With Daniel Lippman ZIEGLER JOINING JOHNSON’S OFFICE: Dan Ziegler is heading back to the Hill to rejoin his old boss Mike Johnson in the new House speaker’s office as his policy director, our Olivia Beavers reports. Ziegler was previously executive director of the conservative Republican Study Committee that Johnson chaired from 2019 to 2021, and he left the Hill in December to join Williams and Jensen as a principal. — At the time, Johnson and two other current or former RSC leaders praised Ziegler as a trusted aide and lamented his departure in comments provided by the firm. Multiple lobbyists told PI last week that Ziegler remained one of Johnson’s closest allies on K Street. — The Heritage Action and American Energy Alliance alum now lobbies for a range of health care clients, including Pfizer, Merck, Sanofi, Owens & Minor, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, PhRMA, Amgen and Elevance Health, in addition to companies like Visa, Vanguard Group, Bloom Energy and W Diamond Corporation. BUTTERFIELD LOBBYING FOR ALTRIA: Tobacco giant Altria retained former Rep. G.K. Butterfield this summer, according to a newly filed lobbying disclosure, fortifying an already deep bench of outside lobbyists. Butterfield, who joined McGuireWoods earlier this year after leaving office, began lobbying on FDA tobacco regulation at the end of July, according to the filing. — McGuireWoods is one of now two dozen firms on retainer for Altria, a group that also includes TheGROUP D.C., Miller Strategies, Marshall & Popp, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Crossroads Strategies, Resolution Public Affairs, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and Thorn Run Partners, to name a few. Altria also retained Harbinger Strategies and Dobbins Consulting earlier this year. — The hire comes as the Biden administration works to finalize rules that would ban flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes, an issue Butterfield, whose home state of North Carolina is headquarters to Reynolds American, has been outspoken in opposition to. — When the House narrowly passed legislation in 2020 that would ban flavored tobacco products, including menthol, the former Congressional Black Caucus chair was one of more than a dozen Democrats who voted against the bill, echoing concerns from other Black lawmakers and activists that banning sales of menthol products, which are hugely popular among Black smokers, could lead to over-policing of Black communities. — While ethics rules bar Butterfield for lobbying his former colleagues in the House for a few more months, he’s been free to lobby the Biden administration since leaving office. — Several other major tobacco companies have lobbied up this year, including Reynolds American, which hired DLA Piper and CGCN Group, and British American Tobacco, which hired Capitol Consulting Group. Happy Tuesday and welcome to PI. Share lobbying tips and the best D.C.-themed Halloween costumes you spot tonight — especially any tuna sandwiches: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. MAIL CALL: The NBA, NHL and Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns D.C.’s pro basketball and hockey franchises, pushed back last night against criticism from Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) over MSE’s acceptance of an investment from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. — As PI reported yesterday, Bergman had chastised the three organizations on Friday, highlighting Qatar’s history of providing support for Hamas in light of the militant group’s attacks on Israeli citizens, and Qatar’s investments in D.C. influence peddling. Bergman threatened a congressional probe if the organizations did not cut ties with Qatar. — In responses to the congressmember on Monday, Monumental and the leagues reiterated their condemnation of the attacks and downplayed the Qatar Investment Authority’s investment. — NHL senior executive vice president David Zimmerman called the wealth fund’s stake “infinitesimal” compared to QIA’s other investments in the U.S. and questioned Bergman’s decision to home in on it. That’s especially given the State Department describes Qatar as “an ally and strategic partner,” Zimmerman wrote, though he noted “you have access to more information than we do.” — Monumental external affairs president Monica Dixon and NBA deputy commissioner and COO Mark Tatum maintained that QIA has no governance rights or ability to control business decisions as a result of the deal, which closed in July. "As an American organization with a global presence, we do not agree with or endorse every political system, law, or policy in the more than 200 countries and territories where we operate or engage with NBA fans,” Tatum wrote. ICYMI MONDAY: “Two powerful House GOP chairmen are probing the D.C. attorney general’s investigation of the conservative legal mastermind behind the Supreme Court's hard right turn, which led to overturning Roe v. Wade,” The Messenger’s Stephen Neukam reports. — House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) fired off a letter Monday to D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, accusing Schwalb of wrongly launching an investigation into conservative activist Leonard Leo and payments Leo’s for-profit companies received from dark money groups affiliated with Leo, alleging the probe is politically motivated. — “It appears that your office does not have jurisdiction over this matter because Mr. Leo and the organizations with which he is affiliated are, according to publicly available information, based outside of Washington, D.C.,” they wrote. “Worse yet, the committees are troubled that your investigation could infringe upon the fundamental rights of Donor privacy and free association.” — Jordan and Comer demanded Schwalb’s office turn over any documents related to the investigation, including communications with outside groups like the progressive organization that filed an IRS complaint against Leo’s nonprofits earlier this year. The missive comes weeks after one nonprofit group linked to Leo, the Concord Fund, hired federal lobbyists for the first time in years to work on “government oversight and reform” issues. — Leo’s attorney has vowed not to cooperate with Schwalb’s office, which is also investigating the liberal dark money group Arabella Advisors. IN OTHER LEO NEWS: The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote as soon as next week to authorize subpoenas for information from Leo, and conservative megadonors Harlan Crow and Robin Arkley II related to gifts, real estate deals and luxury travel they provided to conservative Supreme Court justices, Katherine Tully-McManus and Burgess Everett write. — Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) “said he did not necessarily want to escalate the panel’s inquiry to a point of compelling the three donors and activists, but that the time and resources devoted to chasing information from them was mounting. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) called the information the panel has been able to obtain ‘totally inadequate.’” — “‘It was in desperation that we came to the subpoenas,’ Durbin said, citing negotiations for ‘weeks, almost months’ to get what he called ‘piecemeal’ information” from Leo, Crow and Arkley. “I’m sorry to say, I think there's a lot more there,” Durbin told Katherine and Burgess. AI LOT ON THEIR PLATE: “President Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence, signed Monday at a White House ceremony, has something to address nearly every concern about the fast-moving technology — cybersecurity, global competition, discrimination and technical oversight of advanced AI systems,” POLITICO’s Brendan Bordelon reports. — “But the vast scale of the order also suggests an effort by the White House to paper over the growing tension between Washington’s rival AI factions — including some with significant pull inside the Democratic Party.” — “Most observers see three broad groups trying to influence AI policy. … Those camps are often at odds, competing for attention and program funding as Washington starts to address AI in earnest. But this week, each has something to love about Biden’s executive order on AI,” sparking concerns that while politically palatable, “the White House has bitten off more than it can chew” with the executive order’s broad scope.
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