Corporate campaign cash floods back into election objectors’ coffers

From: POLITICO Influence - Friday Jul 28,2023 09:58 pm

Jul 28, 2023

Presented by Consumers for Digital Progress

FIRST IN PI — CORPORATE MONEY FLOWS BACK TO ELECTION OBJECTORS: More than 2½ years following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that prompted a nearly unprecedented plummet in corporate campaign contributions to members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election, donations to those lawmakers from corporate America are once again flowing freely.

— Major companies and trade groups donated more than $4.6 million last quarter to GOP election objectors, according to a new analysis by the liberal watchdog group Accountable.US that was shared first with PI. That’s down from the $7.3 million in contributions from Fortune 500 companies and trade groups during the same period last year, as the midterm cycle ramped up and Republicans were poised to retake control of at least one and potentially both chambers of Congress.

— Fortune 500 companies and trade groups gave just $2.8 million to election objectors during the second quarter of 2021, months after the insurrection and, like 2023, an election off-year. In the first quarter of 2021 and 2023, the differences were even more stark — with $467,000 in donations then versus $5 million now.

— Lockheed Martin led Fortune 500 companies with $128,000 in donations to election objectors, according to the analysis, followed by AT&T and Comcast, which gave the third and fourth most overall to those members. The PAC for the American Bankers Association came in second overall in the rankings with $113,000 to election objectors.

— Election objectors’ Q2 hauls also included $31,000 worth of checks from companies and trade associations for the first time since Jan. 6. Donors included the National Association of EMS Physicians PAC and corporate PACs belonging to Prudential Financial, NRG Energy and Best Buy.

DAVITA ADDS AN OUTSIDE FIRM: Dialysis giant DaVita has padded its roster of hired guns with a former lobbyist for one of the company’s key competitors in the kidney dialysis space. Chris Buki of West Front Strategies, who served as Fresenius Medical Care’s director of government affairs for two years and was a Capitol Hill health policy aide before that, began lobbying for DaVita along with five others from the firm earlier this month.

— DaVita mounted an aggressive lobbying campaign toward the end of last year to pass legislation that it helped craft to address what the industry called a loophole in coverage, following a Supreme Court decision last June that an employer-based health plan didn’t violate a law designed to shift costs from Medicare to private employers when the plan put dialysis benefits out of network. The bill was ultimately left out of the year-end spending package, but DaVita will continue to lobby on that and other issues impacting dialysis payment policy.

— The company has nine other outside firms on retainer, including Federal Street Strategies, Subject Matter, Capitol Hill Consulting Group and Nathanson+Hauck.

TGIF and welcome to PI, where we’re dying to know where Barbie stands on adding long haul flight slots at DCA. Before you jet off to your large body of water of choice, send in those K Street rumors you overheard on the Hill this last week in session. While you’re at it, send song recs for staying sane while packing for a move: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

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TROUBLE IN HARRI-DISE: “When President Joe Biden scrambled to raise money for his reelection campaign last month, he tapped his running mate, Kamala Harris, to headline fundraising receptions across the country. By all accounts, the events were a success. … But, privately, the fundraisers did little to calm concerns among a group of high-powered Democratic donors over Harris’ place on the ticket,” POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs, Holly Otterbein and Eugene Daniels report.

— “Interviews with nine donors and top donor advisers revealed that some of the biggest money-men and -women in the Democratic Party remain lukewarm to the vice president even as she has taken on more of the responsibility of wooing them.”

— “Two of those donors went so far as to say the party’s fundraising class was reluctant to host big-money events headlined by Harris because of concerns that she wouldn’t be enough of a draw. Others who have worked with her on fundraisers complained that there was little follow-up after the events.”

— Harris’ defenders, including Biden Victory Fund Finance Chair Chris Korge, dismissed such concerns, while others noted that vice presidents are historically less of a draw than their bosses. The concerns also “echo a longstanding tension within the Democratic Party on the fault line of race” and fundraising.

— Even so, “Harris world has taken steps designed, it appears, to smooth things out. Some Democratic fundraisers said her team has been trying to bolster relationships with donors lately. They said that Harris has been more active at recent receptions and other events, working the crowds and going table-to-table to court donors.”

DCA SLOTS MAKE IT INTO SENATE BILL: Legislation to reauthorize the FAA is headed for a potential showdown in the Senate over new slots out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for long haul flights, which our Alex Daugherty reports will be included when the Senate Commerce Committee marks its bill up in September.

— Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) confirmed Thursday that the bill will add four additional round-trip, long-distance flights out of DCA — in a victory for Delta Air Lines and snub for United Airlines and senators from Maryland and Virginia, who have threatened to hold up any package with additional slots.

X HITS UP AN EX: “Twitter has promoted Wifredo ‘Wifi’ Fernández to its top US government affairs and public policy position as Elon Musk’s social media platform tackles a range of issues in Washington, including battles with the Federal Trade Commission and Sen. Elizabeth Warren,” per Bloomberg’s Brian Baxter.

— “Twitter gave Fernández top billing on its most recent U.S. quarterly lobbying filing dated July 20. A person familiar with the matter confirmed Fernández’s new job.” He had been a public policy fellow at the social media platform and a law clerk at Akerman “while attending the University of Miami School of Law in 2019. Fernández graduated in 2020 and returned to Twitter as a U.S. public policy manager for federal, state and local before his promotion last year to head of U.S. state and local public policy.”

— “Fernández will take the lead in helping the company address a range of other issues in Washington, including child sexual exploitation, content moderation and misinformation, consumer privacy, data access and security and internet intermediary liability, according to the company’s lobbying disclosure,” which also names since-departed head of government affairs Lauren Culbertson Grieco — the latest departure in the platform’s lobbying shop.

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TRADE GROUPS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO BOLSTER 529 PLANS: The American Society of Association Executives, the Professional Certification Coalition and more than 500 other trade groups, professional societies and companies have launched a new advocacy group to lobby the expansion of 529 education savings plans to include costs for obtaining or maintaining postsecondary credentials.

— They’ve backed a bill from Reps. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) in the House and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) in the Senate and are aiming to rebrand 529 plans from “college savings plans” to “career savings plans.”

— The broad coalition also includes the American Institute of Architects, the American Institute of CPAs, RIMS—the risk management society, the International Franchise Association, the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance, the Independent Film and Television Alliance, the American Pharmacists Association and the National Apartment Association.

THURLOW TO LEAD PUBLIC AFFAIRS FOR GE AEROSPACE: Meghan Thurlow has been named global head of public affairs for GE Aerospace, which is set to become its own separate company sometime next year. She’ll build up the standalone company’s public affairs operations as well as head up communications for international markets. Thurlow has been with GE for more than eight years, and most recently serving as its global director for public affairs. Before that, she worked in the Obama Transportation Department.

SPOTTED at the Asian American Pacific Islander Leadership Association’s summer social last night at the UPS townhouse, per a tipster: Jay Lim of UPS, Mo Elinzano of Rep. Doris Matsui’s (D-Calif.) office, Alekhya Tallapaka of Forbes Tate Partners, Linda Pham and Jason Park of Expedia Group, Christopher Zhen of Rep. David Rouzer’s (R-N.C.) office, Akshai Datta of Astellas Pharmaceuticals, Saif Inam of Capital One, Stephen Chang of Ameriprise Financial, Alex Huang of Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman’s (D-Texas) office, Ben Kane of Rep. Jimmy Gomez’s (D-Calif.) office, Omair Mirza of JPMorgan Chase, Victor Yang of NAPCA, Annie Nguyen of Cal State University, Adi Sathi of Sathi Strategies, Randy Mai of Rep. Pat Fallon’s (R-Texas) office, Prerna Bhat of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) office, Hannah So of Rep. Laurel Lee’s (R-Fla.) office, Sheryl Jahns of the Townsend Group, Jarrett Stoltzfus of Proterra, Anang Mittal of Brunswick Group, Lauri Ng of Mindset, Jed Bhuta of Tower19 and Neal Patel of Patel Partners.

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— Jon Campbell and Michael Pratt have joined the National Pharmaceutical Council as chief science officer and chief communications officer, respectively. Campbell was most recently senior vice president for health economics at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review and Pratt was previously at Real Chemistry, and is an Operation Warp Speed alum.

— Tricia Engle is now a partner at FGS Global. She previously was assistant secretary for the majority in the Senate and is a 26-year veteran of the Senate floor.

— Chris Stangl is now a managing director in Berkeley Research Group’s cybersecurity and investigations practice. He previously was a senior executive in the FBI’s science and technology branch.

— Jim Lake is now a partner at Portland Communications. He previously was president of JLA Strategic Communications.

— Christopher Weaver is joining the Rockefeller Foundation to lead its Economic Opportunity Coalition. He previously was senior fellow for Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

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New Joint Fundraisers

Illinois Nevada 2023 Fund (Sens. Dick Durbin, Catherine Cortez Masto, Reps. Nikki Budzinski, Eric Sorensen)

New PACs

AFC Victory Fund (Super PAC)

Dedicated Action Victory Initiative Strategy DAVIS PAC (Leadership PAC: Cicely Davis)

Ohio Republican Leadership Fund (Super PAC)

PA Innovation Leadership Fund (Hybrid PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Alpha Strategies, LLC: Lwrc International, LLC
Declassify Uap LLC: Declassify Uap LLC
Dla Piper LLP (US): Phase Four, Inc.
Jill Warren, P.C.: Icon Aircraft, Inc.
Modern Fortis LLC: United Coalition Of Public Safety
Nwg Advocacy LLC: Camara De Comercio De Puerto Rico
Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman & Matz, Pc: Agromovil
Rasky Partners, Inc.: Airhelp
Rasky Partners, Inc.: City Of Del Rio
Stapleton & Associates, LLC: Recoil Aerospace, Inc
West Front Strategies LLC: Davita Inc.

New Lobbying Terminations

Rasky Partners, Inc.: Compass Working Capital
Rasky Partners, Inc.: Electricfish
Rasky Partners, Inc.: Mass Insight Education & Research Institute Inc.

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