News: How K Street is preparing for Biden — Puzzling out chairmanships in the next Congress

Friday, October 23, 2020

How K Street is preparing for Biden — Puzzling out chairmanships in the next Congress — Why Twitter shut down its PAC

Oct 23, 2020

Presented by Count Every Hero

With Daniel Lippman

HOW K STREET IS PREPARING FOR BIDEN: Joe Biden's transition team has conveyed an unspoken message to Washington lobbyists in the closing weeks of the campaign: Leave us alone, at least until Nov. 4. "They are much more insulated than previous transitions," said Rich Gold , a veteran Democratic lobbyist who heads the public policy and regulation practice at Holland & Knight.

— So lobbyists are treading carefully, wary of rubbing transition aides the wrong way, as I reported in Transition Playbook, POLITICO's new weekly newsletter covering Biden's transition effort and President Donald Trump's preparations for a second term. (Sign up here if you haven't done so already!) While some clients are eager to reach out to the transition, "my general advice is to wait until after the election," said Brian Pomper, a top Democratic lobbyist at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Marc Lampkin , a Republican lobbyist and the managing partner of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck's Washington office, concurred. "Doing things like asking for meetings, engaging in hardcore lobbying, is probably outside the bounds of propriety," Lampkin said.

— In the meantime, lobbyists are briefing clients on who Biden's likely to appoint and making sure they're ready to go if Biden prevails. "Waiting for the results of November to prepare for inauguration will only ensure that you miss critical moments in time such as cabinet announcements and confirmation hearings to insert your perspective, issues and cause into the conversation," the lobbying firm Cogent Strategies wrote in a memo to clients last month. "While the election results may be delayed, opportunities to influence the next administration start now."

— The Biden transition has barred anyone who's been registered to lobby in the past year from serving on the transition without special approval, and it's unclear what rules — if any — it will put in place limiting lobbyists' access if Biden wins. But there are ways to lobby even if a Biden transition restricts meetings with lobbyists. "Lobbyists will have the opportunity to get their message to the transition through lawmakers, think tanks or other outside groups," Andrew Kauders, a former Democratic congressional staffer who's now a lobbyist at Cogent Strategies and helped write its recent memo to clients, wrote in an email to Influence.

Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Days until Election Day: 11. Tips, tips, tips, tips, tips, tips, tips, tips, tips, tips, tips, tips: tmeyer@politico.com. You can also follow me on Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.

A message from Count Every Hero, a cross-partisan campaign to ensure all service members' votes are counted before election winners are declared:

NEW STUDY : MILITARY VOTES COULD DECIDE 2020 ELECTION

WHEN YOU PLAY THE GAME OF CHAIRMANSHIPS, YOU WIN OR YOU DIE: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has an exhaustive new memo outlining who's likely to hold every committee chairmanship and leadership position in the House and Senate in January. (Consider it a companion to the Plurus Strategies memo that PI spotlighted in July.) As always, some committees are tougher to puzzle out than others. Consider the House Homeland Security Committee.

— While its chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), isn't going anywhere, the committee's ranking member, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), could become ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. [Reps. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio) are also in the running to replace the Armed Services Committee's current ranking member, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), who's retiring.] If Rogers snags the Armed Services Committee chairmanship, Reps. John Katko (R-N.Y.) or Clay Higgins (R-La.) "could be likely successors," Akin Gump notes, although Katko is facing a tight reelection race.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION WEIGHS ANTITRUST CASE AGAINST FACEBOOK: "Federal Trade Commission staff members are recommending that the agency bring an antitrust case against Facebook Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, but commissioners haven't yet reached a decision," The Wall Street Journal's Brent Kendall and John McKinnon report. "The five-member FTC met privately via videoconference Thursday to discuss next steps, without taking action, the people said. The FTC has spent more than a year looking into complaints that Facebook has been using its powerful market position to stifle competition, part of a broader effort by U.S. antitrust authorities to examine the conduct of big technology companies."

MEANWHILE, IN CALIFORNIA: The New York Times' Kate Conger takes a look at the fight over Proposition 22, a California ballot measure that would exempt Uber, Lyft and Doordash from a new state labor law and save their companies hundreds of millions of dollars." It's become the most expensive ballot measure campaign in the state's history, "with its backers contributing nearly $200 million and 10 days still to go until the Nov. 3 election.

— " Along the way, the companies have repeatedly been accused of heavy-handed tactics; a lawsuit filed on Thursday claims Uber is coercing the support of its drivers. Despite the big spending and a barrage of television advertising, only 39 percent of likely voters said they supported Uber and Lyft in a poll last month by the University of California, Berkeley , while 36 percent opposed their proposal and others were undecided. People close to the campaign said they would want to see close to 60 percent approval in polling before they could breathe a sigh of relief."

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WHY TWITTER SHUT DOWN ITS PAC: As Business Insider's Dave Levinthal reported on Thursday, Twitter has shut down its PAC and donated the remaining funds to the NALEO Educational Fund and the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality. "In line with our belief that political influence should be earned, not bought, Twitter will officially close its Political Action Committee; #PAC," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. "#PAC has not made donations to candidates since 2018 and is donating the remaining funds to support non-partisan voter registration activities."

CORRECTION: This newsletter's rankings of the top lobbying spenders and the biggest contracts of the third quarter in Wednesday's edition included two entities that should not have been on them, due to incorrect information filed by a lobbying firm and a trade group. The filings have been amended. The correct rankings are below. (This newsletter also has some questions about the biggest contract of the quarter, which was filed by Wilson & Rome LLP, a Denver law firm of which Influence can find no public record; the firm didn't respond to requests for comment.)

TOP SPENDERS

National Association of Realtors: $33.4 million (versus $11.7 million in Q2 2020 and $8.2 million in Q3 2019)
U.S. Chamber of Commerce: $20 million (versus $12.3 million in Q2 2020 and $12.3 million in Q3 2019)
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America: $6 million (versus $5.4 million in Q2 2020 and $6.2 million in Q3 2019)
American Chemistry Council: $5.7 million (versus $2.1 million in Q2 2020 and $2.1 million in Q3 2019)
Facebook: $4.9 million (versus $4.8 million in Q2 2020 and $4.8 million in Q3 2019)
American Hospital Association: $4.9 million (versus $4.3 million in Q2 2020 and $5.4 million in Q3 2019)
Amazon: $4.4 million (versus $4.4 million in Q2 2020 and $4 million in Q3 2019)
American Medical Association: $4.3 million (versus $3.8 million in Q2 2020 and $4.6 million in Q3 2019)
Unilever: $3.9 million (versus $950,000 in Q2 2020 and $490,000 in Q3 2019)
Business Roundtable: $3.7 million (versus $3.1 million in Q2 2020 and $4.9 million in Q3 2019)
Biotechnology Innovation Organization: $3.2 million (versus $3.3 million in Q2 2020 and $3.1 million in Q3 2019)
NCTA — The Internet & Television Association: $3.1 million (versus $3.7 million in Q2 2020 and $2.9 million in Q3 2019)
Altria: $3.1 million (versus $2.3 million in Q2 2020 and $2.4 million in Q3 2019)
Boeing: $3 million (versus $3.2 million in Q2 2020 and $3.2 million in Q3 2019)
Comcast: $3 million (tie) (versus $3.7 million in Q2 2020 and $3 million in Q3 2019)
Lockheed Martin: $3 million (tie) (versus $3.1 million in Q2 2020 and $2.9 million in Q3 2019)
American Bankers Association: $2.9 million (versus $2.7 million in Q2 2020 and $2.2 million in Q3 2019)
Amgen: $2.9 million (versus $3 million in Q2 2020 and $3.1 million in Q3 2019)
American Electric Power: $2.8 million (versus $1.2 million in Q2 2020 and $1.6 million in Q3 2019)
General Dynamics: $2.7 million (versus $2.6 million in Q2 2020 and $2.4 million in Q3 2019)

BIGGEST CONTRACTS

Wilson & Rome: New California Republic Co. ($2.3 million)
Covington & Burling: Qualcomm ($1 million)
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Gila River Indian Community ($890,000)
Tributary: HR Policy Association ($700,000)
Roberti Global: Nord Stream 2 AG ($680,000)
Harbinger Strategies: Invest in Education Coalition ($550,000)
Sidley Austin: Hikvision ($500,000)
DLA Piper: Al Jazeera ($490,000)
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck: Athene ($460,000)
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Air Evac Lifeteam ($420,000) (tie)
TwinLogic Strategies: Porter and Korvick ($420,000) (tie)

GLOBAL PULSE, GLOBAL PURPOSE: At a high-stakes moment when global health has become a household concern, it is pivotal to keep up with the politics and policy driving change. Global Pulse connects leaders, policymakers and advocates to the people and politics driving global health. Join the conversation and subscribe today for this new weekly newsletter.

New Joint Fundraisers

McCaul Victory Fund (Rep. Michael McCaul, NRCC, Republican Party of Texas, Texas Republicans United Political Action Committee (TRU PAC))

New PACs

Call for Progress (PAC)
Kansas Radiological Society Political Action Committee (PAC)
South Asians Vote 2020 (Super PAC)
The Election Is Now (Super PAC)
Think Progressive (PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Connect4Strategies on behalf of FCS - Familial Chylomicronemia
Alston & Bird LLP: Alabama Hospital Association
Bridge Public Affairs, LLC: Structured Finance Association
Covington & Burling LLP: SK Innovation Co., Ltd.
Government Relations Group, LLC: DemeTECH Corporation
GrayRobinson PA: Stellar Development Foundation
Hodgkins Consulting, LLC: Dell Technologies, Inc
Ice Miller Strategies LLC: Economic & Community Development Institute
Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC: State University System of Florida (SUSF)
Liberty Partners Group, LLC: Arise Vascular (CardioVascular Coalition)
Meeks, Butera & Israel PLLC: NanoRacks LLC
Stellar Development Foundation: Stellar Development Foundation
Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group, LLC: AMI Group
Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group, LLC: MQ2 Medical Supply
TTM Technologies, Inc: TTM Technologies, Inc
Van Scoyoc Associates: Platform Systems Incorporated dba Platform Aerospace

New Lobbying Terminations

K&L Gates, LLP: Eugene Civic Alliance
K&L Gates, LLP: Farm Bureau Bank FSB
K&L Gates, LLP: Galactic Ventures
K&L Gates, LLP: Indian Springs Calistoga
K&L Gates, LLP: NOKA LLC d/b/a NOKA Organics
Keller Partners & Company: City of Albemarle
Keller Partners & Company: The Durst Organization
Mr. Richard Shamlin: Lantern Foundation
Winn Strategies, LLC: Twin Logic Strategies on Behalf of Sprint

A message from Count Every Hero, a cross-partisan campaign to ensure all service members' votes are counted before election winners are declared:

A new report, Military Voting in All 50 States, shows how crucial active-duty troops and other overseas voters will be in this election. The report was released by Count Every Hero, a cross-partisan campaign to ensure all service members' votes are counted before election winners are declared.