With Daniel Lippman
FORMER MERCURY LOBBYISTS LAUNCH NEW FIRM: The lobbyists who left Mercury Public Affairs en masse last year have formed a new firm, Actum, with a Washington office led by a high-profile bipartisan duo: Mick Mulvaney and Heidi Heitkamp.
Mulvaney, the former acting chief of staff to former President Donald Trump and Heitkamp, the former Democratic North Dakota senator, will co-chair Actums Washington office, your host reports. In California, where Mercury was one of the most powerful lobbying firms in the state, former Sen. Barbara Boxer will co-chair the Los Angeles office along with former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Peter Villegas and Cliff Einstein.
Kirill Goncharenko, a co-founder at Mercury who was among the mass departures in October stemming from a long-simmering dispute with the firms corporate owner Omnicom, and Fabian Nuez, a former California Assembly speaker, will be Actums managing partners based in L.A. Theyll joined by partners John Ek, Nicole Flotteron, Stefan Friedman, Glenn Gritzner, Duncan McFetridge, Michael McKeon, Rachel Noerdlinger, Morris Reid, George Tucker and Jennifer Wlach, along with seven managing directors and four senior vice presidents, with 70 staffers in total scattered across six offices in Washington, D.C., London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento.
The former Mercury lobbyists are bringing more than 100 clients with them to the new firm, among them the e-scooter company Bird, the Boys & Girls Club, Charter Communications, Clear, Comcast, FedEx, Lyft, No Kid Hungry and SoCalGas-Sempra Energy. In an interview, Nuez told your host that the firm wont shy away from controversial clients in certain industries or foreign countries though he did note Actum would likely never represent the Taliban should they come calling.
He also touted Actums bipartisan makeup, and explained that the name comes from the Latin word for action, an attribute the firm is aiming to embody in its work. If you look at the talent of the people we talk to, it speaks to the fact that we're doing something very unique, Nuez argued, adding that whenever you tie yourself to one ideological frame of mind, you really limit yourself.
He pointed to the ideological gulf between Mulvaney, a founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, and Boxer, an outspoken liberal: Two people who probably would have never worked with each other when they were in Congress but here, they're going to sit down, and they're going to work together to address the solutions that are necessary to resolve a problem that clients that we represent have.
Though Mulvaney and Heitkamp both are now free from any ethics rules barring them from registering to lobby, Wlach told POLITICO that neither has any plans to do so in the near future. Still, they could be the most-high profile bipartisan pair to hit K Street together since former Reps. Joe Crowley and Bill Shuster joined Squire Patton Boggs in 2019. Actum wont be Heitkamps first foray into the world of advocacy though she never formally registered, last year Heitkamp joined a dark money group that lobbied against doing away with the so-called stepped-up basis for taxing capital gains in Democrats reconciliation package.
Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: [emailprotected]. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
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JUDGE: WINRED PROBES MAY PROCEED: A series of state investigations into the aggressive fundraising tactics of WinRed, the for-profit company that processes online donations for Republican candidates, will be allowed to proceed after a federal judge in Minnesota on Wednesday night dismissed a lawsuit filed by the company seeking to block the probes.
The attorneys general from four states New York, Minnesota, Maryland and Connecticut first sent letters to WinRed last April, asking for documents after a New York Times investigation revealed the companys use of prechecked boxes to automatically enroll donors in recurring contribution programs, writes the Times Shane Goldmacher, who conducted the aforementioned investigation. The boxes resulted in a surge in demands for refunds from supporters of former President Donald J. Trump.
WinRed declined to provide the documents and instead went to federal court to argue that federal law should pre-empt any state-level consumer investigations. Chief Judge John R. Tunheim of the U.S. District Court in Minnesota ruled against the company on Wednesday. Judge Tunheim dismissed WinReds attempt to stop the attorneys general investigating outside Minnesota, ruling that he did not have jurisdiction. He ruled in favor of the Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, writing that federal law would not pre-empt a state inquiry.
The company, which told the Times it would appeal the ruling, has argued that the attorneys general, all Democrats, are politically motivated. However, the four also sent a similar request for documents last year to ActBlue, the leading Democratic donation-processing platform and which ActBlue told the paper it has complied with.
WHAT BIG BUSINESS WANTS IN AI REGULATIONS: The Business Roundtable, whose members include more than 230 CEOs of some of the worlds largest companies, want rational and flexible government regulations for AI, Protocols Kate Kaye reports. The group, which includes CEOs of tech, financial services and defense industry giants such as 3M, Amazon, Bank of America, Google, Mastercard, Northrop Grumman, Oracle and Verizon, published a set of guidelines Wednesday for businesses implementing AI and recommendations for policymakers.
The organization published 10 core principles for responsible AI not long after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce unveiled its own AI Commission led by former Reps. John Delaney (D-Md.) and Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.). Though some companies in the group have adopted their own AI principles in recent years there are few assurances that companies have put pledges to use AI fairly and safely into practice in standardized, measurable or accountable ways.
The roundtables recommendations state that the administration, Congress and regulators should craft targeted and flexible governance and oversight that account for the evolving nature of AI by employing an agile and collaborative approach to AI governance and an adaptive approach to enforcement that focuses on efforts on bad actors, while at the same time assessing regulatory gaps before considering new regulations.
MILLIONAIRE DEMS WEIGH IN ON PARTY PRIMARIES: With President Joe Bidens domestic agenda stalled in Congress, big money donors are throwing their money behind several more liberal Democratic primary challengers to lawmakers liberals view as dragging down the presidents priorities. The Patriotic Millionaires, a group of millionaires lobbying for higher taxes and whose members collectively gave $20 million in the 2020 elections, is taking aim at Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-Ga.).
Both lawmakers were part of a group of moderate Democrats that pushed in the fall for a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill regardless of where Democrats stood in negotiations over the partisan climate and social spending package. Cuellar is facing another primary challenge from the left in Jessica Cisneros, who he only narrowly beat in 2020, while Bourdeaux is facing a primary from Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) after redistricting eliminated McBaths old district. The Patriotic Millionaires support for Cisneros and McBath are its first-ever primary endorsements, according to the group.
Its time for Democratic donors to stand up for working people. We must stop contributing to and endorsing candidates who are actively sabotaging the Presidents agenda Morris Pearl, the groups chair, said in a statement, though both Cuellar and Bourdeaux ultimately voted for the scaled back climate and social spending bill thats now on ice. If Democrats want to convince voters to support them, they need to show voters that being a Democrat means something.
Meanwhile a new super PAC funded in part by donors with ties to crypto announced plans today to spend $10 million in Democratic primaries this year. The PAC, Protect Our Future, will focus initially on candidates who take a long term view on policy planning, especially as it relates to pandemic preparedness and prevention, according to a press release. Its first slate of endorsements include McBath, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Nikki Budzinski, a former Biden administration official running for Congress in Illinois.
Though the PAC is not required to disclose its donors, the group revealed that Sam Bankman-Fried, the 29-year-old billionaire CEO and founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is one of the committees initial prominent donors. It also identified Daniel Eth, an Oxford researcher and Nishad Singh, a director of engineering at FTX, as prominent donors.
CHARITIES PRESS TO RESTORE EXPANDED COVID TAX INCENTIVE: Nonprofits are urging lawmakers to restore more generous tax breaks for charitable giving as they consider a fresh round of pandemic aid with the omicron variant caseload still at worrying levels, Roll Calls Laura Weiss reports. After temporary expansions meant to help charities stay afloat during the COVID-19 crisis expired at the end of the year, advocates are hoping for a revival.
The first round of coronavirus aid in March 2020 widened eligibility for charitable deductions beyond those who itemize on their returns, a pool of taxpayers that shrank considerably after the 2017 tax law doubled the standard deduction while limiting itemized deductions for state and local taxes, mortgage interest and more.
David L. Thompson, vice president of public policy for the National Council of Nonprofits, said the group will be pressing lawmakers to bring back the incentive as part of any new pandemic aid and to make it more generous. ... Thompson said the tax break effectively promoted giving during the pandemic but that it needs to be in place as soon as possible to have an impact in the face of surging cases and restrictions. The incentive wont work retroactively because people dont give extra holding out hope for a tax break, he said. The tax incentives do work, Thompson said. Right now more is needed.
SPOTTED at a mixer hosted by the the XR Association and Congressional Tech Staff Association at the American Trucking Associations offices, per a PI tipster: Elizabeth Hyman and Joan OHara of XRA; Christina Jackson of Meta; Chan Park of Microsoft; Sally Rose Larson of the Digital Media Association; David Cook of Rep. Darrell Issas (R-Calif.) office; Katie Sutton of the Senate Armed Services cyber subcommittee; Emily Manning of Sen. Marsha Blackburns (R-Tenn.) office; Jesse von Stein of Rep. Don Youngs (R-Alaska) office; Dan Cheever of Sen. Todd Youngs (R-Ind.) office; Harden Spencer of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's (D-Mo.) office; and Naomi Zeigler of Sen. Tom Carpers (D-Del.) office.
A message from Sallie Mae:
Ray Zaccaro is joining the Klein/Johnson Group as a principal. He most recently was senior adviser and communications director for Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and is a Frank Pallone alum.
BGR has promoted Dan Farmer, Pete Landrum, Joe Lai and Jerry Strickland to be principals at the firm.
Elizabeth Brown has joined the Childrens Hospital Association as vice president of federal affairs. Brown most recently worked as legislative director for Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and advised Castor on health policy.
Erin Hass is joining Lucid Motors as a state affairs manager for the East Coast. She was most recently a government affairs officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Kate Conway has been promoted to partner and chief creative officer at Assemble. She most recently was creative director at Assemble and is a former DCCC creative director and American Bridge alum.
None.
DISCLOSURE PAC (PAC)
Acg Advocacy: Pulse Clinical Alliance LLCAkin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld: Puerto Rico Legal And Educational Foundation, Inc.Ice Miller LLP: Gary/Chicago International Airport AuthorityMcguirewoods Consulting (A Subsidiary Of Mcguirewoods LLP): Dallas Nephrology AssociatesPark Government Relations, LLC: Jefferson Business Consulting On Behalf Of DavitaPark Government Relations, LLC: Jefferson Business Consulting On Behalf Of LeidosPotomac International Partners, Inc.: Virginia Union UniversityPublic Strategies Washington, Inc.: Liberty Utilities (Canada) Corp.Stapleton & Associates, LLC: Regent Craft, Inc.Vendorpass, Inc.: Credit Suisse Securities (USa) LLCWinning Strategies Washington: Alice Technologies
Dinino Associates, LLC: Cornerstone Government Affairs Obo Octasic Inc.Dinino Associates, LLC: Cornerstone Government Affairs Obo On Point Technology, LLCJochum Shore & Trossevin Pc: All Aboard America! Holdings, Inc.Mr. Thomas R. H. Glass: Alaska Mental Health Trust Land OfficeRb Crowe LLC Formerly Known As Robert Crowe: Patriot X LLC
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