Scott challenger shells out to mysterious firm

By Caitlin Oprysko and Daniel Lippman

With Daniel Lippman

SCOTT CHALLENGER SHELLS OUT FOR MYSTERIOUS FIRM: A wealthy Florida businessman on a quixotic quest to unseat Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has paid a mysterious political consulting firm run by an operative who was previously fired for alleged ties to a white nationalist group more than half a million dollars, Daniel reports.

— FEC records show that Senate hopeful Keith Gross, who launched a longshot primary bid against Scott earlier this year, has paid Mammoth Strategy Group more than $523,000 for strategic consulting, TV advertising and polling. The work appears to have had meager returns: Gross has given his campaign almost $1 million in loans and personal donations, but raised just $26,000 in total from individual donors.

— The Delaware-based firm’s website gives no indication of who's behind the firm, which was incorporated in February, according to a Delaware state records search. In fact, the firm is operated by Caleb C. Shumaker. In 2017, Mike Braun's Senate campaign fired Shumaker as a contract employee after social media posts identified him as a former chair of the white nationalist group National Youth Front.

— Shumaker confirmed that his firm had done work to raise Gross' name recognition and increase his "brand awareness,” but he denied that he was a white supremacist despite previous reporting linking him to the National Youth Front.

— "It is widely known among those that know me that I have never been a white nationalist, and since 2013 I have proudly had a biracial family,” Shumaker told PI. “As a Christian, my morals and ethics do not agree with any white nationalist sentiments. I strongly condemn white nationalism and am also proud of my ethnic Jewish heritage."

— His firm’s website says that it has partnered with top firms like Data Trust, but Chad Kolton, a spokesperson for the firm, told PI it “has no business relationship with Mammoth Strategy Group.” Mammoth’s website also features several dead links, and trying to click on the contact email on the website redirects visitors to email “hello@yourdomain.com.”

— Mammoth Strategy has one listed employee on LinkedIn but that employee, senior digital specialist Andy Choi, said he no longer works at the firm.

TGIF 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.

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ANNALS OF DARK MONEY: CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports that “former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and his allies donated $50 million during the 2022 election cycle toward politically active groups that do not publicly disclose the names of donors, according to documents recently made public by prosecutors.”

— “Bankman-Fried, his cryptocurrency exchange FTX and at least two of his former colleagues gave to nonprofits aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other senior Republican senators; a group linked to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and a wide range of obscure groups that have quietly influenced politics.”

— “The documents give the first full look at Bankman-Fried and his allies’ contributions to so-called ‘dark money’ organizations. Nishad Singh, FTX’s former head of engineering, provided further testimony earlier this week that shed light on how Bankman-Fried used a private Signal chat called ‘Donation Processing’ to request certain contributions be made in Singh’s name.”

WALL STREET GIDDY OVER MCHENRY’S RISE: “It’s a prospect so enticing that some executives have been afraid to jinx it on the record: Wall Street’s most trusted Republican might run the U.S. House. North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry — the temporary speaker who may be tapped to be more than just a caretaker — is one of the House GOP’s top liaisons with the business community, thanks to his long-time leadership role at the Financial Services Committee,” POLITICO’s Zach Warmbrodt and Jasper Goodman report.

— “While McHenry began his career by throwing bombs and torpedoing bank bailouts, he’s emerged in recent years as a pragmatic, bipartisan dealmaker. He has served as a counterweight to his party’s predilection for economy-rattling brinksmanship over things such as the federal debt limit. The hope in the business world is that having McHenry at the helm of the House might add some stability as a government shutdown looms next month.”

— The North Carolinian, a top recipient of Wall Street’s campaign cash and a key ally to the crypto industry, is “the rare Republican who has also prioritized working with Democrats, another thing that gives him credibility in the eyes of business leaders. ‘He’s non-threatening,’ said one industry executive who requested anonymity to avoid tanking McHenry’s odds.”

TECH COMPANIES MOVE TO FIGHT FAKE REVIEWS: A coalition of top e-commerce companies is banding together to crack down on fake reviews on their platforms. The Coalition for Trusted Reviews, which aims to protect “access to trustworthy consumer reviews” online, includes Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor and Trustpilot.

— The coalition is hoping to find industry alignment on best practices and standards for hosting and moderating reviews, as well facilitate information sharing between the group to cut down on fake reviews. It will also engage policymakers and academics to support its efforts, which are the subject of an ongoing FTC rulemaking.

— The agency notes that the widespread adoption of AI could make it easier to write and post fake reviews. FTC is accepting comments on a rule that would bar companies from selling or receiving fake online reviews, while some platforms have urged the agency to instead go after fake review brokers.

FIGHTING FOR FEES: Banking trade groups are trying to fend off a new attempt to crack down on the swipe fees merchants pay in order to run card transactions. As a broad coalition including financial institutions, airlines and unions works to defeat legislation in Congress that would affect credit card swipe fees, Wall Street warned the Federal Reserve today against lowering an existing cap on swipe fees for debit cards.

— In a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, the American Bankers Association, American Association of Credit Union Leagues, Consumer Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Electronic Payments Coalition, Independent Community Bankers of America, Mid-Size Banks Coalition of America, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions and National Bankers Association urged the central bank to reject a request from retailers to lower the cap on interchange fees for debit cards.

— The trade groups objected to a general lack of clarity, noting that while the Fed on Tuesday announced plans to vote next week on proposed changes to the fee cap, it did not release any details about the proposal. The Wall Street Journal reported that it would lower the fee cap.

— “To enable transparent and rigorous policymaking on a decision of this importance to American consumers, we respectfully request that this documentation be made available to the public this week,” the groups wrote. The groups added that they believe the Fed’s decision was based on incomplete data, dismissing merchants’ petition as “riddled with errors, misleading statements, and false comparisons that appear designed to deceive.”

— “We urge you to ‘stop, look, and listen’ so that a baseline of timely, accurate, and comprehensive data about the effect of existing regulations can be developed and analyzed before further action is taken on new rules related to debit card routing and/or interchange,” the banking trades wrote.

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— Eric Lail is now the director of media and public relations at Centene. He previously was at Elevance Health.

— Blake Nanney is joining the American Cleaning Institute as director of government affairs. He was previously senior manager of federal relations at the American Institute of Architects.

— Joshua Silverstein has joined Skadden’s Washington office as a counsel in its cybersecurity and data privacy practice and its national security group. He was previously a senior counselor and policy adviser at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

— Kate Balcerzak is now special assistant to the president and director of partnerships and private sector engagement. She was most recently at PepsiCo and the State Department.

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HANSEN VICTORY FUND (Delawareans for the Future, HANSEN FOR SENATE)
Rosen/Booker/Gillibrand Victory Fund (Sens. Jacky Rosen, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand)

Central Florida Solutions (Super PAC)

Delawareans for the Future (Leadership PAC: Eric Hansen)

Dowdmocracy (Super PAC)

Freedom-Foundation (Super PAC)

One Giant Leap PAC (Super PAC)

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Signature Science LLC

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Bose Public Affairs Group: Folds Of Honor

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Hamdi Ulukaya

Capitol Counsel LLC: Apex Data Solutions, LLC

Context Labs Bv: Context Labs Bv

Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: First Service Credit Union

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Covington & Burling LLP: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.

Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, LLP: The Viscardi Center

Forward Global (Fka Avisa Partners US, Inc.): Valid Entry

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Holland & Knight LLP: American Battery Solutions, Inc.

J.A. Green And Company (Formerly LLC): Varonis Public Sector LLC

Keller Partners & Company: Simpson University

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Monument Advocacy: Canoo

Mzls LLC: Tonio Burgos & Assoc., Inc. On Behalf Of Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnership

Smith Dawson & Andrews: Eugene 4J School District

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Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc: Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Bradley Lane Investment Company

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Ballard Partners: Andrew Lee

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Ballard Partners: Papa, Inc.

Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: Crowdai, Inc.

Bgr Government Affairs: Amerifreight Systems LLC

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Bracewell LLP: Dockatot

Bracewell LLP: Dream On Me, Inc.

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: C5 Capital

Capitol Counsel LLC: Nara Organics, Inc.

Capitol Decisions, Inc.: Pathfinder Solutions Pbc

Capitol Hill Partners: National Alliance For Public Charter Schools

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Card & Associates, LLC: Kellogg Company

Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Elcon

Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Livinguard Ag

Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Medical Creations, Inc.

Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Siriusiq Obo Clx Health, LLC

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Davis & Harman LLP: Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corp

Defense Consulting Group, LLC: The Nickles Group, LLC (On Behalf Of Aerojet Rocketdyne)

Dentons Global Advisors Government Relations LLC: Dentons US LLP On Behalf Of Hub 404

Dinino Associates, LLC: Cornerstone Government Affairs Obo City Of Des Moines

Dla Piper LLP (US): Gravy Analytics, Inc.

Dla Piper LLP (US): The Fresh Wave LLC

Empire Consulting Group: Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy LLC (For Palantir Technologies Inc)

Forward Global (Fka Avisa Partners US, Inc.): National Park Foundation

Freedomworks, Inc.: Freedomworks, Inc.

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Guidepoststrategies, LLC: Ford Motor Company

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Holland & Knight LLP: Echeneidae, Inc. D/B/A Remora

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J M Burkman & Associates: Christopher Quinn

J M Burkman & Associates: Joselito Molina

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Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: Paul Hastings LLP On Behalf Of Illumina

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O'Brien, Gentry & Scott, LLC: Dsg Technology

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O'Neill And Associates: National Braille Press

Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, P.C.: Ambulatory Eeg Coalition

Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, P.C.: American Academy Of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry

Prasam: Earthly Dynamics LLC

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Prime Policy Group: Sumitomo Corporation Of America

Rich Feuer Anderson: Treasure Investment Management, LLC

Serco Inc.: Serco Inc.

Sherman Strategic Affairs, LLC: Resilience Force

Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Samdesk

Smith Dawson & Andrews: Cornerstone Government Affairs Obo Maravai Lifesciences

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Mabus Group Behalf Of Xgs Energy (Fka Xgs Energy)

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Strategies 360: Hawaii Land Trust

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Strategies 360: Taloma Partners (On Behalf Of Mile High United Way)

Strategies 360: University Of Alaska

Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: Fairmount Park Conservancy

The Feighan Team: Community Reinvestment Fund USa

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The Russell Group, Inc.: Carbon Autonomous Robotics Systems

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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.

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