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Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | With Daniel Lippman HAT TRICK: Three top congressional aides have left the Hill for lobbying gigs at firms across town. John “JP” Dowd joined Van Scoyoc Associates after more than three decades on the Hill working for former Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), spending the past 11 years serving as Leahy’s chief of staff. Leahy was the chamber’s most tenured Democrat before his retirement earlier this year, and chaired the powerful Appropriations Committee for the past two years of his term. — Rep. Jan Schakowsky's (D-Ill.) chief of staff Syd Terry has decamped for BGR Group, where he’ll be vice president in the firm’s commerce and infrastructure practice. In addition to her role as chief deputy whip, Schakowsky is the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee, and Terry told PI he expects to work on much of the same issue portfolio at BGR, which includes everything from antitrust and the FTC to online safety, data privacy, consumer protection, auto safety and tourism. — In an interview, Terry said he was drawn to BGR in part because he felt it reflects his knack for coalition building. He pointed to his role as a key negotiator on last year’s INFORM Consumers Act, whose eventual backers included retailers, manufacturers, unions, law enforcement and online marketplaces alike. — Marc Goldberg, who’s served as Sen. Maggie Hassan’s (D-N.H.) chief of staff for nearly seven years, is joining Cornerstone Government Affairs as a principal and to help launch a New Hampshire office for the firm. He’ll do so alongside Mike Vlacich, a former senior adviser to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) who most recently served as a regional administrator for the Small Business Administration in New England. Paired with its outpost in Des Moines, Cornerstone’s Concord office will give the firm a footprint in two crucial early nominating states. EMBATTLED HR STARTUP, PAYMENTS COALITION HIRE MILLER STRATEGIES: Deel, the startup hiring and HR platform that’s seen a meteoric rise over the past few years, has retained Miller Strategies as the fintech faces scrutiny over its use of independent contractors. Jeff Miller, a close adviser to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Jonathan Hiler, a former Vice President Mike Pence aide, are the company’s first federal lobbyists. — They’ll lobby on issues related to regulatory compliance for the company, according to a disclosure filing. The platform touts clients like Nike, Dropbox, Subway and Shopify, but following an investigation by Insider in March, a half a dozen House Democrats called for a federal Labor Department probe into whether Deel has been intentionally misclassifying employees as contractors, charges the platform had previously dismissed as “ridiculous.” — Miller is also the latest beneficiary of Wall Street’s hiring spree as credit card providers and banks lobby up ahead of a fight over swipe fees this fall. The Electronic Payments Coalition, whose members include banks, credit card companies and credit unions, retained Miller Strategies back in July, according to a new disclosure. — Miller Strategies is the third new outside firm hired by the coalition this summer, behind Resolution Public Affairs and Effective Advocacy Consulting, bringing the group’s bench of outside firms up to eight. Happy Wednesday and welcome back to PI. What's keeping you busy during the post-recess sprint? Drop me a line: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE. | | | | | HOLLAND AND KNIGHT ADDS HARRIS AIDE: Holland & Knight has scooped up Yasmin Nelson, one of the few alumni of Vice President Kamala Harris on K Street. Nelson, who served as a senior policy adviser in Harris’ Senate office, was most recently a partner and senior principal at Bracewell, where she lobbied for clients including Cheniere Energy, the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association and the National Brain Tumor Society. — Prior to Harris’ office, Nelson also worked for Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and for the Senate Finance Committee under Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). She also served as president of the Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus. SOFTWARE MAKERS LAUNCH AI PUSH: BSA, which represents the software industry, is prepping a lobbying blitz to nudge Congress into legislative action on AI policy. The push is timed around a hearing on the issue slated for next week at which the trade group’s chief executive, Victoria Espinel, will testify, and includes a new online resource center featuring testimonials by BSA members on the benefits of AI. — The campaign will also include a five-figure digital ad spend to promote the site and educate policymakers, in addition to direct lobbying and briefings for Hill staff to make the case for comprehensive AI guardrails. ROGERS HEADS IN-HOUSE: George Rogers has left Republic Consulting, the lobbying firm he co-founded in 2019, to join the Mortgage Bankers Association as a vice president of legislative affairs. Rogers, a former John Boehner aide and Trump transition adviser, will primarily focus on lobbying Senate Republicans for the trade association, which has been a longtime client of Rogers’ since his days at Wexler | Walker. — Beyond that, “my family was involved in community banking, I worked on banking issues during my time as General Counsel of the House Rules Committee and then extensively worked with the Senate during Dodd-Frank and the Great Financial Crisis when I was with Boehner,” Rogers told PI in an email of his decision to make the move in-house with MBA. “I'm thrilled to be working exclusively on financial services and housing issues with MBA and its members.” IT’S NOT A CONTEST, BUT … : “Republicans on Capitol Hill have hired far more former lobbyists to work in their offices than Democrats in the last year,” Insider’s Bryan Metzger reports. — “Data compiled by LegiStorm — a website that closely tracks congressional staffers' job movements and salaries — found that 61 of the 91 former lobbyists who took jobs in partisan offices on Capitol Hill in the last year were hired by Republicans. That amounts to a 64%-36% split.” — Of course, the revolving door between the halls of Congress and K Street is very much bipartisan, and the current gap between parties narrows when looking at the reverse career path: “LegiStorm also found that of the 415 former congressional staffers who worked in partisan offices and registered as lobbyists this year, 54% came from Republican offices and 46% came from Democratic offices — a much more even split. Over the last ten years, Republicans have generally made up the majority of staffers-turned-lobbyists, the analysis also found.” WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE: “Former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner was among Ron DeSantis’ biggest boosters during the 2022 midterm election, giving nearly $1 million to his reelection bid. But as he has surveyed the field of GOP candidates for president, Rauner — a wealthy former private equity executive who was DeSantis’ fifteenth biggest donor in last year’s election — has not given any more money to the Florida governor,” POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt and Jessica Piper write — and he’s not alone. — “Of the 50 donors who gave at least $160,000 in the years leading up to his 2022 reelection campaign, only 16 — less than a third — provided funds to the super PAC Never Back Down, which can receive unlimited contributions, through the end of June. Eight other major donors gave directly to his presidential campaign but not the super PAC.” — “The top 50 list includes five donors who are now financially supporting rival presidential candidates. And of those who are giving money to the DeSantis campaign or his super PAC, five are splitting their funds with other candidates.” — “Trailing former President Donald Trump by wide margins in Republican primary polls — some of which show him struggling to keep his second-place status — many former contributors to the Florida governor are looking to other candidates or keeping their wallets shut entirely. … [I]n recent weeks, some of DeSantis’ biggest past donors have come out publicly to say they are holding back on writing checks to the super PAC.”
| | | | — Beth Jafari is joining Hilton as vice president of global government affairs. She was most recently senior government relations counsel at Kelley Drye & Warren and is a Sen. John Cornyn alum. — Venn Strategies has hired Margaret French, who most recently worked at America's Essential Hospitals, to serve as a vice president in its health practice, and Noah Schloegel to work as a tax and financial services associate. Teagan Poleykett was promoted to an associate in the firm’s critical infrastructure team. — Sam Falconer has joined BlueLabs Analytics as director of political strategy and advocacy. He was previously a senior strategist at The Strategy Group and has served as a campaign manager for races in Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. — Christopher Huntley is now vice president of executive communications at Human Rights Campaign. He’s formerly a speechwriter for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign and was most recently at Blue State. — Jerome Pickett is joining McDonald’s as vice president and global chief security and intelligence officer. He most recently was a senior adviser at The Chertoff Group and is an alum of the NBA and CLEAR. — Niall Brennan is now senior adviser to the CDC director. He most recently was chief analytics and privacy officer at Clarify Health Solutions and is a CMS alum. — Kristina Sesek is now senior director and counsel at SAP America. She most recently was legislative director and chief counsel to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). — TechNet has promoted Meghan Pearce to federal policy director. She was previously a federal policy manager with the group. — Kala Shankle is now vice president of regulatory affairs at the Healthcare Distribution Alliance. She was previously an attorney at Epstein Becker & Green. — Maxwell Nunes is now an executive vice president and head of paid digital at SKDK. He most recently co-led his advertising and digital media firm, Steamship Media, and is a Pete Buttigieg alum. — Maggie Polachek is now senior director at Evergreen Strategy Group. She most recently was a special adviser for implementation at the EPA and is an alum of the Biden White House. — Michael Harinstein is joining Think Big Media as a managing director of public affairs. He previously was chief marketing officer for Marathon Strategies. — Jamie Fly is now a senior counselor to the CEO at Palantir Technologies. He most recently was president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. — Ryann Hill is joining the Federation of American Hospitals as vice president of legislation. She was previously senior director of federal and state affairs at SCAN Health Plan. — Kristin Wilson-Palmer is now chief communications officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council. She most recently served as senior vice president in Edelman’s Washington, D.C., office. — Mika Hyer has been promoted to national press secretary at the League of Conservation Voters. She previously did communications on LCV’s democracy initiatives. — Jordan Pascale is joining the media relations team at WMATA. Pascale joined WAMU/DCist in June 2018 to cover the D.C. transit service, as well as bike and pedestrian issues.
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TED CRUZ VICTORY FUND (Sen. Ted Cruz, Jobs, Freedom, and Security PAC, Republican Party of Texas, NRSC)
| | ANTISEMTISM AND SAFETY AWARENESS (PAC)
The Delaware Project (Hybrid PAC)
Last Best Place PAC (Super PAC)
| | New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS | | | Atlas Crossing LLC: American Humane
Auctane, Inc.: Auctane, Inc.
Ballard Partners: Kaseya, Inc.
Bluestone Strategies, LLC: Northwest Power And Conservation Council
Boundary Stone Partners: Rec Americas, LLC
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Amerisourcebergen Corporation
Cordone Consulting LLC: Florida Tomato Exchange
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Elevated Freight Technologies
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Rc Construction Co., Inc.
Desimone Consulting, LLC: City Of Othello, Wa
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC: Tmpc Inc.
International Sustainability Standards Board (Issb): International Sustainability Standards Board (Issb)
Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: Scribeamerica
Mr. Thad Huguley: Rayonier
Ogilvy Government Relations: Leavitt Partners, LLC On Behalf Of Sickle Cell Disease Partnership
Planet Fitness, Inc.: Planet Fitness, Inc.
Tenagrity Solutions, LLC: 1Day Sooner
Thegroup Dc, LLC: Adtalem Global Education
The Wessel Group Incorporated: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
The Wessel Group Incorporated: Worldwide Superabrasives LLC
Todd Strategy Group: American Medical Association
Twenty-First Century Group, Inc.: Manatee County Port Authority
Yc Consulting, LLC: Korea International Trade Association
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Authentic8, Inc. | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
