With Daniel Lippman BOB CROWE TO START HIS OWN FIRM: Veteran Democratic lobbyist Bob Crowe is leaving Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough at the end of the month to start his own lobbying shop, RB Crowe. Crowe told PI in an interview that his decision to leave Nelson Mullins after more than a decade stemmed from a desire for a smaller firm and that he's excited to concentrate on three or four clients at a time but that it's a "departure with mutual respect." — He's already signed contracts to bring several clients with him to the new firm including the Qatari government, the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd and the cable channel Newsmax, which has seen its popularity among conservatives skyrocket in recent months — "they need the Democratic help," Crowe quipped. — Crowe, who served as the DNC's finance co-chair in 2004 and as John Kerry's national finance co-chair, said in an interview that he's excited about the Biden administration (in which Kerry now serves), adding that "it gives me the opportunity to work with some good friends." WALDEN JOINS CLEARPATH ADVISORY BOARD: Former Rep. Greg Walden has joined the advisory board at ClearPath, a group that advocates for conservative clean energy policies. Before retiring earlier this year, the Oregon congressman had been the top Republican on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, and twice ran the House GOP's campaign arm. Rich Powell, ClearPath's executive director, praised Walden in a statement for being "a leading Republican voice on finding pragmatic solutions to climate change, ensuring the U.S. maintains our energy independence while safeguarding American jobs, and accelerating the competitive deployment of clean energy technologies." Happy Friday and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. |
TECH GROUPS, CHAMBER CHALLENGE MARYLAND DIGITAL TAX: A trio of technology trade groups joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued in Maryland on Thursday to challenge a recently enacted tax on digital advertisers, POLITICO's Bernie Becker reports. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court of Northern Maryland, the Chamber, the Internet Association, NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association "called Maryland's new tax 'illegal in myriad ways,' charging it runs afoul of both the Internet Tax Freedom Act," a 1998 law that bars states from implementing discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce, and the Constitution's Commerce Clause." — Maryland's Democratic-led legislature overruled a veto from GOP Gov. Larry Hogan to approve the tax, which targets "companies with at least $100 million in gross global revenues, and taxes them on a sliding scale between 2.5 percent and 10 percent." Bernie notes that "supporters of the Maryland law have been upfront about trying to target large digital companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google with the tax," with Senate President Bill Ferguson portraying the tax as a mechanism to make "big tech … start paying their fair share." — The groups called the tax "a punitive assault on digital, but not print, advertising," argued it could potentially hit "eligible companies at close to 20 times the rate as the state's corporate tax, and targets activity that largely occurs outside of Maryland." ZUBERI GETS 12 YEARS: "A once high-flying political fundraiser who prosecutors said gave illegal campaign contributions to Joe Biden, Lindsey Graham and a host of other U.S. politicians was sentenced Thursday to 12 years behind bars," The Associated Press' Brian Melley, Alan Suderman and Jim Mustian report. "Imaad Zuberi, who was accused of ingratiating himself with politicos in both major parties and peddling the resulting influence to foreign governments, pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, campaign finance violations and failing to register as a foreign agent." — At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips "noted the sophistication of Zuberi's straw donor scheme and also spoke of the role such campaign finance investigations play in preserving the integrity of American elections." Zuberi's stiff sentence "comes after former President Donald Trump recently pardoned others who had been convicted or pleaded guilty to similar foreign-influence-related crimes, including his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and Elliott Broidy , a major Trump fundraiser," though Manafort only received a total sentence of around seven years before his pardon. The sentence "'sent a loud message that we have to stop such conduct to restore the public faith in our institutions,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. O'Brien told The Associated Press." BUSINESS, PUBLIC HEALTH GROUPS LAUNCH EDUCATION COALITION: More than two dozen major corporations are partnering with public health groups and health trade associations to provide employers with educational resources and training tools related to coronavirus and coronavirus vaccines. The Health Action Alliance is led by the Ad Council, Business Roundtable, the CDC Foundation, the de Beaumont Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and includes members like Amazon, Target, Ford, General Motors and Unilever as well as the the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, American Public Health Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and more. — Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council, called hesitancy about the Covid-19 vaccine "the largest and most critical communications issue in our nation's history," adding that "Americans are turning to their employers as one of the most trusted sources of information and action" about the pandemic. "The corporate community has a significant role to play in helping us shift from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine confidence," she argued. BIDEN GETS REAL WITH GOVS ON MINIMUM WAGE: "When Joe Biden met with a group of mayors and governors last week he bluntly told them to get ready for a legislative defeat: his proposed minimum wage hike was unlikely to happen, he said, at least in the near term," per POLITICO's Natasha Korecki and Christopher Cadelago. — "'I really want this in there but it just doesn't look like we can do it because of reconciliation,' Biden told the group, according to a person in the room. 'I'm not going to give up. But right now, we have to prepare for this not making it,'" he added, "the furthest Biden has gone in conceding the coming axing of the $15-an-hour minimum wage provision from his first major legislative package. And they suggest that the president is more inclined to manage the fallout of it not being included than to pursue long-shot, political-capital consuming efforts to fight for its insertion." MEANWHILE, IN FLORIDA: A House panel in Florida on Thursday formally admonished a state lobbyist "for comments last week where he threatened political retribution if lawmakers voted against his client's interests," POLITICO's Matt Dixon reports. The lobbyist, Jason Steele, told state lawmakers last week that proposal to "strip local limits on vacation rentals, an annual battle generally criticized by local governments, including those Steele represents," would amount to "political suicide" for those who voted in favor. — In a letter lambasting Steele's threats, House Public Integrity and Elections Committee Chair Erin Grall noted that Steele identified himself as a former House member himself, writing that "you are entitled to your opinion and the First Amendment entitles you to speak that opinion in the public square. Yet your comments were indecorously 'beside the question.'" WHAT IT WAS LIKE CATERING TO TRUMPWORLD ELITES: Washingtonian's Jessica Sidman has a look at life on the inside of the Trump Hotel in D.C. over the past four years, "where right-wing operatives were treated like celebrities and political power determined the seating chart." Employees opened up about everything from the script servers at the hotel steakhouse were required to stick to when President Donald Trump would visit, to the plaque the hotel made for Rudy Giuliani declaring his regular table the former New York mayor's "private office." — Aside from the usual MAGA-world suspects who frequented the hotel, according to former assistant general manager Alyssa O'Clock, the Bockorny Group's David Bockorny was also a regular. "He liked to get his morning coffee from the restaurant, but he'd show up before it was open. Instead of asking him to come later, 'they decided we'll just have coffee 15 minutes early because David Bockorny's going to come,' O'Clock says. 'Whoever was working those mornings knew: You need to be there on time, maybe a little bit early—this guy is coming in.'" |
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