Monday, April 20, 2009 8:30 AM

Foreign Governments Turn To K Street

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Transportation, health care and high-tech firms aren't the only special interests angling for the ear of President Barack Obama since he replaced George W. Bush. Turnover at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. also means some foreign governments are seizing the opportunity to try to ingratiate themselves to the executive branch," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "Only a few years ago, Quinn Gillespie and Associates was the lights, camera, action darling of K Street. Big names. Big money. Big timing," Politico reports. "But following any good buzz, there's always the hangover. And for Quinn Gillespie, 2008 was a take-two-of-these-and-call-me-in-the morning kind of year."

• "After weeks of negotiations, banks and credit unions are continuing to drag their heels, at least publicly, on committing to compromise language in a bill that would give bankruptcy judges the power to modify mortgages," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The Poker Players Alliance is betting $3 million that it can overturn an Internet gambling ban, or at least carve out an exemption that would legalize and regulate online poker," AP reports. "The alliance, chaired by former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., says it plans to spend that much on lobbying in this session of Congress. The group gets its money from the Interactive Gaming Council, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based trade association for online casinos, as well as from its poker player members."

• "Two of the nation's most influential health care adversaries are uniting to promote key portions of health care reform but leave unaddressed the debate's most controversial element: the creation of a public insurance plan," Politico reports. "The consumer group Families USA and the trade association Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America are launching a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to push the package of reforms, which includes expanding Medicaid."

• "House lawmakers reported a decline in political fund raising in the first three months of the midterm-election cycle, driven largely by a drop in donations to Republicans, according to new finance reports," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The reports, filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, are the latest evidence that individuals and corporate political-action committees are dialing back on political contributions during the recession."