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Presented by the American Beverage Association: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by the American Beverage Association | With Daniel Lippman and Theodoric Meyer VAN GRACK SAYS FARA ENFORCEMENT WILL REMAIN A PRIORITY: Brandon Van Grack, the DOJ official who spearheaded the department’s crackdown on unregistered foreign agents, contended that his former office is well equipped to sustain that crackdown under the Biden administration, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and I report. — “Probably you're dealing with a FARA unit that is more, better staffed, than it has been probably in my lifetime,” Van Grack, who joined the law firm Morrison & Foerster this week, said in an interview on Wednesday, adding that he believes the Biden DOJ has “every intention to continue to robustly enforce FARA.” — DOJ counterintelligence prosecutor Jennifer Gellie will succeed Van Grack as head of the FARA unit, a role created in 2019 after special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference, for which Van Grack was a lead prosecutor, reinvigorated the department’s FARA enforcement efforts. — On Wednesday he credited Mueller’s investigation directly with the renewed emphasis and the creation of his position, noting that “this sort of focus on FARA stems from what happened, the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election” and the government’s recognition of “a new threat, a new national security issue that the U.S. government had not — was not ... adequately prepared for or addressed.” FARA, he said, “was one of the best if not the best statutes on the books to address it.” — Van Grack shrugged off a question about whether he regretted pursuing a FARA case against former White House counsel Greg Craig, who was acquitted by a jury in 2019, reiterating his belief that increasing compliance with the law was the office’s priority over criminal convictions. “Overall, the focus isn't on one particular matter and how that particular matter succeeded. It's more in the program overall,” he argued. He counts that mission accomplished, noting that there were a record number of foreign agent registrations and investigations opened last year. PENCE LANDS AT HERITAGE: Former Vice President Mike Pence has joined the Heritage Foundation, where he will be a distinguished fellow, Daniel and Gabby Orr report. “He will advise the organization's experts on issues as well as give a number of policy addresses at Heritage,” according to an announcement from the conservative think tank this afternoon, and “will also write a regular column for the think tank's news outlet, the Daily Signal.” — The former veep “is expected to announce additional plans related to his future in the coming weeks, beyond his efforts to boost House and Senate Republicans ahead of the 2022 midterms. He reportedly plans to also launch a fundraising committee related to policy.” Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. | | A message from the American Beverage Association: America’s leading beverage companies are working together to help make our communities healthy, sustainable, and economically strong. Our companies are providing family supporting jobs, more beverage choices with less sugar, and 100% recyclable bottles that are made to be remade. We stand ready to roll up our sleeves and work with the Biden Administration and Congress to address the problems facing our country and strengthen the quality of life for all Americans. AmericanBeverage.org | | | FIRST IN PI — TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ALUM STARTS A FIRM: Charlie Thornton, who was the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s chief of staff during the Trump administration, has started his own financial services lobbying firm, T Cap Solutions . (The name, he wrote in an email to PI, “is derived from Thornton Capitol Solutions, but I wanted something shorter and catchier.”) — Thornton was also the CFTC’s chief operating officer and a counselor to its chair, Heath Tarbert, whose term ended last month but who remains on the commission. The firm plans to advise clients on navigating Congress, regulatory agencies and the Biden administration. CONSERVATIVE CLIMATE GROUP LAUNCHES GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PUSH: The Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Forum , which lobbies Republicans on climate change, announced a $2 million ad buy today in more than a dozen battleground and traditionally red states, pushing for climate-friendly infrastructure investments. The campaign includes 96,500 spots on 800 stations and broadcast networks, as well as digital and social media platforms in Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia, according to the group, which will pitch clean infrastructure as “an investment in America’s future.” HILL ALUMS LAUNCH GOVERNMENT RELATIONS SHOP: A pair of longtime Hill staffers, Kevin Fogarty and Eugene Patrone, have teamed up to launch Ambrose Partners, an “integrated government and public affairs solutions firm.” Fogarty has worked on the Hill for two decades, most recently serving as chief of staff and communications director to former Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). Patrone is also a King alum and has served as a senior adviser to four other members of Congress, while also serving in the private sector. KLOBUCHAR UNVEILS ANTITRUST LEGISLATION: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is set to introduce what would be “the first major rewrite of U.S. merger and antitrust law since the 1970s,” POLITICO’s Leah Nylen writes. The bill from the incoming chair of the Senate’s antitrust panel would institute a greater legal burden for proposed corporate “mega-mergers” by requiring companies involved in certain merges “to affirmatively show that their deals don’t violate the law — a shift from the legal burden in current law, which requires prosecutors to demonstrate how a contested acquisition harms competition.” — It’s designed to “tighten legal requirements for the biggest of big U.S. companies, a roster that includes the likes of Amazon, Google, CVS Health and UnitedHealth ,” while penalizing companies who violate antitrust laws with “fines of as much as 15 percent of their annual U.S. revenue.” In an interview, Klobuchar argued that “We are ruining capitalism by allowing monopolies to destroy nearly every industry. Basically the law hasn’t changed, while the judges have gotten more and more narrow in their interpretation of antitrust law.” BRUNSWICK GROUP ADDS FORMER BCW CHAIR BAER: The Brunswick Group announced today it has added former Burson Cohn & Wolfe chair Don Baer as a senior partner in its D.C. office. Baer is a Clinton administration alum who served as former President Bill Clinton’s communications director and chief speechwriter. Prior to his time at BCW he spent six years as the global chair and chief executive of strategic communications firm Burson-Marsteller and was a Discovery Channel executive. | | | |   | | | MCKINSEY SETTLES FOR NEARLY $600M OVER ROLE IN OPIOID CRISIS: “McKinsey & Company, the consultant to blue-chip corporations and governments around the world, has agreed to pay $573 million to settle investigations into its role in helping ‘turbocharge’ opioid sales, a rare instance of it being held publicly accountable for its work with clients,” The New York Times’ Michael Forsythe and Walt Bogdanich report. The consultancy reached a settlement with the attorneys general of 47 states, five territories and D.C. “after lawsuits unearthed a trove of documents showing how McKinsey worked to drive sales of Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin painkiller amid an opioid crisis in the United States that has contributed to the deaths of more than 450,000 people over the past two decades.” — According to the settlement McKinsey won’t admit to any wrongdoing, “but will agree to court-ordered restrictions on its work with some types of addictive narcotics” and “retain emails for five years and disclose potential conflicts of interest when bidding for state contracts.” ‘VOTE-A-RAMA’ THE PRICE TO PAY FOR DEMS’ RECONCILIATION PUSH: “The self-inflicted suffering has begun for Senate Democrats trying to muscle through President Joe Biden’s pandemic aid plan without a single Republican vote,” our Jen Scholtes and Caitlin Emma report. “Republicans have teed up hundreds of amendments ” for the so-called vote-a-rama set to take place tonight that are aimed at squeezing Democrats politically, from provisions to “preserve former President Donald Trump’s border wall, reverse Biden’s action to nix the Keystone XL pipeline and create ‘deficit-neutral reserve funds’ on everything from supporting resources for police to prohibiting ‘sex-selective abortion.’” | | | | Designed specifically for regulatory affairs professionals - AgencyIQ FDA Forecast 2021: In its inaugural year, AgencyIQ's FDA Forecast predicts the FDA regulatory changes that will take place in 2021 and what they will mean for the life sciences industry. Read more about the report and download the summary here. | | | | | | | | — Joseph Rubin has joined financial technology platform OppLoans as head of public affairs and regulatory policy. He was previously a principal at Bockorny Group. — Cassandra Hoch joined CVS as the senior director for campaigns and state government affairs. She was previously a general manager and principal at Kivvit. — PhRMA has elected Ramona Sequeira, president of Takeda Pharmaceuticals as chair of its board of directors and Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, to serve as board treasurer. — Precision Strategies has hired Jenn Ridder as a managing director in the firm’s mobilization and campaign management practice. She was previously national states director for the Biden campaign. — The National Homelessness Law Center has named Antonia Fasanelli as executive director. She was previously executive director for the Homeless Persons Representation Project. — Benjamin Kenney is now director of government and public affairs at Coherus BioSciences. He most recently was director of external affairs and strategic communications for the Covid-19 Joint Information Center at HHS. — The American Beverage Association has promoted Franklin Davis to vice president of federal affairs. He was previously senior director of federal affairs. — The Sierra Club has hired Adam Bingman as national press secretary. He was previously director of communications and outreach for the advocacy group Michigan's Children. — Entergy has named John Weiss as vice president of sustainability and environmental policy. He was previously a senior director at Ceres. — Douglas O'Brien has joined Rush University Medical Center as associate vice president for government programs and innovation. He most recently was a regional director at HHS. | | | | TUNE IN TO NEW EPISODE OF GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS: Our Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, and these issues have exploded over the past year amid a global pandemic. This podcast helps to identify and understand the impediments to smart policymaking. Subscribe for Season Two, available now. | | | | | | | | IL NH NV Victory Fund (Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)) | | | 46 Hope Road (Hybrid PAC)
Blackthorn PAC LLC (PAC)
GOP Mises Caucus Action PAC (Super PAC)
PatrioticPac (Hybrid PAC)
Win for America (PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Carpi & Clay, Inc: North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association
CJ Lake, LLC: The Picard Group Obo Lake Charles Harbor & Terminal District
Doyce Boesch: Zeroeyes
FDJ Solutions LLC: Latino Victory Project
Invariant LLC: Iceye US, Inc.
Ridge Policy Group: Energy Harbor
Squire Patton Boggs: Tinuum Group LLC
The Lucas Firm, LLC (F/K/A Travis Lucas): Nossaman On Behalf Of Williamson County Conservation Foundation | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Chesapeake Energy Corporation: Chesapeake Energy Corporation
Chesapeake Enterprises: 5G Action Now
Earth & Water Group: National Association Of Water Companies
Eb Consulting LLC: Women Cross Dmz C/O Peace Development Fund
Ens Resources, Inc.: Amador County
Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: City Of Montgomery Alabama
Waypoint Consulting, LLC: Applied Research Associates
WP Rivers And Associates: Certified Languages International | | A message from the American Beverage Association: America’s beverage companies—Coca-Cola, Keurig Dr Pepper and Pepsi—are working hard to support families as they reduce sugar in their diets. That means offering more great tasting options with less sugar or no sugar at all, putting clear calorie labels on every product we sell and working with public health organizations and other national and local partners to deliver innovative solutions. Our commitment to reduce beverage calories consumed means working across the country and in communities where health disparities are prevalent and obesity rates are high to help encourage balanced choices. Our efforts are having an impact: today, 55% of the beverages we sell have zero sugar and two-thirds are low- or no-calorie. Providing more choices, smaller portions and less sugar are just a few of the ways we’re working together to build healthy, sustainable communities. Learn more about our efforts at AmericanBeverage.org. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
