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Presented by Freight Rail Works: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | | | With Zack Colman, Daniel Lippman NEW BUSINESS: Lobbying disclosures are beginning to stream in ahead of Friday’s Q3 filing deadline. Here’s a round-up of several that have caught your host’s eye. Chinese drone manufacturer DJI has hired Subject Matter as it looks to fend off attacks from U.S. policymakers and preserve its dominance of the drone marketplace. — DJI is under numerous U.S. restrictions that bar the company from buying U.S. technology and prohibit investments by Americans due to concerns about potential spying as well as allegations that DJI drones helped to surveil and track Chinese Uyghur Muslims. Meanwhile a rule that went into effect in Florida earlier this year bans government agencies from using DJI drones (along with others made in China). — The company dropped nearly $1.5 million on lobbying last year as it tried to fight off further restrictions, and is on track to surpass that record this year. In addition to a team of in-house lobbyists, DJI retains the Vogel Group and CLS Strategies, but it parted ways with another outside firm, Squire Patton Boggs, last month. — Meanwhile, AI doomsayers continue to build out their lobbying operations in D.C. The Center for AI Safety Action Fund, the lobbying arm of a group that organized a May letter warning that humanity is at “risk of extinction from AI,” registered its first in-house lobbyist last month. — Varun Krovi, the former head of public affairs for the Sam Bankman-Fried-funded advocacy group Guarding Against Pandemics, is now working for CAIS, another effective altruism-linked group that’s received funding from Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz’s nonprofit Open Philanthropy, according to a disclosure. — And ticket resale marketplace SeatGeek has added to its lobbying firepower amid the fight over ticketing reforms. Caleb Johnson of Harbor Policy has been lobbying for the ticket reseller since July, according to a newly filed disclosure. SeatGeek also retains Tiber Creek Group, and is a past supporter of the Coalition For Ticket Fairness, which advocates for secondary ticketing marketplaces and has supported more reseller-friendly ticket reform bills on the Hill. Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. Got a lobbying tip? Let’s hear it: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | A message from Freight Rail Works: What’s the safest way to move goods over land? It’s freight rail. Thanks to new technologies and a culture of safety powered by our 135,000 employees, we’ve reduced mainline accidents by 48% since 2000. Explore how we’re continuing to innovate in safety right here. | | | UAE HIRED TENEO AHEAD OF CLIMATE TALKS: Teneo netted nearly $1.6 million for strategic advice it offered the United Arab Emirates’ clean energy company and climate office for UN climate talks that begin next month, the firm noted in a FARA filing posted Wednesday. The payout, split between an initial retainer and other services, covered work in July and from Aug. 1 through Oct. 10. — The UAE has faced public scrutiny over hosting the global negotiations, known as COP28. The world’s seventh-largest oil-and-gas producer made Sultan al-Jaber, the chief of its national oil company ADNOC, the head of the annual talks. That appointment has raised conflict-of-interest concerns: Fossil fuel consumption is the primary driver of climate change. Yet al-Jaber has asserted his ADNOC experience and his past role running Masdar, the UAE’s clean energy outfit, leaves him well-positioned to convince the oil and gas industry to green its operations. — Teneo is the latest in a string of public relations and communications firms working for the COP28 operation. The firm said in its filing dated Oct. 13 that it provided “strategic counsel to COP28 leadership team; review of and contribution to key engagement plans and communications materials; and outreach to media.” — Teneo listed Edward Cropley, Giles Kernick, Geoff Morrell, Padraic Riley, Cassandra Simpson and Jackson Wild as the registered agents on the contract. Morrell is familiar with the energy space. He was formerly the executive vice president of communication at BP, the oil and gas major, working at the company for 11 years — including during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, the largest oil spill in history. — Before joining Teneo, Morrell was briefly a spokesperson at Disney. He also served as a Defense Department spokesperson in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. — The UAE work expanded Teneo’s presence in the Gulf. The firm has done work for Saudi Arabia’s “smart city” Neom and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Teneo did not respond to a request for comment, but a COP28 spokesperson told PI the firm’s scope of work was limited to providing messaging and communications advice. — “All COPs, including COP28, build their organizations from the ground up,” the spokesperson said. “COP28 has assembled a diverse team of UAE and global experts — including consultants — in climate policy, energy, technology, finance, nature, biodiversity, and other fields to develop, advance and advocate for greater climate action.” EISNER HEADS TO BGR: Scott Eisner, a top trade executive at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for nearly two decades, is leaving the business lobby to join BGR Group’s international and trade practice as a senior vice president. Eisner most recently led the Chamber’s U.S.-Africa Business Center, and in an interview, he told PI that he’s eager to work on some of the same issues through a different lens. — “It's the opportunity to look at a slightly different global view of how businesses, governments, and nonprofits and others approach challenges globally, and how do you help them craft and think through everything from ‘What are the right policies?’ to ‘What's the right messaging,’” Eisner said. WILL WEED OPPONENTS’ RECENT WINS BE FLEETING?: “Fighting weed legalization on Capitol Hill can feel like a lonely struggle these days,” but our Natalie Fertig reports that “a small but vocal, ad-hoc coalition of lawmakers — almost all Republicans — is keeping the anti-weed fight alive in Washington. And they’re not exactly losing.” — “The lawmakers, while still disorganized, scored several notable victories in recent months, thwarting progress on key cannabis bills and leaving die-hard supporters of federal legalization conceding they had been briefly outmaneuvered.” — Momentum on the Hill remains on cannabis supporters’ side, though, in part because “the anti-weed caucus, despite growing more vocal, lacks the cohesive strategy their counterparts in the pro-cannabis caucus have employed for years.” — Nearly a dozen lawmakers told Natalie “that none of the recent steps taken to fight new cannabis laws has translated into a concerted effort to organize against legalization,” which has the backing of a congressional caucus and powerful K Street groups like the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America. FLYING IN: The Opportunity Finance Network, which represents community development financial institutions, is wrapping up a fly-in that brought hundreds of advocates to the Hill on Tuesday. Advocates had more than 60 meetings scheduled with lawmakers and their staff to discuss CDFI funding and a tax credit aimed at attracting private capital into low-income communities. The group was set to meet with Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) as well as Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Dale Strong (R-Ala.) — Catholic health care leaders are also on the Hill this week with the Catholic Health Association, where they have more than 200 meetings scheduled on the Hill, including with the health care committees of jurisdiction, as well as HHS and the White House. The group will push back on recent criticism of the not-for-profit status of some Catholic hospitals and discuss ways to increase access to services and improve maternal health and mortality. — Autos Drive America — which represents international automakers such as BMW, Honda, Kia, Toyota, Nissan and Volvo stateside — is holding its first “drive-in” this week to tout the automakers’ investments in U.S. production facilities and discuss the labor challenges posed by transitions in the industry. They’re set to meet with more than 60 offices, including those of House Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Reps. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and more. SPOTTED at a National Photonics Initiative and Congressional Optics and Photonics Caucus technology show and tell last night in the Rayburn foyer, per a tipster: Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), NPI’s Jim McNally and Optica’s Liz Rogan.
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO APP: Stay in the know with the POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | | | — Tanner Palin has joined Tusk Strategies as a vice president and Maria Restrepo has joined as a senior associate in the D.C. office. Palin most recently served as communications director and senior adviser for Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) and Restrepo was previously senior associate director for staff secretary for Vice President Kamala Harris. — Matt Lehner has joined GE Aerospace as the director for policy communications and thought leadership. He was previously a spokesperson at the FAA. — Kara Zupkus is now communications manager for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. She most recently was communications director for Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas). — Vivek Chilukuri is joining the Center for a New American Security as senior fellow and director of the technology and national security program. He previously was a senior staff member in various roles for Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and is a State Department alum. — OnBoard by SBS Comms has added Kristy Bannan as a director and Ali Fortin as an account manager. Bannan was previously director of public relations at the Built With Bitcoin Foundation and Fortin was previously a public relations specialist at Six Eastern. — Rob Robilliard is joining Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a senior policy adviser. He was most recently director of government affairs for the Crypto Council for Innovation and is a Brad Sherman alum. — Mindset has hired Rebecca Alcorn as a director focusing on banking and financial services issues. She was most recently a senior policy adviser for Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).
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| | New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS | | | Actum I, LLC: Clear Labs Bridge Street Group, LLC: Salinas Strategies LLC (On Behalf Of International Council Of Shopping Centers) Capitol Counsel LLC: Aes Wr Limited Partnership Capitol Hill Consulting Group: Bausch Health Center For Ai Safety Action Fund, Inc.: Center For Ai Safety Action Fund, Inc. Crosswinds Solutions: Pacific Forest Trust Crosswinds Solutions: Partnership Of Rangeland Trusts Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, LLP: Certified Moving And Storage LLC Hanwha Q Cells America Inc.: Hanwha Q Cells America Inc. Harbor Policy, LLC: Bark Technologies Harbor Policy, LLC: Seatgeek Majority Action: Majority Action Mcdermott+Consulting LLC: United States Medical Compression Alliance Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: Intuit, Inc. (Formerly Intuit) Mr. Brian Dearing: Xfs Global LLC Paul Hastings LLP: Panama Colon Container Port, Inc. Rubin, Turnbull & Associates: North Bay Village Stapleton & Associates, LLC: City Of Huntington Beach Team Subject Matter, LLC (Fra Subject Matter): Dji Technology, Inc. The 51 Group, LLC: Act, Inc. The 51 Group, LLC: American Institutes For Research (Air) The Majority Group, LLC: Developers Alliance Wuxi Apptec Sales LLC: Wuxi Apptec Sales LLC
| | | | A message from Freight Rail Works:   | | | | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Adams And Reese, LLP: County Of Aiken, South Carolina Alb Solutions: Marius Pharmaceuticals LLC Arentfox Schiff LLP: American Library Association Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz /The Daschle Group: Bush Brothers & Company Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz /The Daschle Group: Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd Bridge Public Affairs, LLC: Empire Communities Bridge Public Affairs, LLC: Rise Partners Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Maxar Technologies Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Msci Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: San Diego County Water Authority Capitol Chambers Strategies: 535 Group, LLC On Behalf Of D-Wave Government Inc. Capitol Chambers Strategies: Linde Inc. Capitol Chambers Strategies: Paypal, Inc. Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Tonopah Solar Energy Effective Advocacy Consulting LLC: Electronic Payments Coalition ("Epc") Exigent Government Relations: Bridge Street Group LLC On Behalf Of Iggy Ventures LLC Forbes-Tate: Emergent Biosolutions Forbes-Tate: Ice Miller LLP On Behalf Of City Of Birmingham Alabama Forbes-Tate: International Council Of Shopping Centers Forbes-Tate: Reforming America'S Taxes Equitably Forbes-Tate: We Realize, Inc. Dba Realize Health Policy Source, Inc.: Jarrard, Inc On Behalf Of Nfp Alliance Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLP: Pueblo De Cochiti Holland & Knight LLP: John Bean Technologies (Jbt) Corporation Jenkins Hill Consulting, LLC: Associated Behavioral Health Care Kma Zuckert LLC: Ksat Inc. Liz Williams And Company: Vyrty Corporation Dba Sync.Md Mayer Brown LLP: Williams Companies (Formerly Williams Partners Lp) Mcguirewoods Consulting (A Subsidiary Of Mcguirewoods LLP): Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: Blue Cross Blue Shield Of South Carolina Mr. Brian Dearing: Creative Tent International Polsinelli Pc: Bracco Diagnostics, Inc. Polsinelli Pc: Tellus App, Inc. Rubin, Turnbull & Associates: North Bay Village Runyan Public Affairs, LLC: Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc. Runyan Public Affairs, LLC: Rayonier, Inc. Strategic Health Care: Morrow County Hospital Strategic Health Care: Shelby Memorial Hospital The Majority Group, LLC: American Petroleum Institute Thorn Run Partners: City Of Winter Park, Fl Thorn Run Partners: Surescan Corporation
| | | | A message from Freight Rail Works: America’s freight railroads have always gone above and beyond federal safety requirements. We’re constantly innovating safety technology and providing our 135,000 employees with the tools and training they need to protect our communities and the economy.
Our dedication to safety means we’re pursuing proactive measures with policymakers and the communities we serve. This includes installing additional hot bearing detectors, providing even better training and support for first responders, and improving collaboration across rail companies so we can make informed decisions based on shared data. These broad industry-wide steps are a few of the many we’re taking together to make the rail network even safer. Read on to see how we’re getting safer every day. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
