KATKO SIGNS MORE HOMELAND SECURITY, CYBER CLIENTS: Former Rep. John Katko has continued to rack up more clients for cybersecurity and homeland security issues, according to a tranche of newly filed disclosures. Katko was the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee before retiring earlier this year and joining the lobbying firm founded by some of his former top aides, Hill East Group. — He’s since parlayed his policy expertise into advocacy for several big cyber-focused clients, and though he’s barred from lobbying his former colleagues on the Hill for one year, he’s free to lobby the Biden administration right away. — In July, Katko and his former aides picked up the cybersecurity firm Dragos, for whom they will lobby on the “deployment of Cybersecurity tools at federal agencies and cyber security issues impacting industrial controls,” according to a filing. — Hill East has also signed Syracuse University, for whom Katko, Brad Gentile, Zach Howell and Erin Elliott will lobby on higher education issues and cybersecurity funding; Fortress Information Security, which focuses on software supply chain security for utilities; and the NHL, for whom the firm will lobby on security at hockey events. — Since the beginning of the year, Katko has also begun lobbying for Idemia, the company that currently conducts TSA PreCheck screenings and builds ID machines for checkpoints, the counter-drone company Fortem Technologies, cyber firm SentinelOne and the cyber monitoring service Security Scorecard, according to lobbying disclosures. KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON: Eli Clifton writes for Responsible Statecraft that “some of the candidates in the Republican presidential primary field appear to have few if any concerns about collecting six- or seven-figure paydays from foreign sources, according to a review of the candidates’ financial disclosures.” — “Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump tops both the polls and as recipient of foreign money, taking between $2 million and $10 million from his companies in the United Arab Emirates, over $5 million from his company in Oman, among other foreign payments totaling well in excess of $25 million and potentially exceeding $50 million.” — “He also received at least $2 million in speaking fees at events connected to the Unification Church, a South Korean evangelical congregation with politically far-right leanings that also owns the conservative Washington Times. Former Vice President Mike Pence also collected $550,000 in speaking fees from a group founded by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon — who founded the Unification Church.” — “Pence’s biggest foreign payments came from groups associated with Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). This Iranian militant group spent time on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations from 1997 to 2012 due to its role in the killing of six Americans in Iran in the 1970s and an attempted attack against the Iranian mission to the UN in 1992. … Pence has received $430,000 from three groups affiliated with the MEK,” which has doled out hefty speaking fees to politicians on both sides of the aisle. — “Former South Carolina governor and former U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley reported between $50,000 and $100,000 from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a New York-based pressure group that opposed the legal sale of medical supplies to Iran early in the COVID-19 pandemic and regularly calls for heightened sanctions against Iran and against diplomatic efforts to constrain Iran’s nuclear program.” She “also collected between $100,000 and $1,000,000 each from Canadian Friends of the Jerusalem College of Technology, Barclays Capital Asia, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.” ORGANIC LOBBYING: "Organic trade associations, animal welfare advocates and the other farm groups are ramping up their lobbying on a USDA regulatory proposal to strengthen the animal welfare standards for foods displaying USDA’s organic label, in hopes of influencing how quickly it goes into effect," POLITICO's Marcia Brown reports. — "In August, lobbyists for groups including the Humane Society Legislative Fund, the National Organic Coalition, the Organic Farmers Association and the American Farm Bureau Association attended three different meetings with officials in the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — where regulations undergo a final review before being published in the Federal Register. A fourth meeting, requested by the Organic Trade Association, is scheduled for Sept. 11, according to the publicly available OIRA calendar." — "The rule, proposed by USDA in August 2022 and expected to be finalized this year, would require hens producing eggs that use the label 'USDA organic' to have access to the outdoors. Specifically, a screened 'porch' attached to a poultry house — a practice used by some producers who label their products 'free-range' — would not be enough. The rule also clarifies transportation standards and the number of animals allowed in a certain amount of space." — "Though many farmers and producers that sell organic products support the effort to tighten standards, some organic producers, particularly larger organic farming operations, oppose the rule on the grounds that it would make their current production model more expensive." ROE ON THE ROCKS?: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has privately complained about a powerful operative at the center of his 2024 presidential effort,” three people familiar with the comments tell The Washington Post’s Hannah Knowles. — “DeSantis has expressed regrets over Jeff Roe’s hiring as a lead strategist at the super PAC Never Back Down, an outside group that has assumed many responsibilities in the race traditionally handled by campaigns, two of the people said. One, a DeSantis donor, heard the comments directly from the governor, this person said.” — The DeSantis campaign’s communications director Andrew Romeo denied the accounts of DeSantis’ comments, and offered high praise for Never Back Down’s work. The head of the PAC also pushed back forcefully on the Post’s account. — And though DeSantis has continued to appear with Never Back Down at campaign stops, “top DeSantis aides have said they regret the extent of Roe’s influence over DeSantis’s 2024 operation, according to a person familiar with the comments, and several other people echoed that some campaign staff and donors have been upset with Roe, particularly after the debate memo and leaked recordings of a donor briefing by Roe and other super PAC officials held the day of the debate in Milwaukee.” SPOTTED at an event Thursday celebrating clean energy innovation hosted by American Clean Power and 16 other trade groups, per a tipster: Jigar Shah and Avi Zevin of the Energy Department, Mary Landrieu of Van Ness Feldman, Kelly Speakes-Backman of Invenergy, former Maryland Public Service Commission Chair Jason Stanek, Rick Kessler, Frank Maisano of Bracewell, Leah Stokes of Rewiring America, Jason Grumet of American Clean Power, Lisa Jacobson of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Frank Wolak of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association, Amy Andryszak of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, Jay Timmons of the National Association of Manufacturers, Lane Wilson of Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, Malcolm Woolf of the National Hydropower Association and Marty Durbin of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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