RAGA brass back a challenger to one of their own

From: POLITICO Influence - Wednesday Aug 23,2023 10:41 pm

Aug 23, 2023

RAGA BRASS BACK A CHALLENGER TO ONE OF THEIR OWN: Top leadership of the Republican Attorneys General Association are supporting a challenger to one of their own members, sitting Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Daniel reports.

— In December, RAGA executive director Peter Bisbee donated $250 to Will Scharf, an old friend of his, and a new Scharf campaign memo obtained by PI capitalizes on that support. “Scharf is being supported by a number of sitting Republican attorneys general, as well as the executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association,” the campaign wrote in the previously-unreported July memo.

— “In a notable departure from past practice, we do not expect RAGA to offer Bailey any support despite his status as a technical incumbent, a testament to the expected weakness of Bailey as a candidate and the expected strength of Scharf’s challenge.” The memo also says that the campaign expects RAGA “and other national groups to either remain on the sidelines or support us.”

— Bailey, the former general counsel for Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, was appointed attorney general last November by Parson after the previous attorney general, Eric Schmitt, was elected to the Senate. But Scharf, a former assistant U.S. attorney, started running several months later and his campaign has attracted the support of top members of the conservative legal intelligentsia.

— In addition to his financial support, Bisbee also pressured Parson’s chief of staff, Aaron Willard, to pick Scharf on a heated call soon after the midterms, according to a person familiar with the call. After several calls throughout the election cycle during which Bisbee fished for information on the selection process, once Schmitt was elected, Bisbee lobbied Willard aggressively for Scharf’s appointment — at one point warning during the call that “this is gonna create problems” for the governor’s office, the person recalled.

— Bisbee disputed the characterization and some of the content of the phone call but also told PI that “the gist of it was accurate.” “The Missouri Governor’s Office should spend less time fueling childish gossip and more time stopping the woke special interests that have taken over their public schools and state courts,” he added in a statement.

— RAGA declined to comment, but a person familiar with conversations within RAGA told PI: “RAGA’s executive director, Peter Bisbee, has contributed to Scharf’s campaign, along with numerous members of RAGA and its supporters, including Leonard Leo and Paul Singer. Many in and around RAGA believe Scharf is a much stronger candidate than Bailey, and that RAGA is very unlikely to get involved against him.”

— Leo’s Concord Fund has been the biggest donor by far to the PAC supporting Scharf, who has worked with Leo’s network in the past, giving $500,000 in March. Concord Fund in the last few years has also been the largest donor to RAGA, according to the Center for Media and Democracy.

— In a brief interview, Scharf told PI: “We’re proud to have support from conservatives in Missouri and across the country including a lot of people involved in the conservative legal movement.”

— “While Will Scharf is writing memos and playing politics, Attorney General Andrew Bailey is taking Joe Biden to court, fighting to defend Missourians from the Left’s assault on our jobs, freedoms, and our way of life,” Bailey adviser Mike Hafner said in a statement.

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FIRST IN PI — TECH WATCHDOG SQUEEZES CRUZ OVER LAW PROFESSOR DONATIONS: A liberal tech watchdog group is calling on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to return years-old political contributions from former George Mason University law professor and FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright following sexual misconduct allegations against the former commissioner.

— “As you may be aware, Wright has been accused of egregious sexual misconduct by former students and professional subordinates, who allege that he abused his authority to pressure them into sexual conduct,” Nicole Gill, the co-founder and executive director at Accountable Tech, wrote in a letter to Cruz today.

— Last week, Law360 reported that two of Wright’s former students “felt they had no option but to continue engaging sexually with Wright or else risk serious damage to their careers.” According to Accountable Tech, Cruz is the sole federal officeholder that has received campaign contributions from Wright — one for $2,700 during Cruz’s last reelection campaign and two more to Cruz’s 2016 White House bid, with a third $2,700 contribution to that campaign reattributed to Wright’s spouse.

— “As a past advocate against campus sexual assault and proponent of efforts to combat sexual assault in the military, you no doubt understand and appreciate of the severity of these allegations,” Gill’s letter said, contending that refunding the contributions would be “sending an important message that his alleged behavior is unacceptable.”

LEO SEASON OVER?: “Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating judicial activist Leonard Leo and his network of nonprofit groups,” a person with direct knowledge of the probe tells our Heidi Przybyla.

— “The scope of the investigation is unclear. But it comes after POLITICO reported in March that one of Leo’s nonprofits — registered as a charity — paid his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars in the two years since he joined the company.”

— “A few weeks later, a progressive watchdog group filed a complaint with the D.C. attorney general and the IRS requesting a probe into what services were provided and whether Leo was in violation of laws against using charities for personal enrichment.”

— “David B. Rivkin Jr., an attorney for the parties in the investigation, said in a statement that the complaint ‘is sloppy, deceptive and legally flawed and we are addressing this fully with the DC Attorney General’s office,’” while a spokesperson for Schwalb’s office declined to confirm or deny the existence of a probe.

— “The news of the investigation comes as the nonprofit that was a subject of the complaint quietly relocated in recent weeks from the capital area to Texas, according to paperwork filed in Virginia and Texas. For nearly 20 years the nonprofit, now known as The 85 Fund, had been incorporated in Virginia.”

ICYMI — WHITEHOUSE BILLS WOULD BOOST WIFE’S FIRM: “Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) has introduced several bills that could provide a windfall for a firm that employs his wife, raising potential conflict of interest concerns for the liberal Democrat,” The Washington Free Beacon’s Chuck Ross reports.

— “Whitehouse’s wife, Sandra Whitehouse, has since 2022 served as ocean policy adviser for Running Tide … a startup that works to remove carbon dioxide from the ocean. Whitehouse, who serves on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and chairs the Senate Budget Committee, has introduced legislation that would steer taxpayer funds to companies in the carbon dioxide removal industry.”

— One such bill is the Federal Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act from Whitehouse and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), “which would provide subsidies to companies that capture carbon dioxide from the air or seawater. Whitehouse said the bill calls for $3.5 billion in funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to ‘boost investment, create jobs, and help make the U.S. a global leader in the technology of carbon removal.’”

— “Sandra Whitehouse touted Running Tide’s technology at an event last month to promote the Massachusetts Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act, a bill modeled on the federal legislation her husband proposed last year.”

— Meanwhile the company “has lobbied extensively over the past two years, spending $300,000 on ‘issues related to carbon sequestration using deep water kelp,’ according to lobbying disclosures,” and its CEO Marty Odlin “called on Congress and the executive branch earlier this year to ‘mandate’ more spending on technologies to retrieve carbon dioxide from the ocean.”

Jobs Report

— Michael Magdelinskas is now Northeast government relations lead at Accenture. He previously led legislative and regulatory policy for the bike and scooter division at Lyft.

— Kara Kelber has joined Grubhub as director of federal affairs. She most recently was senior director of public affairs at SiriusXM.

— Karina Erickson is joining the Energy Workforce and Technology Council as communications director. She was previously communications director for then-Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and the Texas General Land Office.

— Olivia Troye will be executive director of 97Percent. She is a National Counterterrorism Center, DOE, DHS, Mike Pence and Trump White House alum.

— Josh Mogil is now counsel in DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs. He most recently was an attorney at WilmerHale.

— Wyatt Dietrick is now vice president of polling and data analysis for National Public Affairs. He previously was a regional data director for the RNC.

New Joint Fundraisers

Pro-Normal Party Victory Fund (Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Adam For Colorado)

New PACs

American Independent Voter Association (PAC)
Clear Government for the People (Hybrid PAC)
College Students for Democracy (Super PAC)
Defending America PAC (Super PAC)
HONOR PAC (PAC)
Lantheus Holdings Inc Political Action Committee (Lantheus PAC) (PAC)
Mobilize Now (Super PAC)
Pacific Defense Strategies, Inc. Political Action Committee (PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Blank Rome Government Relations: Blank Rome LLP (On Behalf Of Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure, LLC)
Capitol Counsel LLC: Ardelyx, Inc.
Lincoln Park Group L.L.C.: Tower 19 On Behalf Of Mastercard Inc.
Lobbyit.Com: Alitheon
Lobbyit.Com: Michael Ricci
Lobbyit.Com: National Auto Auction Association
Lobbyit.Com: National Owner Operators Association
Lobbyit.Com: Shared Hope Inc.
Moet Hennessy USA: Moet Hennessy USA

New Lobbying Terminations

Lobbyit.Com: Embrace Families
Lobbyit.Com: Like Minded Software
Lobbyit.Com: Skidabrader
W&E Networks LLC: Nantero Inc.
W&E Networks LLC: Silicon Heartland Holdings, LLC

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