Information technology lobbying group TechNet has hired Rey Ramsey as the organization's new president and chief executive officer.
Ramsey currently is chief executive officer of One Economy Corp., a global nonprofit that leverages the power of technology to improve the lives of low-income people, which he co-founded in 2000. One Economy brings unserved and underserved communities into the economic mainstream through facilitating affordable at-home broadband access, producing public-purpose media, and training and employing "Digital Connectors," youth aged 14-21, to enhance their communities' technology capacity.
At TechNet, Ramsey will be based in Washington, D.C. where he will oversee the Silicon Valley organization's day-to-day operations, strategic planning and implementation of its public policy and political agenda.
Separately, TechNet also announced that Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel, and Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google, will join the organization's executive committee.
(Photo of Ramsey from One Economy website)
Former Sen. Tom Daschle ,D-S.D.has joined law and lobbying firm DLA Piper as a senior policy advisor. He will not register to lobby, however.
Previously, Daschle was a senior advisor at Alston & Bird.
At DLA Piper, Daschle will counsel clients on a wide range of regulatory and government affairs issues, the firm said. He is also expected to play a significant role in management and client development globally. In addition to advising clients, Daschle will also serve on DLA Piper's Global Board.
(Photo of Daschle from Creative Commons)
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "House Republicans want the AARP to rescind its endorsement of comprehensive health reform legislation after a government report showed it could cause some providers to stop accepting Medicare patients," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio "and other Republican leaders wrote to Barry Rand, AARP's chief executive officer, to 'strongly urge you to reconsider your endorsement' of the health reform bill the House passed Nov. 7."
• "National Catholic leaders this week ratified the church's official position in the ongoing health care debate, reiterating their tough stance against abortion rights and on other hot-button issues as the legislation makes its way through the Senate," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "At the annual fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a group that has come under fire for lobbying heavily for anti-abortion measures in health care reform, church officials defended their positions and the pressure they have put on Capitol Hill leaders."
• "Native American advocates are vowing to keep up the fight after the Supreme Court this week opted against reviewing a nearly two-decade-long challenge to the Washington Redskins name. The court didn't comment on why it declined to reconsider a lower court's ruling that the plaintiffs took too long to file the case," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
RiskMetrics Group has advised its clients to call for the ouster of US Chamber of Commerce chief Tom Donohue from the board of Sunrise Senior Living Inc., due to accounting irregularities at the company, Bloomberg reports.
RiskMetrics advises mutual funds and pension funds on proxy votes. The group "believes that the chronic and serious nature of the accounting issues, potential stock option misdating, and potential insider trading is indicative of a significant lack of oversight on the part of the board," the New York-based firm said in a November 6 report.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Abortion-rights groups and other progressive lobbies are organizing a post-Thanksgiving assault on Capitol Hill to press lawmakers to keep restrictive language on abortion out of the final health care package," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The coalition has scheduled a 'National Day of Action' on Dec. 2 that will include a rally at the Capitol as well as visits by activists from around the country to lawmakers' offices."
• "Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, defended the bishops' decision to play an active role in shaping national health care legislation, saying Monday that the church must be the 'leaven' in the country's political debate," the Washington Times reports.
• "Business foes of health care overhaul legislation are outspending supporters at a rate of 2-to-1 for TV ads as they grow increasingly nervous over a final bill," AP reports. "Led by the giant U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opponents of the Democratic health care drive have spent $24 million on TV commercials over the past month to $12 million spent by labor unions and other backers."
• "The Club for Growth's recent claim to fame -- or infamy, for some -- has been mixing it up in House Republican primaries by backing conservative candidates running against moderates," Politico reports. "But the anti-tax, anti-big-government group now is positioning itself to be a major 2010 player in Senate races, too, a development likely to cause headaches for both parties."
Four senior hands will be leaving the American Petroleum Institute by year's end, including Jim Ford, who until early this month was the group's top lobbyist.
After almost a year on the job, API President Jack Gerard has begun to move aggressively to put his stamp on the oil industry association by announcing internally early last week that Ford would be departing, as will Brenda Hargett, the chief financial officer, Jim Craig, vice president of communications and Doug Morris, API's head of exploration and production.
The moves were part of what Gerard in an interview called a "comprehensive reorganization" of API. Gerard indicated that the positions will be filled but that there will be "adjustments in the scope and portfolio" of the jobs. By year's end, Gerard added that "there will be more changes to API's internal organization. We'll reorganize API to run it as effectively and efficiently as we can."
The shakeup was not unexpected. Gerard, a former head of the American Mining Association and the American Chemistry Council, previously changed top staff after he assumed the helm of big trade groups. "He likes to have his own people around him," commented one industry lobbyist. "I think there will be more changes and more reorganizing," the source predicted.
Earlier this month, Gerard signaled his intentions by bringing on Martin Durbin from the chemistry group to be API's new top lobbyist with an expanded portfolio.
Former Virginia gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran will serve as executive vice president for government affairs at the Career College Association, the group announced Friday. With more than 1,600 member institutions, CCA represents the for-profit sector of private higher education.
Moran brings 13 years of experience in the Virginia House of Delegates and eight years as chairman of its House Democratic Caucus to CCA. "Utilizing his business acumen, interpersonal and communication skills as well as a thirteen-year legislative career, he will be a tremendous asset to the association and the career higher-education sector," said Harris Miller, president and CEO of CCA, in a statement.
CCA has spent north of $167,000 on federal lobbying so far this year.
UPDATE @ 2:28 PM to make clear that the Open Society Policy Center hired Bill Wasserman, not the Institute.
As the Obama administration's complicated tug of war with lobbyists continues, Washington's professional persuaders are fighting back the best way they know how: with a lobbying campaign, Eliza Newlin Carney reports in "Rules of the Game."
The leaders of more than a dozen advocacy groups, frustrated with the administration's multi-pronged restrictions on lobbyists, are meeting regularly at the Open Society Policy Center's Washington office to plot strategy. Possible actions include a push for congressional hearings, or even a demonstration on the Capitol steps.
The center, the advocacy arm of the George Soros-funded Open Society Institute, has underwritten the hiring of consultant Bill Wasserman, president of M+R Strategic Services, to help it respond to the administration's lobbying rules. Leaders of the groups spearheading the effort, which also include the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and OMB Watch, will reach out to trade associations and unions to fortify their ranks.
Constraints on lobbyists actually reduce transparency, some argue, by encouraging lobbyists to "deregister."
"What we want to do is try and shift the focus from federally registered lobbyists to money and influence in the administration," said Lee Mason, director of nonprofit speech rights for OMB Watch. "That's where the focus ought to be."
Continue reading Lobbyists: Obama's Rules Bring Pain, No Gain.
In a story that probably isn't great public relations for the business community, the Washington Post reports that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and others have been seeking to collect $50,000 to fund a study that would find the Senate health care reform legislation hurts the economy and will result in lost jobs.
In an e-mail obtained by the Post, a U.S. Chamber employee says the funds would first be used to hire a respected economist to study the legislation.
"Step two, according to the e-mail, appears to assume the outcome of the economic review: "The economist will then circulate a sign-on letter to hundreds of other economists saying that the bill will kill jobs and hurt the economy. We will then be able to use this open letter to produce advertisements, and as a powerful lobbying and grass-roots document."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Apparent computer glitches and confusion over new reporting rules for political action committees have ensnared some of the nation's biggest lobbying organizations, which missed a campaign finance deadline by more than seven months," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Under new rules enacted by the Federal Election Commission this year, PACs are required to report before the end of March whether they are controlled by an entity that is registered to lobby."
• "The House Financial Services Committee next week is set to debate the highly contentious issue of whether the government should have the power to break up large financial firms even if they're not about to fail," The Hill reports. "Lobbyists for big banks are anxious about language still being drafted by Reps. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) and Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) that would give new powers to the government to break up big firms and separate their different types of commercial and investment banking business."
• "Supporters of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba have made more than $10 million in campaign contributions since the 2004 election cycle," The Hill reports. "Pro-embargo donors are also continuing to funnel more and more funds to Democrats, according to a report released" today "by Public Campaign, a watchdog group that supports public financing of election campaigns."
• "Facing the possibility of a $27 billion pollution judgment against it in an Ecuadorean court, Chevron launched an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign to try to prevent the judgment as well as reverse a deeply damaging story line," Politico reports.
