With legal fees mounting for Republican Norm Coleman in his ongoing recount battle with Democrat Al Franken for the Minnesota Senate seat, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is hosting a fundraiser for Coleman on February 11 aimed at business PACs and members' leadership PACs.
Billed as a "Team Coleman" fundraiser, donors can give up to $10,000: PACs and individuals are allowed to give $5,000 to the Coleman recount and another $5,000 to a special fund of the Minnesota GOP. "We'll do everything we possibly can to ensure that Sen. Coleman has all the resources he needs to carry this fight to its conclusion," said Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.
Lobbying sources say that overall (on February 11 and in other events) Coleman is looking to raise an additional $1 million to sustain his legal challenge to a recent state-certified recount this gave Franken a 225 vote edge in the race. A three-judge panel in Minnesota this week heard legal arguments from lawyers on both sides about whether additional absentee ballots should be counted.
New media channels such as Facebook, YouTube, and mobile messaging are becoming an essential protein pack for successful advocacy. Gone are the days of promotion or message-spreading through snail mail and a website alone. The people and organizations that wish to become more influential over their target audience are tapping into the tools of Web 2.0 to make their voices heard.
This morning, the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation held a panel on new media channels. Among the panelists was Scott Goodstein, the external online director for the Obama presidential campaign. "It's like handing out fliers at other people's shopping malls, instead of your own," said Goodstein to explain the difference between external and internal online advocacy. Goodstein was responsible for Obama's presence on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and pretty much everything except the official Obama campaign website.
The relationships Goodstein built with participants over new media channels were so effective that people were willing to travel across states at the behest of an electronic message. All of the panelists claimed their presence on new media boosted fundraising efforts and generated a larger community around their issue or cause of interest.
However, the digital landscape is not without its disadvantages. Using other people's platforms to spread your message means a loss of control over the content. And the fast-paced world of technology means a perpetual game of catch-up, there's always something new to be learning.
From this week's National Journal (subscription required)
For some Washington lobbying firms, playing presidential politics may well have paid off, Bara Vaida and Eliza Krigman report. While the economy was tanking in the second half of 2008 and many on K Street were starting to feel the pinch, four top lobbying firms posted gains in their fee income, according to a National Journal analysis of disclosure filings with the Senate as of January 26. They were Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Ogilvy Government Relations; and the Podesta Group.
The lobbying disclosure forms also show that as the economy entered a recession in the fourth quarter of 2008, business groups and several corporations spent millions of dollars to lobby Congress. The biggest spender was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: It paid out $33.6 million for lobbying in the quarter, a figure that includes money disbursed by an arm of the chamber called the Institute for Legal Reform, Vaida reports.
Julie Kosterlitz looks at the impact on the nonprofit world from the first major overhaul in 30 years of the Form 990. The 990 is the annual financial information filing that nonprofits, which are exempt from paying taxes, must send to the IRS. The new 990 is "really a radical departure, requiring much more detail in financial disclosure," says Jerry Jacobs, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and other trade groups are teaming with their member companies to help influence the debate on fixing the financial regulatory system by educating lawmakers and the public on the role that credit default swaps -- insurance-like contracts used to manage risk -- play in the financial markets, Peter Stone reports.
People moves:
The Duberstein Group has hired its first female partner. Marti Thomas, a Democrat, joins the firm from Goldman Sachs, where she was a vice president in the Washington office in charge of federal legislative relations.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has hiredJohn Sopko for the firm's congressional and federal investigations unit. Most recently, Sopko was chief counsel for oversight and investigations at the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Rich Merski, a former executive at American International Group, has joined Zurich Financial Services Group to lead the company's government affairs initiatives in the United States. He plans to register as a lobbyist. He previously worked as a legislative director and counsel to then-Rep. Richard Schulze, R-Pa., when the lawmaker was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in strongly questioning the Obama administration's decision to grant deputy Defense Secretary nominee William Lynn a waiver from its new ethics policy on lobbyists. Lynn was a lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon until early 2008, and the administration says it has given Lynn a waiver because of his "unique" qualifications.
Grassley wrote in a letter to OMB Director Peter Orszag that the waiver "effectively gutted the ethical heart of the President's 'Revolving Door Ban.'
As President Obama continues reaching out to congressional Republicans in hopes of winning bipartisan support on the economic stimulus bill, a coalition of labor and progressive groups is taking a harder-edged approach, bringing the fight to the home states of five Republican senators.
In their first major ad campaign of Obama's presidency, more than 30 left-leaning groups -- including MoveOn.org, the Service Employees International Union, and Americans United For Change -- are spending $500,000 to run ads around the country urging Congress to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. The ad will air nationally as well as in smaller buys targeting five Republican senators: Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Charles Grassley of Iowa. Grassley, Gregg, and Murkowski are all up for re-election in 2010.
Jeremy Funk, communications director for Americans United For Change, said the buy focused on Collins, Snowe, Gregg and Murkowski because they seem to be the "most persuadable and moderate," with "the best chance to do the right thing." As for the Iowa ad buy, Funk explained that Grassley was a "purely symbolic target, as he's the ranking member on the Finance Committee." Mark McCullough, an SEIU spokesman, said the ads are designed to "add some pressure to the Senate" ahead of their vote on the package.
"This is no doubt the most significant vote since the vote to authorize the war in Iraq," Funk said. "That's how big of a deal this is."
The coalition, which goes under the name the Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery, was launched in December after Obama announced plans for an economic stimulus. Participating organizations include a slew of unions, the Campaign for America's Future, the Sierra Club, and ACORN, the community group that became an issue during the presidential campaign.
Funk called Wednesday's party-line vote in the House "unfortunate," but said that, for now at least, the campaign was keeping its focus on the Senate. "Senate Republicans have the most power to roadblock change," Funk said. "So that's why we're going to keep up a steady drumbeat of grassroots pressure in these folks' districts."
That drumbeat is likely to be heard by more Republicans, and on more issues, in the coming months, as Obama's energized supporters throw their weight behind his legislative agenda. One group, American Rights At Work, is launching a new TV, print and online ad campaign this weekend advocating for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, according to spokesman Josh Goldstein.
But while Republicans have yet to get on board with the president's stimulus proposals -- yet alone the Employee Free Choice Act -- left-leaning groups are optimistic that they can win on many key goals with Democrats in control of Congress and the White House. "It's as if this mountain has been lifted and this cloud of pessimism is gone," Funk said. "We're feeling extremely ecstatic about the possibilities ahead."
UPDATE:
Americans United For Change launched a radio campaign Friday morning using comments by none other than Rush Limbaugh. The conservative talk show host has been all over the news for saying he hopes Obama fails. The ad opens with Limbaugh's condemning comments and then ties in all House Republicans, claiming they're in line with the talk show host's views since they voted against the stimulus bill. The 60-second spots target Republican Sens. John Ensign (Nev.), George Voinovich (Ohio) and Arlen Specter (Penn.).
Common Cause called for Congress to hold hearings on whether financial institutions that received funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program turned around and used those funds to lobby on the administration of the program.
"These companies already have too much influence in Washington because of their huge campaign contributions and lobbying presence," said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause. "That they would take our tax money and then use it to influence Congress on oversight of the same money is unacceptable."
Eight of the top TARP recipients spent $6.3 million on lobbying in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. and Olympia Snowe, R-Me. this month introduced legislation (S. 133) that would block firms receiving money from the TARP from using those funds to lobby.
K Street managed to buck the economic slump last year, earning lobbying fees totaling $3.2 billion for 2008, a 13.7 percent gain from 2007, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The center analyzed data from the lobbying disclosure reports that firms file with Congress in which they disclose their fee income from clients.
"In this economy, most industries would have been elated to grow even half as much as the lobbying industry reported growing last year," said center Executive Director Sheila Krumholz. "The federal government is handing out billions of dollars by the day, and that translates into job security for lobbyists who can help companies and industries get a piece of the payout."
Still, fees at the majority of K Street's biggest lobbying firms dropped for the year. Patton Boggs, the No. 1 firm, saw its fees decline to $38.9 million in 2008 from $42.4 million in 2007. Partner James Christian attributed the decline in part to the tough economy. "All and all, we are not to disappointed," Christian said. "Given the totality of the economic situation and the short congressional year."
CRP spokesman Massie Ritsch said that fees may also have dropped at lobbying firms because corporate clients decided to reduce retainers and rely more heavily on their in-house lobbying teams and trade associations.
Interestingly, the actual number of lobbyists dropped in 2008. The number registered to lobby was 14,453, down almost 1,000 from 15,329 in 2007.
In Friday's issue of National Journal, we take a look at 4 lobbying firms that posted a gain in revenue in the second half of 2008, when the economy's dive was accelerating.
The Washington Times has a front page piece today reporting that Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has called for an investigation into the $2.25 billion allocated for national parks in the $819 billion stimulus bill passed by the House on Wednesday. The chief lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association (which, among other things, advocates for national park funding) is Craig Obey, son of House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis.
"It really does beg the question of, is this an earmark, is this a family connection and should it have been disclosed at least in the spirit of what the Democrats said they wanted, and the answer is it should have been disclosed," Issa told the Times.
According to the newspaper, a spokesman for the NPCA said Craig Obey "never lobbies his father," and a spokesman for Rep. Obey said the funding of the parks had nothing to do with the congressman's relationship with his son.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was again on defense Wednesday when asked about the Obama administration's commitment to its ethics pledges. Reporters asked Gibbs why Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hired a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as his chief of staff, and questioned the K Street ties of George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy to the Middle East. Mitchell is partner and chairman emeritus of DLA Piper, a law and lobbying firm that has a number of Middle East clients. Mitchell is expected to resign from DLA Piper, Under The Influencereported last week.
Gibbs is likely to face these kinds of skeptical questions about Obama's ethics rules until the administration does more to explain how and why it is making exceptions to its lobbyist regulations.
Also at the daily press briefing on Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pledged to reform his department "to make sure that scandals that have occurred in the past are properly dealt with, and that the problems that we uncover are fixed so that they don't occur again."
Salazar later issued a memo on employees' ethical responsibilities.
Click to read more from the transcript of the relevant portions of the briefing today.
Eisen, who was previously a partner at the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder, is likely to have his hands full monitoring the ethics of administration staff. Obama signed a sweeping executive order on ethics his second day in office.
The order requires executive branch employees to sign a document stating that the person "will not for a period of two years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts." In addition, staff are banned from accepting any gift from a lobbyist. Once they leave their jobs, the former staffers cannot lobby the executive branch as long as Obama is president.
Still, Obama is already facing heat on ethics from critics regarding his decision to nominate William Lynn for the No. 2 slot at the Defense Department. The administration has issued a waiver for Lynn from the new ethics order because of his 'unique" qualifications for the position.
One of those critics is Melanie Sloan, who is currently the executive director of CREW. Sloan said the necessity to issue a waiver for Lynn shows that the Obama administration "has done something they can't live with. It's the law of unintended consequences."
Sloan, meanwhile, said she had no idea that Eisen, who worked on congressional investigations and white-collar crime at Zuckerman Spaeder, was being considered for a White House position. "Norm didn't call and talk to me about it," Sloan said. "I found out about it" late last week when a reporter called. She also said that while Eisen was a co-founder of CREW, he has never been involved in the day-to-day operations of CREW, nor has he done any fundraising for the organization.
CREW was launched in 2003 by Eisen, and friends Louis Mayberg, president of investment firm ProFunds, and Daniel Berger, a plaintiff's attorney in Philadelphia, "because [Norm] had an interest in ethics and was concerned" that there wasn't an organization like CREW focused on ethics and accountability," Sloan said. Eisen recruited Sloan from her job as assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. He and she had known each other from prior volunteer work and Eisen hired her "because of my big mouth," she told Congressional Quarterly in a 2007 profile of her organization.
CREW is well known in Washington for filing high profile complaints against lawmakers on corruption-related issues. And some observers say CREW played a role in helping Democrats win back control of Congress in 2006, following the numerous complaints CREW filed against Republican lawmakers. But Democrats aren't off limits. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. for example, has been an ongoing target of CREW complaints.
Eisen donated a total of $40,450 to Democratic candidates in the 2008 election cycle, including $2,300 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Treasury Department issued its new transparency policy. See here.
In one of his first official acts as Treasury chief, Timothy Geithner announced he will create new guidelines to curb the ability of banks to lobby for bailout funds. To that end, the Treasury Department will make public a log of all contacts by public officials and bankers regarding specific financial institutions. The details of the new rules are unknown as their text has not been completed.
"American taxpayers deserve to know that their money is spent in the most effective way to stabilize the financial system," Geithner said in a statement.
Without specifics on the rules, both the watchdog community and lobbying firms wonder how the regulations will take shape. The administration cannot stop individuals from attempting to lobby the Treasury or other federal regulators. However, The Washington Post reports that attorneys at Treasury are working to develop the strictest limits allowed by law.
Geithner also didn't talk about the hiring of former lobbyists to work at his department. Geithner has signed on Mark Patterson to be his chief of staff, according to news reports. Patterson was reportedly a registered lobbyist for Goldman Sachs until early 2008.
A few interesting K Street moves in the financial services industry came my way today.
First, a Republican who landed a new lobbying job: David Landers joins the Managed Funds Association as vice president where he'll be assisting in the development of the group's political and advocacy outreach. Landers was previously at Credit Suisse, where he was director for external affairs and public policy, and before that he worked at MetLife and Williams & Jensen. He also worked on Capitol Hill as chief counsel for the Senate District of Columbia appropriations subcommittee and for former Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C.
And a Democrat who landed a new lobbying job: Marti Thomas joins the Duberstein Group as a vice president, coming from Goldman Sachs, where she was also a vice president. Goldman Sachs has long been a client of Duberstein's and Thomas will continue to represent the financial services company.
Prior to Duberstein, Thomas held positions at the Treasury Deparment in the Clinton administation, was a principal at Quinn Gillespie & Associates, and was an executive floor assistant for then-House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.
"Lobbyists are being vilified when everybody in the country is represented by a lobbyist in one way or another," says Andrew Wheeler, a veteran staffer for Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who left the Hill for K Street this week.
Wheeler has joined B&D Consulting - a national lobbying shop with expertise in issues ranging from education to social services to financial services - where he will be a senior vice president in the firm's energy and climate change practice group. Freddie Mac and Dow Chemical have been among B&D's clients.
Wheeler has extensive experience on the Hill working with energy and environment-related issues, mostly recently serving as minority staff director and chief counsel to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. Another previous congressional post was as staff director and counsel to the Senate Subcommittee for Clean Air, Wetlands and Nuclear Safety. National Journal recognized Wheeler as a top congressional staffer in 2005.
Wheeler confirmed that he must to wait a year before he can lobby his former colleagues in the Senate. Until then, he looks forward to lobbying members of the House and the staff at 1600 Pennsylvania.
We received a phone call from Portland-based law firm Schwabe Williams & Wyatt that the David Axelrod who has been registered to lobby for their firm is not the same David Axelrod who is senior adviser at the White House, as we previously reported.
We regret the error.
Here is the corrected list that is an update to my story in the current issue of National Journal noting former lobbyists now working in the White House.
Cassandra Butts, deputy counsel (2005-2006, registered to lobby for Center for American Progress)
Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to senior adviser (2005, American Association for Justice)
Cecilia Munoz, director of intergovernmental affairs, (2008, National Council of La Raza)
Patrick Gaspard, White House political director (2007-2008, SEIU)
Dan Turton, deputy director of legislative affairs (2003-2008, Timmons & Co.)
Emmett Beliveau, director of advance (2007, Patton Boggs)
Thomas Donilon, deputy at the National Security Council (2004, Fannie Mae)
David Medina, deputy chief of staff to Michelle Obama (2008, US Global Leadership Campaign)
Jocelyn Frye, deputy assistant to Michelle Obama (2008, National Partnership for Women & Families)
Jay Heimbach, legislative affairs (2001-2006, Ricchetti Inc.)
Denise Wilson, legislative affairs (manager of government relations at Motorola, but not in lobbying database)
Sean Kennedy, legislative affairs (2005-2006, SBC Communications -- now AT&T)
--Bara Vaida, with reporting by Julie Kosterlitz and Eliza Krigman
The PMA Group, a well known K Street lobbying shop that specializes in defense appropriations work and boasts strong ties to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., is in turmoil, with several of its veteran lobbyists trying to put together a buyout deal with Paul Magliocchetti, the firm's principal owner and a former staffer on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which Murtha chairs.
Meanwhile, at least three of the PMA's lobbyists who specialize in health care issues have set up a separate health care practice that is housed at the PMA office in Arlington, Va., and which shares some clients with the firm. At least one other lobbyist recently left the firm to work in-house for a PMA client.
Sources say that a potential buyout deal involving a majority of the two-dozen or so professionals at the firm has been under discussion for a while, but its fate is still unclear. "There are ongoing discussions about the structure of the firm going forward," said Patrick Dorton, a principal at Rational PR and a spokesman for PMA. He declined to provide specifics.
It's not clear what has prompted the buyout offer at this time, although the firm and Murtha have both come under increasing scrutiny from the media and watchdog groups because of their ties. PMA has been a lucrative lobbying shop for many years; in 2008, it reported revenues of $13.8 million. Historically, the firm has represented dozens of both large and small defense clients -- among them such household names as General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin -- which have received millions of dollars in defense earmarks courtesy of Murtha who, in turn, has received hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from many of these contractors.
The nonpartisan group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington alleges that Murtha helped funnel $100.5 million to PMA clients in the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill. CREW also noted that since the second quarter of 2007 PMA and 10 of its clients kicked in almost $191,000 to Murtha's campaign coffers, making them among the top 20 donors to the congressman.
The buyout discussions are taking place at a time when Murtha's links to defense contractors appear to be under increasing federal scrutiny. Earlier this month, agents from the FBI, the IRS and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service raided the offices of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems in Pennsylvania. According to press reports, the firms have in recent years received over $100 million in earmarks through Murtha and the companies and their employees have donated more than $65,000 to Murtha's leadership PAC and his campaigns. Kuchera is represented in Washington by Ervin Technical Services, which also has close links to Murtha and is chaired by former Rep. Joseph McDade, R-Pa.
The Federal Election Commission, in a draft advisory opinion, has given Sen. Frank Lautenberg's campaign committee the go-ahead to use contributions to repay the New Jersey Democrat for $1,340,000 in loans he made to his 2008 and 2002 Senate campaigns.
Lautenberg, a millionaire, won re-election to a fifth term last November, and lent his campaign $1,650,000. FEC lawyers, responding to a request for an advisory opinion from Lautenberg's lawyer, Marc Elias, wrote that the senator's campaign committee could repay the senator up to $250,000 for loans he made to the committee for the 2008 primary election. That is the limit imposed on repayment of personal loans after an election, established by the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, which took effect on Nov. 6, 2002.
Separately, the FEC opinion said that the $250,000 cap does not apply to loans made before the effective date of McCain-Feingold. Of the funds Lautenberg lent to his 2002 campaign, $1,090,000 of the debt remains. "The (campaign) committee may use contributions received for the 2008 election or that will be received for the 2014 election to repay the entire outstanding amount of Senator Lautenberg's personal loan to the committee for the 2002 election,'' FEC lawyers concluded. The six-member commission is scheduled to meet Friday, and the advisory opinion is among the issues to be reviewed.
With the creation of Organizing for America, President Obama has deployed his own lobbying tools in an effort to build grassroots support in Congress for his agenda.
The group is housed at the Democratic National Committee and is the keeper of Obama's e-mail list of supporters, which reportedly contains 13 million addresses. A number of lobbyists in D.C. wondered to me how the Obama administration would use the list and whether it might try to bypass K Street. National Journal will be paying close attention to how Organizing for America evolves.
On Friday, David Plouffe, who was Obama's campaign manager, announced that Mitch Stewart would be the executive director of the organization.
Stewart served as director of the Iowa caucus, Indiana state director and Virginia state director for the Obama campaign. Before joining Obama's camp, he was the coordinated campaign manager for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota in 2006. In 2004, Stewart served as former South Dakota Democrat Sen. Tom Daschle's field director. He was also a regional field director in Iowa for former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC., during his presidential bid in 2004.
Plouffe and Stewart sent out this video to supporters.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Olympia Snowe, R-Me., reintroduced legislation (S. 133) that would block firms receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) from using those funds to lobby.
"American taxpayers put hundreds of billions of dollars on the line to rescue financial institutions, but we still don't know how this money is being spent," said Feinstein in a statement. The senators put out the statement in response to news reports that financial firms that received TARP money continued to spend millions on lobbying in the fourth quarter of 2008. "This legislation includes the right safeguards to ensure taxpayer dollars will not be used to subsidize K Street in Washington," Feinstein said.
Just how a law could be written to prevent funds from being used to lobby is unclear and could be unconstitutional, according to several lawyers I talked to in late 2008 when Feinstein and Snowe first introduced this bill.
Click here to see Feinstein and Snowe's statement on Jan. 23.
Reporters on Friday pushed White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to be more specific about the number of lobbyists that the Obama administration might hire.
Gibbs answered that a "limited" number would be hired. He also said any decisions on future hiring of lobbyists would be handled by the White House Counsel's office.
Here is the relevant portion of the transcript:
Q: "Yesterday you said that there would be a very limited number of waivers for the ethics lobbying policy. There's thousands of people covered by that policy. Does "limited" mean dozens? Does it mean a handful? And also, where are those waivers being approved? Is it being approved at the Cabinet Secretary level, that is then forwarded to the Counsel's Office -- or is that something that [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm [Emanuel] is taking a look at every waiver request as it comes in?
GIBBS: I think that that work is done mostly out of the Counsel's Office. And I should restate part of what I said yesterday relating to ethics, that I think many observers that have watched the way administrations conduct their business, either ethically or in the open, found that the policies that the president outlined and signed on the first full -- on his first full day at the White House exceed that of any other administration in the history of our government.
Q: Can you give any estimate? I mean, limited numbers -- should we expect many more?
GIBBS: I don't have anything more than "limited number."
Meanwhile, four watchdog groups, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Government Accountability Project, Project on Government Oversight, and Public Citizen sent a letter urging the Senate Arms Services Committee not to support William Lynn's nomination. Lynn was a lobbyist for Raytheon until March 2008 and has been nominated to the No. 2 spot at the Pentagon.
UPDATE:5:15 PM Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. said he will withhold support for Lynn until the nominee can "clarify for the record what matters and decisions will require his
recusal."
George Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader tapped by the Obama administration as its special envoy for the Middle East, was chairman of the international law and lobbying firm DLA Piper until the end of 2008. Mitchell, a well known rainmaker for the firm, now holds the title of chairman emeritus of DLA's global board. The firm has considerable international reach: It boasts a fast-growing Middle East practice with some big government and private clients, plus offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.
Partner William Minor said that Mitchell intends to resign from the firm in several weeks when he begins his new role as envoy. George Salem, a strategic adviser at DLA who helps spearhead much of the Middle East work, said Mitchell was supposed to be part of a DLA Piper delegation to the region that departed today to celebrate the firm's newest offices in Kuwait and Oman. But Mitchell bowed out because of his new assignment from the president.
Salem said several other heavy hitters (and former government officials) did depart on the trip. Among them were three key members of the Cohen Group, which has a strategic alliance with DLA Piper: Secretary of Defense WilliamCohen; former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe Joe Ralston;and former ambassador to Morocco Marc Grossman.
DLA has recently represented the Government of Turkey and the Embassy of the UAE in Washington, as well as the executive office of Dubai, one of the leading emirates. According foreign agent registration records on file with the Justice Department, the firm was paid $681,666 by Turkey and $881,691 by the Dubai executive office for the six month period ending August 31, 2008.
-- Peter H. Stone See Peter Stone's previous reporting on this subject:
Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Popeplans to step down as soon as a replacement is found. After that, Pope plans to move into the role of chairman of the club and focus on climate change. He has been the head of the organization since 1992 and has worked for the club for more than 30 years.
"The Sierra Club Board of Directors has begun the process of forming a search committee and will formally launch the search for Pope's successor in the coming weeks," said a release from the group. Under Pope's leadership the environmental organization says it pressured the Bush administration to reverse its position against rules that would lower the amount of arsenic in drinking water and mercury in the country's fisheries. The group also advocated for no oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The American Civil Liberties Union, hit by the sagging economy, laid off 10 percent of its national workforce this week. Thirty-six staffers lost their jobs, including five in the Washington, D.C. legislative office, the Huffington Post reported.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked President Obama to make an exception to his no-lobbyist rule for William Lynn, the person he nominated for the No. 2 post at the Pentagon, according to Al Kamen'sIn the Loopcolumn in today's Washington Post.
Obama has come under criticism for the choice and yesterday White House press secretary Robert Gibbs defended the president, saying Lynn was picked because of his "unique" experience. Lynn was a lobbyist for Raytheon until March 2008, which would seem to fly in the face of Obama's stated position that "political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will not be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years."
Gates told reporters at the Pentagon that:
"People in the transition certainly recognized that it was an issue. And I interviewed Bill Lynn; I was very impressed with his credentials; he came with the highest recommendations of a number of people that I respect a lot. And I asked that an exception be made, because I felt that he could play the role of the deputy in a better manner than anybody else that I saw."
Ten railroad and transportation associations have joined together to create the OneRail Coalition. The organization, which turned to the lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates to get its message out, aims to advocate for the energy and environmental benefits of railroads.
Members include the American Public Transportation Association, Amtrak, American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association, Association of American Railroads, Building America's Future, National Association of Railroad Passengers, Natural Resources Defense Council, Railway Supply Institute, States for Passenger Rail Coalition and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership.
OneRail's first order of business is to get more money for rail initiatives into the economic stimulus package. The bill now has $1.1 billion for Amtrak and intercity passenger rail projects -- compared to the $5 billion that House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., recommended.
To catch up on the debate over the stimulus, check out National Journal's Transportation Experts Blog, moderated by National Journal'sLisa Caruso, where a panel is discussing ways to improve the transportation component of the bill.Take a look here.
From National Journal's Jan. 24 issue. (subscription required)
As President Obama begins his first term in office, the former candidate who railed against the influence of lobbyists is now employing former lobbyists, some of whom were working on K Street just a few months ago, Bara Vaidareports.
For more than two years, a coalition of banks has held firm against
legislation in Congress that would make it easier for bankruptcy judges
to alter the terms of home mortgages. But as the nation's financial collapse continues and banks report
billions of dollars in losses, cracks have developed in the opposition
led by the Financial Services Roundtable and the Mortgage Bankers
Association, Congress Daily'sBill Swindellwrites for National Journal.
Jason Hill is Wal-Mart's new director for federal
government relations, focusing on health care. He succeeds Kate Sullivan Hare, who left to start her own consulting firm, Gregg Sangilloreports.
In addition, Israel (Izzy) Klein is wrapping up his duties as deputy staff director for communications at the Joint Economic Committee chaired by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and will join the Podesta Group as a principal in February, writesWinter Casey.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today defended the nomination of William Lynn as deputy defense secretary. Lynn was a registered lobbyist for Raytheon until March 30, 2008, though Obama had pledged "political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will not be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years."
Gibbs said it was Lynn's experience that made him "uniquely" qualified for the position. He then noted that watchdog groups had applauded President Obama's executive order on ethics and lobbyists signed on Jan. 21.
Here's the exchange from the press briefing with Gibbs on Jan. 22.
The Associated Pressalso says that Gibbs elaborated to reporters that under certain circumstances the experience of former lobbyists makes them "uniquely qualified" for positions, and that only a "limited number" of people will receive a waiver from Obama's no-lobbyist rule.
Meanwhile, Bloombergis reporting that Lynn's confirmation has been delayed until the White House provides more details on how Lynn will avoid conflicts of interest at Defense.
President Obama has appointed Christine Varney as assistant attorney general for antitrust at the Justice Department, making her a key regulator on competition-related issues.
Varney is currently a partner at Hogan & Hartson, where she runs the Internet practice, according to her bio on the firm's website. From 1994 to 1997, Varney was a Federal Trade Commissioner, where she took the lead on a number of Internet issues.
She was also a registered lobbyist for the Online Privacy Alliance between 2002 and 2007, according to lobbying disclosure reports.
In conjunction with today's March for Life on the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, a coalition of evangelical and Catholic leaders called RealAbortionSolutions.org is running print and radio ads aimed at moderates on the abortion issue.
"With 1 in 5 pregnancies in America ending in abortion and the number of abortions unchanged from 32 years ago, it's time to stop the political posturing and get serious about protecting life," the radio ad says. "We need to ask ourselves what it really means to be pro-life and help move the conversation beyond bumper sticker slogans."
The coaltion says it has an "abortion reduction" message. Its supporters include the group Faith in Public Life, and religious leaders like Florida pastor Joel Hunter, Rich Cizik,former vice president of governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, and liberal Rev. Jim Wallis.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. has appointed loyal allies to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct essentially "taking over" the committee, Congress Daily reports. (Subscription required)
Kraig R. Naasz has been named president and CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute and will take the helm on February 1. Naasz was president and CEO of the National Mining Association until August 2008.
In October 2008, Naasz joined the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., according to news reports. Clearly the Institute wasn't too worried about Naasz's Republican pedigree, even with Democrats in charge of Congress and the White House.
Most recently, Naasz was a senior advisor at Washington Advocates. He replaces Leslie G. Sarasin who left the Institute late last year to head up the Food Marketing Institute.
On the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Hotline On Call editor Jennifer Skalka interviewed Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards via email about her expectations of the policy differences between the Bush and Obama administrations on reproductive health issues and abortion rights.
Even while Minnesota's courts continue to wrestle with the state's disputed U.S. Senate race, Republican contender Norm Coleman (who hopes to return to the Senate seat he held for one term from 2003-2008), has decided to keep busy by agreeing to sign on as a consultant and strategic adviser to the Republican Jewish Coalition.
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said that Coleman will represent the group by addressing Jewish communities around the country on "the state of current affairs" and helping expand the group's "national leadership base." Brooks said the RJC is "confident that in a few months Senator Coleman will return to his seat in the Senate, but until that time, we are eager for him to travel across the country on our behalf and to be an important voice within the organization." See full statement here.
Meanwhile, the Democratic aspirant to the seat, Al Franken, who was in town to celebrate the inauguration, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he held a fundraiser to help defray the costs of his ongoing Senate quest.
On his first day in office, PresidentObama issued an executive order on ethics guidelines for his staff that he termed a "clean break from business as usual" when it comes to closing the "revolving door" between the government and the private sector.
Will it really be a break from the past? We decided to ask a few people around town what they think.
UPDATE: 6:55 PM. Neil MacBride was a registered lobbyist for the Business Software Alliance at the end of 2007. The Senate Office of Public Records still lists him as an active lobbyist, though he wasn't listed on lobbying documents in 2008. (Winter Casey)
Business Software Alliance General Counsel Neil MacBride will be moving into one of the top positions at the Justice Department in the Obama administration, CongressDaily's Tech Daily Dose blog reports. MacBride has been named associate deputy attorney general, according to the trade group. In his new position, MacBride -- who has been BSA's vice president of anti-piracy and general counsel -- will serve on the senior leadership team of Attorney General-designee Eric Holder and will help manage the agency's 115,000 employees and $22 billion budget.
As the Senate develops its stimulus package of tax cuts and new spending on infrastructure, a coalition of business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing a measure that would allow companies to buy back their own debt without paying taxes for two years.
The coalition sent a
letter to Congress.pdfto Capitol Hill two weeks ago signed by about two-dozen large trade groups. R. Bruce Josten, the chamber's top lobbyist who is coordinating the coalition effort, says the coalition now has close to three-dozen members. Separately, a number of individual companies banded together to send their
own letter.pdfto the Hill today endorsing the plan.
The coalition already has a key ally on the Senate Finance Committee - Republican John Ensign of Nevada. He has introduced a bill that would provide the two-year tax break - dubbed "CODI," for cancellation of debt income. Three outside lobbyists with corporate clients pushing the measure say it has strong appeal for several business sectors, among them Las Vegas casino companies saddled with huge debt.
House Democrats this month unveiled a $825 billion package of tax cuts and new spending measures that did not contain the two-year tax break.
Now the casino industry is suffering in the dismal economy. The American Gaming Association recently opted to suspend member dues for the first half of 2009, and AGA President Frank Fahrenkopf told National Journal that he called in the five outside lobbying firms on contract with the trade group -- Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock and Holland & Hart among them -- to inform them that "since we're taking a haircut they have to also."
Fahrenkopf declined to say how much the retainers were being reduced for the first half of 2009. But he said he will reassess the situation at mid-year. "When your members are having tough times, you have an obligation to tighten your belt," he said. Still, the suspension of dues won't impact the AGA's overall operations too badly because about two-thirds of the group's $9 million annual budget comes from trade show revenues, according to Fahrenkopf.
For decades, agricultural lobbyists of all types have banded together to throw a pre-inauguration party affectionately known as the Ag Ball, the Farm Prom, or the Piggy Party. But this time around there was no unity as some aggies were furious over the price of the tickets and how the event was handled. Instead, they decided to hold a much smaller party Monday night organized by the National Farmers Union, the farm group closest to President Obama.
The controversy started when the firm in Alexandria, Virginia hired to run the established big affair set a price of $750 per person, with each trade group required to buy a table of 10 seats - or spend $7,500 - to attend.
Leading Democratic and Republican operatives in California have created LFM Campaigns, a consulting firm designed to use "state of the art campaign management practices,'' the firm says, to promote ballot proposition campaigns in California and throughout the nation. In its announcement, LFM Campaigns said that it was bi-partisan and would pursue "ballot proposition campaigns that stand for good public policy.''
The new outfit includes Adam Mendelsohn, a senior partner in Mercury Public Affairs and former communications director for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; Steve Schmidt, also a senior partner in Mercury Public Affairs and a top strategist in Sen. John McCain's2008 presidential run; Chris Lehane, a partner in Fabiani & Lehane and a former spokesman for President Clinton; Lehane's partner, Mark Fabiani, former special counsel in Clinton's White House; and Averell "Ace" Smith, a founding partner of SCN Strategies who oversaw Sen. Hillary Clinton'svictory in the Democratic presidential primary in California.
According to the firm's announcement, officials will reduce costs for clients by integrating research, message development, advertising, press, online communications, and management under one roof. Mendelsohn most recently helped push the Proposition 11 reform that prevents California lawmakers from drawing their own district boundaries.
Lobbying tends to be thought of as ignominious behavior by both journalists and the public. And, in reality, the multi-billion-dollar K Street sector generally is looking out for special interests, not the general public. Even so, there are companies who use their financial clout and organizing abilities to lobby for the common good. In an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, corporate social responsibility experts Kyle Peterson and Marc Pfitzer highlight some private sector companies who are doing just that:
Mary Kay • Successfully lobbied for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. President Bush signed the reauthorization into law in 2006.
Cartoon Network • Rescuing Recess Campaign. A nationwide effort to save recess from the threat of budget constraints and playground liability concerns. Launched "National Recess Week" and maintains a website to get parents, schools, and activists involved.
B&Q (A European home improvement and garden retailer) • Lobbied for green-friendly tax treatment. Organized a campaign to lower taxes for consumers on energy-efficient products such as insulation, hot water tank jackets, and energy-saving light bulbs.
"Companies have a workforce with a very unique expertise, offices around the world, and deep relationships with policymakers," said Peterson. Foundations and nonprofits don't have those kinds of resources, he said.
Peterson and Pfitzer's article does a good job delineating the issue of corporate social responsibility and examining the natural incentives that exist for companies to lobby in the public's interest. Tapping into these incentives and partnering with businesses to lobby Congress may become an increasingly popular and effective strategy to push for social change. -- Eliza Krigman
Mike DuHaime, who served as the political director for the McCain-Palin presidential campaign, has joined Mercury Public Affairs as a managing director. DuHaime managed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign before joining the McCain-Palin team last year. "Mike is one of the most talented public affairs strategists in the country," Terry Nelson, a Mercury Public Affairs partner in the Washington office, said in the DuHaime announcement. Nelson, who worked with Duhaime on the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, said that Duhaime has "a unique understanding of national and regional politics.'' Mercury Public Affairs is owned by Omnicom Group, a global marketing and corporate communications firm.
Interest groups on both sides of the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act aren't letting the inauguration get in the way of their messages to Congress. Two groups -- American Rights at Work and the Employee Freedom Action Committee -- have been flooding the inside-the-Beltway crowd with ads this week.
The legislation, also known as "card check," would make it easier for unions to organize, but opponents argue that its provision allowing unionization without a secret-ballot vote is undemocratic.
Josh Goldstein, a spokesman for the pro-labor group American Rights At Work, said he has an "extremely positive outlook" for the bill being taken up early in Barack Obama's tenure, but the incoming president signaled otherwise in an interview with the Washington Post's editorial board Thursday.
"If we're losing half a million jobs a month, then there are no jobs to unionize, so my focus first is on those key economic priority items," Obama told the Post. He added that he is open to considering "other mechanisms" to address the conflict between unions and employers, but he wouldn't say whether he wanted to see the issue debated during his first year in office, the Post said.
Third Way, a think tank and advocacy organization with strong ties to centrist Democrats in Congress, is rolling out a new initiative called "Come Let Us Reason Together." The goal is to steer a middle course on some of the tough, divisive issues associated with the culture wars. The group has released a position paper that it will send to Congress and the incoming Obama administration.
Centrist evangelical leaders who signed on to the initiative include Rev. Joel Hunter, a senior pastor at a megachurch in Orlando, Fla., who delivered the closing benediction at the Democratic National Convention this year; Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Ronald Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action; and David Gushee, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights.
The position paper advocates middle ground on abortion, gay rights, and immigration reform, and it takes a strong stance renouncing torture. On abortion, for instance, it focuses on preventing unwanted pregnancies through grants for sex education, and advocates expanding tax-credit assistance to promote adoption; on gay rights, instead of addressing same-sex marriage, it supports ending workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians, while providing an exemption for faith-based employers.
Leading the blueprint effort for Third Way is Rachel Laser, the group's culture program director. Laser could have a receptive ear in the Obama administration, as she has been heavily involved in pushing compromises between abortion-rights groups and pro-life Democrats. And President-elect Obama has indicated a willingness to work with evangelical leaders, as was evident when Obama tapped controversial, conservative pastor Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation. You can read the position paper at the link below.
Here are K Street-related stories from this week's National Journal. Subscription is required.
With all the musical entertainment coming into town for President-electObama's inauguration, some members of Congress have decided to take advantage of the moment for a little partying of their own. Dozens of top Democratic fundraisers and donors from K Street as well as outside the Beltway have been invited to pre-inauguration lunches on January 19 -- one with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and another with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. At Pelosi's event, live performances by musical superstars Sheryl Crow, Jon Bon Jovi, and Lyle Lovett are expected, Peter Stonereports.
Although the slumping economy has many people forgoing vacations, the U.S. Travel Association hopes to change that. The group is doubling its spending on advocacy efforts in Washington to $6 million in 2009, President and CEO Roger Dow says. The association is also more than doubling its government relations staff to 15 people, Bara Vaida reports.
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leading conservative activist, is unhappy with President-elect Obama's tax-cut proposals but hopeful about a Republican comeback. He offered his thoughts on the path ahead for conservatives and who might lead the GOP out of the wilderness, John Maggsreports.
To get Norquist's take on lobbying, watch this video from his recent sit-down interview with NJ.
Among the 11 legislative affairs staffers the incoming Obama administration named yesterday, several have done stints on K Street. The bios released by the Office of the President-Elect did not list the lobbying connections. But here they are:
• Jay Heimbach, who now serves as chief of staff to Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, followed his then-Clinton administration boss, Steve Ricchetti, to Ricchetti's lobbying shop from 2001 to mid-2006, where his clients included Eli Lilly, Fannie Mae, the Alliance for Justice, and E-Bay. • Denise Wilson did a stint as manager of government relations for Motorola in Washington besides spending more than a decade as an aide to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee under Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. • Sean Kennedy also took a trip through the revolving door: After working for then-House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., he was a lobbyist for SBC Communications (which later took the name AT&T) from 2005-2006. He then returned to Capitol Hill as chief of staff to Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
Asked about his stint in Washington's profession of ill-repute, Kennedy, in 2005, offered The Kansas City Star a line of argument resembling Sen. Hillary Clinton's during the presidential campaign. "The stunningly illegal relationships" of a few corrupt members and lobbyists make the profession seem to many as "somewhere between amoral and anti-American," Kennedy conceded. But although some reforms were needed, he argued, many folks in Washington "represent 'interests' that are at the heart of our country -- everything from farmers to small businesses to educators -- and these individuals perform an important and honest role in providing assistance and perspective to Congress."
We'll have more on former lobbyists who are joining the Obama administration in the January 24 issue of National Journal.
The National Federation of Independent Business announced today that Donald A. "Dan" Danner, executive vice president, will replace Todd A. Stottlemyer as the next president and CEO. Stottlemyer, who has been president of the organization since 2006, will leave NFIB on February 1 to return to private business.
No further details were given about where Stottlemyer will go because he has yet to decide. However, an anonymous source characterized a February 1 leave date as a "quick out the door" departure.
This may have been a long time coming for Danner, who arrived at NFIB in 1993 and was one of the candidates for president at the time Stottlemyer was selected, according to a 2005 Washington Post article. Prior to his lobbying career, Danner was chief of staff to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and also worked in the White House Office of Public Liaison during the Reagan administration.
The multimillion-dollar ad campaign launched last month by the environmental advocates of the Reality Coalition to debunk the idea of clean coal, is now being matched by a similar-sized effort by Peabody Energy, the world's largest private sector coal producer. Peabody is appealing for federal funding for carbon recapture technology to be part of the stimulus plan.
The campaign, handled by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, reprises the tagline "Coal Can Do That" that Peabody used several years ago to tout the various products that come from coal. The new campaign attempts to frame carbon recapture technology as the second phase of an already successful effort to reduce harmful emissions from coal plants. Peabody is also sending out thousands of direct mail and e-mail missives with the same message to lawmakers and opinion leaders around the country.
The ads build on the efforts of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which plans to plow up to $40 million this year into a continuation of its year-old advertising campaign. ACCCE's latest ad showcases remarks by then-candidate Barack Obama on the campaign trail touting the potential for clean coal technology. But the Center for American Progress -- whose president, John Podesta,has headed Obama's transition -- recently released a study charging that ACCCE's 48 member companies spent only $3.5 billion of their combined profits of $58 million on clean coal research and concluded that "the real purpose of the clean coal campaign is to postpone requirements to reduce emissions." ACCCE says the report's figures are misleading.
Believe it or not, the Senate is dragging its feet into the modern era of information-sharing and is still using a hard copy system for filing campaign finance reports. With paper filing, final disclosure reports of senatorial candidates are not available to the public until after the election due to the time it takes the Federal Election Commission to process the paperwork.
What's stopping senators from e-filing when campaigns have all the information available electronically? That's exactly the question Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has been asking. He is the author of the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, which would require reports filed with the Secretary of the Senate to be filed electronically and forwarded to the FEC within 24 hours. In the past, Feingold has signed up 47 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle; his bill failed to pass in the last Congress but his office tells National Journal the senator plans to re-introduce the legislation in the 111th Congress.
In testimony to the Senate Rules Committee almost two years ago, Feingold said filing on paper "involves a completely wasteful expenditure by the FEC of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to re-enter information into databases" and that, "[T]here is no excuse for keeping our own campaign finance information inaccessible to the public when the information filed by House and presidential candidates, PACs, parties, and even 527 organizations is readily available almost immediately."
But Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., effectively put the kibosh on the e-filing legislation by insisting on an unrelated and controversial amendment to require groups that file ethics complaints to disclose their donors. Contrary to his past legislative position, Ensign went on the record this past October saying that he is "100 percent for electronic filing."
Maybe the Senate is finally ready to enter the digital age.
If you are one of the hundreds of lobbyists working to get something into the economic stimulus package, you should be interested in comparing the House and Senate outlines of the bill.
It appears that Democrats are sticking to their planned timing on the stimulus. Earlier in the week a House Democratic lobbyist sent me an email with the expected schedule.
HOUSE:
Bill language circulated by Jan.15
House mark up week of Jan. 19
House floor week of Jan. 26
SENATE:
Committee markups on Jan. 22
Floor action on Jan. 26
Of course like everything with Congress, there is a good chance all of this will slip into February.
Politicians will be happy to know that at least some Wall Street bigs still have dough.
Though President-elect Obama banned donations from lobbyists and corporate political action committees to the the presidential inaugural committee, wealthy individuals have been allowed to pony up $50,000 themselves and bundle as much as $300,000.
And pony up Wall Street has. In an analysis,
Public Citizen says that nearly 80 percent of the $35.3 million in
donations received so far come from 211 individuals. Of the 5,632
donations the inaugural committee received, just 113 were from "small"
donors, or those that gave $200 or less.
Among the prominent Wall Street executives who bundled money for the inauguration: Kobi Brinson, with Wachovia ($35,000); Mark Gilbert, with the now-extinct Lehman Brothers ($185,000); Bruce Heyman, with Goldman Sachs ($50,000) Louis Susman, with Citigroup ($300,000) and Robert Wolf, chairman and CEO of UBS Americas ($100,000)
UPDATE @ 3:00PM Jan. 15. The Center for Responsive Politics has a report and analysis of inagural donors as well. Click here.
Lanny Davis, the high-profile lawyer, lobbyist, columnist, commentator and Democratic insider, has a new gig -- he's signed on as a volunteer senior adviser and spokesperson for The Israel Project, the international nonprofit that provides information to the media and the public about the Middle East. Davis also has close ties to incoming Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- he was special counsel to President Clinton from 1996 to 1998 and was a major supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
At TIP, Davis joins another member of the far-flung Clinton network -- strategic communications specialist Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi. She founded the 501(c)(3) in 2002 (and is still its president), and has built it into a major player among independent groups that focus on the region. With offices in Washington and Jerusalem, Mizrahi says TIP "does not speak on behalf of the Israeli government" and that Davis will appear on U.S. and international media outlets as a private citizen and "will be speaking independently only for himself."
With the war in Gaza at the top of the news, Davis says, his role is to help get "all the facts out as soon as possible -- to help correct misinformation and misstatements in the media." That's a role he has long projected in domestic politics even as he has continued to represent clients as a partner at the firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
In a shakeup at the Food Marketing Institute, John Motley III, the longtime top lobbyist for the trade group, was asked to resign late last year and has stepped down, according to three sources. Motley's departure, which came about two months after Leslie Sarasin assumed the reins as president and chief executive officer of FMI, was viewed as part of a reorganization that often accompanies new management.
A veteran Republican lobbyist who had been with FMI for more than a decade, the 64-year-old Motley had previously held key lobbying posts at the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Retail Federation. Sources say that FMI has suffered from declining revenues in recent years and faces more challenges as the food sector continues to struggle in the sick economy.
Two prominent business executives' names are being circulated among Washington insiders as potential nominees for Commerce secretary just a week after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew, Congress Daily's Andrew Noyesreports.
Several high-tech industry officials and congressional aides say John Thompson, chairman and CEO of computer security and systems management firm Symantec, and former Time Warner Chairman Richard Parsons are two of the top contenders for the job. A spokesman for President-elect Obama's transition team declined to comment.
President-elect Obama has nominated another recent lobbyist to a high-level administration position. He tapped William V. Corr, executive director and a lobbyist (until June 30, 2008) for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, to be deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
This is the second time in the past week that a recent lobbyist has been nominated to a top- level position, though Obama has pledged that no political appointees "will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years."
A number of folks on K Street have wondered how President-elect Obama may deploy his millions of grassroots supporters in upcoming policy debates. Well, David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, shed some light on that topic in an interview with Lois Romano of the Washington Post. He told her he'll be overseeing Obama's grassroots network, which includes a reported 13 million email addresses.
The revolving door took a big swing today as Jeff Connaughton, a principal and vice chairman of top lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie and Associates, was named chief of staff for Delaware Sen.-designate Ted Kaufman (the Democrat appointed to replace Vice President-elect Joe Biden.)
Connaughton helped found QGA in 2000 after a two-year stint lobbying at Arnold & Porter.
Early in his career, Connaughton worked for Kaufman when Kaufman was Biden's chief of staff. "This is a unique opportunity to help Ted, my first boss in D.C. 21 years ago," Connaughton told National Journal. "It's something I really want to be a part of. It's just an honor for me to help him now that he will be a United States senator." Connaughton was special assistant to the White House counsel during the Clinton administration from 1994-95.
According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Connaughton gave $43,600 in political contributions during the 2008 election cycle, all to Democrats or Democratic organizations. He gave $4,600, the maximum amount an individual can give during one campaign cycle, to Biden's presidential campaign
Just when it seemed the embattled Federal Election Commission couldn't get any less popular, the agency has come under renewed attack for a string of controversial stalemates and rulings, National Journal'sEliza Newlin Carney writes in her column "Rules of the Game."
Carney looks at problems with the FEC's political make up and how a recent agency action may invite fresh abuse by 527 groups. Critics are also unhappy with the agency's mid-December interpretation of lobbyist bundler rules.
The rules require lawmakers' campaigns to report the names of lobbyists who round up, or bundle, contributions on their behalf, but only when it has a formal tracking system for doing so, which critics say could allow campaigns to evade bundling rules. Further, the FEC rules allow campaigns to count individual lobbyist contributions at an event they are co-hosting with other lobbyists, rather than making them responsible for the entire amount raised.
For lobbyists with the winter blahs, two senators who hale from states with beaches and sunny weather may have a solution for you. Over the Martin Luther King holiday - Inauguration Day extended weekend, Sen. Mel Martinez,R-Fla., is hosting a getaway and fundraiser for his political action committee, Freedom and Democracy Fund, at Disney's Grand Floridian Spa and Resort in Orlando. To attend the Jan. 18-21 bash, PACs have to pony up $3,000 and individuals $2,000. Next month over President's Day weekend, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii,is throwing his "First Annual Weekend of Aloha" at Honolulu's Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa. To enjoy the Feb. 14-16 activities, attendees have to raise or donate a total of $5,000 for the senator's "Dan10" reelection committee.
Over the past six months, as it became increasingly likely that Barack Obama would become president, many people told me they didn't know how Obama would be able to fill top-level administration jobs without dipping into the pool of lobbyists who work in Washington. Obama, meanwhile, repeatedly said on the campaign trail that lobbyists "wouldn't run" his White House.
Right after the election, Obama's transition team made clear in a statement posted on its website that "political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will not be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years."
Well, it appears that the Obama team may have found that two-year ban too restrictive.
Case in point. Late last week, Obama announced he would name William J. Lynn, III to fill the No. 2 position at the Defense Department under Defense Secretary William Gates. Lynn is a senior vice president for government relations at defense contractor Raytheon and was a registered federal lobbyist until at least June 30, 2008, according to lobbying disclosure documents filed with Congress. Lynn was not listed as a lobbyist in Raytheon's third quarter lobbying disclosures.
"We are aware that Mr. Lynn lobbied for Raytheon, and are working with Mr. Lynn to craft a role for him that is consistent with the President-elect's high standards while balancing the need to fill this critical national security position," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor told the Associated Pressin a Jan. 9 story.
So perhaps all it takes now to be "scrubbed" of your lobbying background is six months out of the profession.
We'll have more on this subject in future postings.
Here's an interesting story I missed last week. Lobbyist couple Heather and Tony Podesta are largely responsible for enabling the famous "Hope" portrait of President-elect Obama to hang in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
The picture painted by Shepard Fairey inspired the creation of t-shirts, posters and other campaign material during the 2008 election. The Podestas, who are big art collectors, gave a donation to help the Smithsonian acquire the painting because it "seemed like a historic moment for the country, and a chance to do something for art and Democrats," Tony Podesta told the Washington Post in a Jan. 7 story. The painting was also given in honor of Podesta's late mother Mary K. Podesta.
A brunch is scheduled for Saturday Jan. 17 at the gallery to celebrate the gift. Hosting the brunch are the Congressional Black Caucus and the director of the National Portrait Gallery.
Justice Department officials think it's high time that the Federal Election Commission consult with their agency before issuing administrative decisions in enforcement matters that could involve criminal campaign violations. In a letter to the FEC, a senior Justice official, Craig C. Donsanto, director of the election crimes branch, Public Integrity Section, wrote the FEC earlier this month that the campaign watchdog agency too often disposes of such cases before informing prosecutors. Donsanto responded to an online request from the FEC for suggestions on how it "might improve its compliance and enforcement processes.'' The commission will hold a public self-improvement public hearing on Jan. 14.
In his letter, Donsanto wrote that in 1977 the Justice Department and the FEC signed a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, addressing the duty of the commission to refer potential criminal violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act to prosecutors. Once the FEC determines under the MOU that "significant and substantial'' violations were committed "knowingly and willfully,'' Donsanto wrote, the commission refers the matter to the Justice Department. However, Donsanto went on, "in view of significant enhancements to the criminal penalties for knowing and willful violations'' enacted in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law in 2002, "we believe these current standards and processes'' are not adequate for prosecuting violations.
Prior to McCain-Feingold, Donsanto explained, criminal violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act were considered misdemeanors. McCain-Feingold, he added, made some violations felonies and punishable by prison terms. "We believe that these significant recent developments reflect a congressional intent'' that potential criminal violations uncovered by the FEC should be evaluated by the Justice Department, Donsanto wrote, "before any alternative administrative disposition is considered.'' Donsanto said Justice and the FEC should amend the MOU accordingly.
It's been musical chairs in the government affairs office of The Information Technology Industry Council. Josh Ackil, the lead Democratic lobbyist, left ITI more than a year ago to start his own lobbying shop, the Franklin Square Group. Others to leave ITI in the past year include Jonathan Hoganson and Brian Peters. Now Kara Calvert, a Republican, is the latest ITI lobbyist to jump ship. She has joined Ackil at Franklin Square.
Long time Republican lobbyist Ralph Hellmann, ITI's senior vice president of government relations, says he is "in the process of interviewing a lot of great candidates" and plans to fill the positions formerly held by Hoganson and Calvert and to bring his staff up to five full time lobbyists. Hellmann views the turnover "as a positive development," he says, because "we have kind of become a great proving ground for good lobbyists who go on to our companies. In the end the companies and some of these [lobbying] firms just have more money and more resources and that is something that is hard to compete with from an association perspective."
Hellmann notes that ITI has "lost 12 lobbyists over the past 5 or 6 years but to our member companies and they are great because when they get to their companies they are big advocates of ITI and of the broader tech agenda." The result is, ITI just has a "bigger family," says Hellmann. "Franklin Square is almost like an adjunct office of ITI," Hellman adds jokingly.
A large Kuwaiti investment firm, Rasameel Structured Finance, wants to help save the U.S. car industry. It has hired Williams & Jensen to drum up interest in Washington, Peter Stone writes in this week's K Street section of National Journal. (subscription required)
The National Association of Manufacturers plans to party this inauguration, Bara Vaida reports in this week's issue of the magazine.
Who on K Street will be going to work on Wednesday, January 21?
As I wrote earlier in the week, the invitations for parties to inaugural events keep rolling in. One of the latest I received is a party hosted by the Poker Players Alliance, a lobbying group formed to oppose congressional efforts to stymie Internet gambling. The group is hosting a late-night party on Tuesday, January 20 at Shelly's Back Room. The bash starts at 11pm and goes to 3am.
If you want to see a list of all the parties happening around town, ConklinScott, a Democratic D.C.-based political consulting company, has created a master list of inaugural events on its website. The Washingtonian magazine has its own list here. Qorvis Communications has compiled a list too.
To whom might new members of Congress be most beholden as they settle into their new digs on Capitol Hill? Well, one way to try to figure that out is by looking at which industries gave campaign donations to incoming lawmakers. Take a look at the Center for Responsive Politics' analysis of campaign money.
For example, Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., who defeated incumbent North Carolina Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole, got most of her money from Democratic and liberal interest groups, lawyers and retirees; while Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., now the youngest member of Congress, got most of his money from retirees and health professionals.
The law and lobbying firm Ryan, Phillips, Utrecht & MacKinnon has renamed itself Ryan, MacKinnon, Vasapoli & Berzok, as former name partners Bill Phillips and Lyn Utrecht have left the firm to create Utrecht & Phillips.
As part of the staff changes, the firm elevated partners Joseph Vasapoli (who has been a partner since 1998) and Matthew Berzok (a partner since 2003) to name partners and hired Nick Kolovos, most recently vice president of government relations for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.
In news that can only be good for his lobbying firm's bottom line, former Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott's one-year ban on lobbying his former colleagues has expired. "I'm legal!" the former Majority Leader was overheard announcing gleefully to former colleagues on the Hill, Roll Call reported. (subscription required)
Under old lobbying rules, Lott (who resigned in December 2007) was barred from lobbying senators for one year. Under new lobbying rules, which began Jan. 1, 2008, senators who leave the Hill for downtown are barred from lobbying their colleagues for two years.
Lott's firm, Breaux Lott Leadership Group, co-founded with former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., has been raking in the dough. For the first nine months of 2008, the firm posted $5.67 million in lobbying fees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The insurance industry took out a sizable policy of its own by giving nearly $28 million in campaign contributions during the 2008 campaign cycle, according to a new analysis by the publication BestWeek. (
BestWeek.pdf ) That makes insurance one of the largest fundraising blocs of any industry, just in time for the anticipated congressional reform of the financial services sector.
Looking at filings by more than 180 political action committees linked to insurers, brokers, trade associations, health maintenance organizations, among others, the publication (produced by the A.M. Best company and long considered a top source for insider news on all-things-insurance) found that the industry as a whole still tilted Republican, albeit less so than in recent cycles: Democrats got $13.2 million, while Republicans took in $14.6 million.
The largest contributing industry segment were life insurers, who gave $8.2 million, followed by bank-based insurers at $6.1 million. Within the industry, the largest political action contribution was $2.6 million from the American Bankers Association. AFLAC, Bank of America and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors each sponsored PACS spending more than $1 million. The report also looks at top recipients of the industry's largesse in the House and Senate.
What do candidates for safe congressional seats do with the campaign war chests they raise? Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., D-NJ, according to the Bergen, County, NJ Record, dipped into the $1.4 million he raised in the most recent election cycle to hire Irish dancers, a cigar roller, and spent $23,000 on parties for fellow Democrats at conventions in Atlantic City and Denver .
In the January 4 edition, the Record's Herb Jackson offers a revealing look at the campaign expenditures of Pascrell and his fellow New Jersey Democrat, Rep. Steve Rothman, and found that only a small share of both members' campaign funds actually went to promote their own candidacies. For Pascrell, that share was just 22 per cent, with another 24 percent going for fundraising expenses--including consultants, catering and entertainment. For both candidates, the largest expenses were contributions to other Democrats, at the local and federal level. Pascrell also used funds to underwrite local charities and organizations. -- Julie Kosterlitz
A perusal of "Your Seat At The Table" on President-elect Barack Obama's transition team website shows documents and meetings with hundreds of interest groups trying to influence the policies of the new administration, making good on a promise from early December to place all such documents online.
The long list of documents from interest groups includes talking points and recommendations from big business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and union groups like Change to Win.
Former Rep. Daniel Mica, D-Fla., who is now Credit Union National Association CEO, likes the emphasis on transparency. Mica said in a column for the Hill that he thinks ultimately the information could provide more accountability for citizens.
"Some on K Street may bristle at this new emphasis on transparency. I, for one, feel it is welcome and overdue," Mica wrote. "It is about time that we have a level playing field, so that consumers and advocacy organizations can truly understand the facts -- or, sadly, the distortion of facts -- that are being presented to the administration.
Mica said he sat down with Obama's transition staff and was asked to send all the documents (in electronic form) that his group provided during the meeting so that they could be posted online.
After 21 years as a lobbyist, Michael Boland, name partner of the lobbying firm Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart, has left K Street for Wall Street.
Despite the tough economic climate, Boland has opened Dome Advisors, a Washington, D.C-based political risk and advisory firm for Wall Street and other clients. "There is a need for a service that provides understanding and context" of political and public policy information to investors, he said.
Boland, once an aide to former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he is "done with lobbying" because he saw an inherent conflict in representing clients on Capitol Hill and providing investment advice to Wall Street.
Joining Boland at Dome Advisors is managing director Vijay Sankaran, who previously worked at the political risk unit of Deutsche Bank. During the 2004 election cycle, Sankaran served as chair of California South Asians for Democratic presidential candidate Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
Boland said the firm has hired 11 researchers, including former journalists, who will be charged with gathering information for specific clients. He declined to name his researchers, nor would he elaborate on how many clients have signed up for his service so far.
Boland enters a field with growing competition. There have been an increasing number of lobbying and law firms, Cassidy & Associates and Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, to name two, that have created "political intelligence" units to provide potentially market-moving information to hedge funds and other Wall Street firms. Some lawmakers have been alarmed by the trend and want lobbyists to register with Congress if they are providing "political intelligence" to Wall Street, according to a Wall Street Journal story in 2006.
Dean Mon and Brian Binash were two of 80 homebuilders and members of the National Association of Home Builders who flew into Washington D.C. and today personally pushed lawmakers to pass legislation to reinvigorate the slumping housing sector.
"We feel strongly that unless we stabilize housing, we won't get out of this recession," said Mon, owner of Shrewsbury, N.J.-homebuilding firm DR Mon Group. Among the NAHB's discussion points for lawmakers is passage of a housing tax credit and lower mortgage interest rates. (See the Under the Influence interview with NAHB CEO Jerry Howard posted on Dec. 23)
Like most of the home builders who lobbied today, Mon and Binash had prior working relationships with specific lawmakers and were asked by NAHB to come to D.C. to help make the case on the Hill. "We were all meeting with members that we have personal relationships with, so when I set up the meeting, I expected to talk to the lawmaker, not the chief of staff," said Mon.
Mon met with New Jersey Democrats Sen. Robert Menendez and Reps. Bill Pascrell and Albio Sires. Binash, Houston-based owner of Wilshire Homes, met with Texas Republican Reps. Pete Sessions, Sam Johnson, and Kevin Brady. Both Mon and Binash said they got a "good reaction" to NAHB's wish list. "There is an understanding that housing will be one of the things that will lead our economy" out of the recession, said Binash.
NAHB's Howard has vowed to aggressively spend on lobbying Capitol Hill this year to get its housing agenda through Congress.
Congress Daily also reports that the NAHB is open to a deal with Democrats on foreclosure aid. See story here. (subscription required) --Bara Vaida
After spending $85 million on the 2008 election cycle to get its candidates into office, the Service Employees International Union is now launching an approximately $50 million campaign, called "Change That Works," aimed at supporting passage of President-elect Barack Obama'seconomic recovery package, healthcare reform and the Employee Free Choice Act.
"When the SEIU [puts out] a goal, we move into action in a big way," Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer, told reporters on Wednesday.
Burger said the SEIU has pledged 30 percent of its staff and financial resources to the campaign, which means that the union will be spending "at least" $50 million. She added the union already has staff devoted to the campaign in 35 states and has created a campaign-like "war-room" in D.C. She also said that the SEIU will be commissioning a "multi-million" advertising campaign beginning this month that will run throughout 2009.
Earlier in the day at a briefing for reporters, U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue vowed to fight union efforts. See Congress Daily's story here. (subscription required)
Conventional wisdom holds that Republicans face a chilly job market on K Street with Democrats cementing their control of Congress and now the White House. But perhaps things aren't that bad after all because some GOPers are still landing gigs. The latest hires? Peter Freeman, former deputy chief of staff to now retired Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, has been hired by The Financial Services Roundtable as vice president of insurance, while Matthew Mika, senior legislative assistant for agricultural issues in the office of Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., has been named director of legislative affairs for the American Meat Institute.
Two high-profile trade groups that represent music industry interests on Capitol Hill are joining forces in a no-holds-barred battle against the National Association of Broadcasters as the 111th Congress begins. The Recording Artists' Coalition, which gained attention for its superstar supporters like Christina Aguilera, Don Henley and Madonna, is being swallowed by The Recording Academy, the group best known for producing the annual Grammy Awards and Grammys on the Hill educational program, Andrew Noyesreported for National Journal's CongressDaily.
Having made a career out of political fundraising for state and national level campaigns, political consultants Pamela L. Finmark and William D. Chalmers, recently retired,are now doing penance, and touting a complete overhaul of the campaign finance system. In an op-ed in yesterday's Los Angeles Times,the duo contend that -- the influx of small donors this election season notwithstanding -- the $6.3 billion funneled to campaigns, 527s and political parties is "a policy-corrupting amount of cash."
Pronouncing post-Watergate and McCain-Feingold reforms alike a shell game, the two instead tout the "patriot dollars" plan, proposed by Yale law professors Bruce Ackerman and Ian Ayres, which gives every voter a $50 ATM card to spend on his or her candidate of choice. The idea, which debuted nearly a decade ago, has gotten periodic plaudits on newspaper op-ed pages and has the Center for American Progress' Matt Miller as a booster.
Here's a round-up of interesting lobbying stories while we were away.
With $700 billion or more in potential government spending and tax cuts, the economic stimulus package is causing a lobbying frenzy in Washington, and a number of lobbyists told National Journal they ended up working during the holiday because congressional staffers were working on the stimulus package. U.S. News and World Report took a look at what groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and the National Governors Association, among others, are lobbying on.
Former Rep. Ronnie Shows, D-Miss. is working hard to convince retiring Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., to join him in creating a bipartisan K Street team, according to the Clarion-Ledger. Shows currently lobbies on behalf of Blackwater Worldwide and NRG Energy.
USA Todaylooks at the large salary levels some lobbyists can earn after working on Capitol Hill. The paper found that 32 of the 193 top staffers who left government this past year registered as lobbyists and another 42 went to work for consulting firms, law offices, interest groups and trade associations,
Good government groups, like Democracy 21 and the Project on Government Oversight, plan to push Congress for more transparency and tighter rules on the revolving door. USA Todayhas a story on what reforms ethics groups will push for in 2009.
Burson-Marsteller, the public affairs firm run by former Sen. Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn, dropped the Pakistan People's Party, the ruling party in Pakistan, as a client, Politico reported. Pakistan seems to have a hard time keeping its lobbying firms. In November 2007, lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates dropped the embassy of Pakistan as a client.
The list of inauguration events grows longer. I am receiving a stream of e-mail invitations, one of the latest of which is to the "Dream Makers" ball at Bobby Van's Grill to honor Rev. Martin Luther King on the evening of Jan. 19. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Rev. Al Sharpton are to be the honored guests. Proceeds will benefit the John Lewis Scholarship Fund, the National Action Network and Rainbow Push Coalition.That same evening, the National Foundation of Women Legislators is hosting a "Hollywood on the Potomac" party at D.C.'s City Tavern Club. Entertainment Industries Caucus chair Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif. is the "special guest of honor."
As National Journal reported on Dec. 17, Penny Lee, then a senior adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told colleagues she was leaving Capitol Hill for a job in the private sector, but didn't name her new employer. Lobbying firm Venn Strategies announced today that it hired Lee as a principal. Lee "has a better sense of the political chessboard than anyone I've met working in this town," said Sandra Swirski, co-founder and principal at Venn, a majority female lobbying shop. Prior to work for Reid, Lee was executive director of the Democratic Governor's Association and before that, communications director for Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell.
