BOUNDARY STONE STAFFS UP, ACQUIRES 2 FIRMS: The lobbying firm Boundary Stone Partners has acquired the GOP energy and environmental consultancy S2C Pacific, as well as Catapult Policy Strategies, a Democratic transportation lobbying shop, and added seven new staffers. A pair of S2C’s principals, former Paul Ryan staffer Shane Skelton and former Fred Upton aide Patrick Currier, will come on as senior vice presidents as will Peter Gould, the former House Transportation staffer who leads Catapult. — Yogin Kothari, a former aide on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and a former lobbyist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, will be a vice president, Taylor Krause will join as a senior policy associate, and Rebecca van Burken and Max Seifert will be policy associates, while Shonia Lyles will become office manager, and Jessica Burns will be an executive assistant in the Los Angeles office. — Co-founder and partner Jeff Navin said in an interview that Boundary Stone had doubled its staff in the last year and that while he and fellow Obama alum Brandon Hurlbut founded the firm in 2013 anticipating a “huge rush” of clean energy business, Biden’s presidency means that “this is the big moment for climate and for clean energy.” BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE ADDS 5: The Business Roundtable announced nearly half a dozen additions to its government affairs teams. Paul Jackson , a former legislative affairs chief at the FCC, will join as vice president of government relations, and Javier Gamboa, a former Democratic staffer for the House Climate Crisis Committee, will be a senior director focused on policies that “promote economic growth and job creation.” — Jonay Foster Holkins, who most recently served as a counsel for Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), will oversee the business group’s racial equity and justice policy agenda, Catherine Schultz will become vice president of tax and fiscal policy, and Nicole Vasilaros will become vice president of advocacy and government relations. HOW MUCH GIG COMPANIES SPENT ON LABOR LOBBYING: “Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft and delivery apps DoorDash and Instacart spent at least $1,190,000 on 32 lobbyists to persuade members of Congress on the PRO Act,” per The Intercept’s Zak Cassel and Rose Adams. “The bill, which the House of Representatives passed in early March, would allow many gig workers to unionize and make it harder for companies to union-bust, among other changes.” — According to disclosures “Uber alone spent $540,000 in the first quarter of 2021 lobbying on ‘issues related to the future of work and the on-demand economy, possible anti-competitive activities that could limit consumers access to app-based technologies,’ the PRO Act, and other related labor issues,” while Lyft spent $430,000, DoorDash dropped $120,000, and Instacart shelled out $100,000 lobbying on the PRO Act and other issues. — Gig companies have heavily ramped up their presence in Washington since November’s election with delivery apps GoPuff and Grubhub hiring their first federal lobbyists or others, like Uber and Lyft, snapping up aides with ties to Biden and Walsh. — Several of the companies are also members of a new national coalition, the App-Based Work Alliance , formed to help the companies fight off efforts to classify their workers as employees — efforts that advanced this week with the repeal of a Trump-era DOL rule. TOP DNC FUNDRAISER HEADS TO MCGUIREWOODS: Clayton Cox, who headed up the DNC’s fundraising operation for the past four years, is leaving the committee to join McGuireWoods as a vice president of its federal public affairs team. Cox told PI he plans to register to lobby, and that the career change had to do with a desire to move on to a new chapter after four “very successful years” at the committee. DIPLOMATS TO BIDEN: SAY NO TO EUROPEAN AMBASSADOR-DONORS: “As President Joe Biden finalizes his first batch of political nominees for ambassadorships, veteran diplomats are offering a warning,” POLITICO’s Anita Kumar and Nahal Toosi report: “Don’t make Europe a playground for wealthy donors and longtime friends and allies. So far, it appears the president isn’t keen on listening.” — “As in past administrations, political appointees are the leading contenders for ambassadorships in France, Belgium and Ireland, according to two people familiar with the process. And career diplomats are not likely to fill posts in Ukraine and at the European Union, even after Donald Trump’s first impeachment raised concerns about the treatment of such diplomats there, and spotlighted the dangers that can come when the positions are viewed as political outposts.” GUN CONTROL GROUPS SHELL OUT ON LOBBYING: “Lobbying spending by gun control groups rose in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year as a return to frequent mass shootings turned up the pressure for anti-gun violence legislation,” OpenSecrets’ Krystal Hur reports, though gun control advocates’ lobbying spending still lags behind that of gun rights groups. — “Spending on gun control lobbying surged about 21 percent from January through March, compared with the same period in 2020, to $630,000. Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit largely funded and co-launched by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, topped the list of industry lobbyist spenders for the 10th year in a row with $380,000. Gun control group Giffords came in second with $150,000” — that’s compared with the roughly $2.7 million gun rights groups spent on lobbying in the first quarter, down from $2.8 million the year before. CUOMO ASKS EXECS TO STAY IN N.Y., LOBBY FOR SALT CAP REPEAL: “New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is privately encouraging some of the state’s wealthiest business leaders to remain in the Empire State and lobby lawmakers to remove the federal cap on state and local tax deductions,” CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports. “‘As business leaders, we should be telling people to stay in New York and to try to get SALT in the new tax bill,’” a person with direct knowledge of a call between the governor and a small group of business executives said of Cuomo’s message to the business leaders. NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH REBRANDS: The National Council for Behavioral Health, an association representing organizations that provide mental health and substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery support, unveiled its new name this week: the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. Council president and CEO Chuck Ingoglia said the change is meant to "change the conversation" about substance abuse and mental health treatment, focusing on “the end results of the interventions” rather than risk stigmatizing the field further by suggesting recipients of care are there as a result of their own behavior. | 
