Singapore round in May, which was supposed to be mostly closed to outside stakeholders, sessions began late one morning because of a breakfast hosted by the tech industry,” though a USTR spokesperson denied that account. “Elsewhere in the bustling conference center, a ‘war room’ was run by the US Chamber of Commerce.”

— During the Singapore talks, “34 of the 40 stakeholders who gave presentations … represented corporations or their groups, most of which had ties to tech, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss confidential talks.” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has vowed to deemphasize the role of companies in trade discussions, and a spokesperson for her office defended seeking “input from a broad range of stakeholders” on the deal.

ANNALS OF DARK MONEY: Washington Free Beacon’s Andrew Kerr and Joseph Simonson got their hands on internal documents from the liberal consulting firm Arabella Advisors that shed new light on “just how centrally controlled a vast swath of activist organizations are by a central clearinghouse based in the nation’s capital—as well as the lengths to which Arabella’s leaders go to disguise that control and create the illusion of grassroots political activism.”

FIRST IN PI — MINDSET ADDS RETIREMENT BUFF: Kendra Kosko Isaacson has departed the Hill, where she was a top retirement and tax policy aide to now-Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.), to help stand up the retirement vertical at Mindset. Isaacson has worked for Murray, who was previously the top Democrat on the Senate HELP Committee, since 2015, most recently serving as the senator’s pensions policy director and senior tax counsel.

— Before that, she served as an employee benefits specialist at the Labor Department and a number of firms downtown including the HR Policy Association’s Center On Executive Compensation, Slevin & Hart and Venable.

PULLING PUNCHES: “The fraying relationship between big business and GOP politicians is about to get more strained,” POLITICO’s Zach Warmbrodt and Eleanor Mueller write in a curtain raiser, as Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee prepare to spend the next month zeroing in on corporate America’s embrace of climate and social initiatives.

— In particular the panel’s Republicans “will target the process in which advocates pressure public companies to adopt environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals using the shareholder voting process. … While the committee’s bills have no chance of becoming law under President Joe Biden, the messaging — and industry’s response to it — will feed into a broader political conflict that could set the table for the next time Republicans control Washington.”

— And although this month’s activity has been “framed around holding Wall Street to account, Financial Services Committee Republicans appear to be picking spots where they’ll minimize friction with the industry’s biggest players.” They’re “aiming at firms that play big roles in ESG investing, a strategy for managing businesses and retirement funds that elevates concerns about climate change and diversity,” and in the meantime lobbyists “want to avoid further inflaming tensions” on the right.

THE OTHER BREWING QUAGMIRE FOR WALL STREET: The Federal Reserve’s top bank cop Michael Barr “laid out a series of recommendations Monday that would require large lenders to raise more capital to navigate economic turbulence,” Zach reports. The impending proposal from the Fed, which Barr justified in part by pointing to this spring’s bank failures, has already drawn pushback from bankers gearing up to fight the plan.

JOIN 7/11 FOR A TALK ON THE FAA’S FUTURE: Congress is making moves to pass the FAA Reauthorization Act, laying the groundwork for the FAA’s long-term agenda to modernize the aviation sector to meet the challenges of today and innovate for tomorrow. Join POLITICO on July 11 to discuss what will make it into the final reauthorization bill and examine how reauthorization will reshape FAA’s priorities and authorities. REGISTER HERE.

A message from Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l:

Jobs Report

— Dan Watson is now assistant secretary for the Office of Public Affairs at DHS. He most recently was managing director at FGS Global and is an Obama Treasury and FEMA alum.

— Caroline Welles is now executive director of The First Ask, an organization focused on recruiting Democratic female first-time candidates. She previously was director of surrogates at the DNC.

— Melanie Janin is now chief communications and marketing officer for Conservation International. She previously was an executive vice president at Weber Shandwick.

— Jonathan Jagoda is now senior policy adviser at Alston & Bird. He previously was a senior vice president at the Federation of American Hospitals.

— Chase Hardin is now communications director for Patriotic Millionaires. He previously was an associate vice president at the Clyde Group.

— Zach Farmer is now government relations Washington representative for the American Motorcyclist Association. He previously was director of congressional affairs at the Council for Opportunity in Education.

— Lauren Fritts has left WeWork, where she most recently was chief corporate affairs and marketing officer, after six years. She is also a Chris Christie and Fox News alum.

— The Federation of American Hospitals has hired Charlene MacDonald as executive vice president of public affairs. She was most recently chief government affairs officer at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, and is an FTI Consulting and Steny Hoyer alum.

— Hudson Institute has tapped Kenneth Weinstein to be its next Japan chair. Previous Japan Chair H.R. McMaster will now chair the initiative’s newly established advisory board.

— Integer has promoted Sara Barba to principal.

— Aleeke Spence has been promoted to senior specialist for federal government relations at Adobe.

— Jamie Drogin Lehman is joining Semafor to oversee its global events business. She previously was managing director at Teneo.

— Nick Collins is now legislative assistant for Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.). He most recently was associate director for member relations at the National Association of Manufacturers, and is a POLITICO alum.

— Elizabeth Reicherts is now global head of government affairs at SolarEdge. She previously was vice president of external affairs at General Motors.

— Will DiBugno is now director of rapid response for America 2100. He previously was director of rapid response for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

— Amanda Krzepicki is now policy director for the Autoimmune Association. She previously was government relations manager for HIMSS.

— The Energy Department is adding John Farah as oversight adviser in the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, Anna Newby as director of public affairs at the National Nuclear Security Administration and Giulia Siccardo as director in the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains. Farah was most recently at Holland & Knight, Newby was most recently at Albright Stonebridge Group and Siccardo was most recently at McKinsey.

New Joint Fundraisers

None.

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New PACs

Defend Democracy Now PAC (PAC)
Demetriou for Ohio (PAC)
Electing Women Nevada (PAC)
Fix Cleaver II Bouevard (PAC)
Texas Freedmen Affairs PAC (PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Capitol Decisions, Inc.: Northeastern Oklahoma Community Health Centers, Inc.
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Baltimore Orioles Limited Partnership
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Nelson Energy, LLC
Crestwood Strategies: Open Book Extracts
Crestwood Strategies: United States Cannabis Council
Diroma Eck & Co. LLP: Moran Global Strategies, Inc. (O/B/O Ge Aerospace)
Genesis Group LLC: Ace Laboratories
Haldor Topsoe, Inc.: Haldor Topsoe, Inc.
Holland & Knight LLP: Hexion, Inc.
Holland & Knight LLP: Industrial Technology Institute D/B/A Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center
Leavitt Partners, LLC: 340B Working Table
Leavitt Partners, LLC: 3M Health Information Systems
Mentis Corp: Mentis Corp
Mindset Advocacy, LLC (Fka Cypress Advocacy, LLC): 2U, Inc.
Mr. Ron Mcmurray: The Livingston Group On Behalf Of Rare Element Resources
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.: Grimco, Inc.
Tiber Creek Group: Carbon Removal Alliance
Vinson & Elkins LLP: Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC
Xylem Inc.: Xylem Inc.

New Lobbying Terminations

38 North Solutions, LLC: Generac
Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Asian American Hotel Owners Association
Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Charleston County Government
Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Rainey Center Freedom Project
Capitol Core Group, Inc.: Tulare Irrigation District
Holland & Knight LLP: Caci International, Inc.
Holland & Knight LLP: Crossfit, LLC
Holland & Knight LLP: Give Legacy, Inc.
Mcguirewoods Consulting (A Subsidiary Of Mcguirewoods LLP): Charles River Laboratories
Mcguirewoods Consulting (A Subsidiary Of Mcguirewoods LLP): Native American Financial Services Association
Mr. George Waters: Confederated Salish And Kootenai Tribes Of The Flathead Reservation
National Group, LLP: Alliance For Longevity Initiatives
Pr3 Consulting LLC: Puerto Rico Department Of Public Safety
Spirit Rock Consulting: Redding Rancheria
Spirit Rock Consulting: Red Lake Band Of Chippewa Indians
Spirit Rock Consulting: Shingle Springs Rancheria
Spirit Rock Consulting: Table Mountain Rancheria
Strategic Policy Advisors: Rule Of Law Society Iv Inc
Yorktown Solutions: Velta

A message from Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l:

Proposed changes to pilot training threaten more than a decade of exemplary air safety. As Congress considers the FAA reauthorization bill, some industry stakeholders are lobbying to weaken pilot training qualifications. If successful, passengers will fly with less experienced pilots and at an increased risk to their safety. Since standards were increased in 2010, the U.S. has seen a 99.8% reduction in airline fatalities. Weakening the current pilot training standards and qualifications that keep our skies safe is a recipe for disaster — one that risks passenger safety for years to come. Learn more here.