News : Tiger Hill signs Plaid, Coinbase adds another

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Tiger Hill signs Plaid, Coinbase adds another

Sep 23, 2021

Presented by Coalition for App Fairness

With Daniel Lippman

NEW BUSINESS: Fintech startup Plaid has retained its first lobbying firm in Washington. Tiger Hill Partners' Milan Dalal will represent the company, which retrieves bank and brokerage account data on behalf of apps such as Venmo, Acorns and Betterment, lobbying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the agency works to craft open banking regulations called for in the Dodd-Frank Act. President Joe Biden reiterated the urgency for a shift toward open banking in his July executive order on targeting anti-competitive practices in numerous industries across the country. Dilal is a former top aide on the Senate Banking Committee.

— Plaid is the latest fintech firm to sign with Tiger Hill over the last year. The firm also represents fintechs Chime, XTX Markets, Bluevine and the Financial Technology Association , a newly formed trade group representing more than a dozen fintech firms, including Plaid. Tiger Hill just added GOP lobbyist Alexander Grieve of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation as a vice president to help grow its fintech practice.

— Dilal also represents cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase , which has added its third new outside firm since August — and its fourth total — newly filed disclosures show. The latest is a team from Rich Feuer Anderson that includes John Anderson, a former aide to Senate Finance ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho); Amanda Slater, a former aide to Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.); Jared Sawyer, a former deputy assistant secretary for financial institutions policy at Treasury; and Alex Teel, a former House Financial Services staffer.

— The company, which this week said it was canceling the launch of a new lending offering after the SEC threatened a lawsuit over the product, also retains Mayer Brown's Andrew Olmem, who served in the Trump administration as deputy director of the National Economic Council and was a longtime attorney on the Senate Banking Committee; as well as Steptoe & Johnson and Franklin Square Group.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Got some juicy K Street gossip? Let's hear it: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

A message from Coalition for App Fairness:

For too long, app stores have abused their power to throttle competition and innovation and stifle consumer choice and freedom in the digital marketplace. The bipartisan Open App Markets Act would rein in these gatekeepers and the unfair and anti-competitive practices running rampant in app stores today to make a freer, fairer, more competitive app economy of tomorrow.

TECH TIES THAT BIND: "The warning last week from a dozen former national security leaders was stark: An antitrust crackdown on Silicon Valley could threaten the nation's economy and 'cede U.S. tech leadership to China.' But the group was united by more than their histories of holding senior defense and intelligence roles in the Trump, Obama and George W. Bush administrations: All 12 have ties to major tech companies, either from working with them directly or serving with organizations that get money from them," our Emily Birnbaum writes.

— "Those tech ties were not immediately apparent when the dozen former officials sent their letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, urging lawmakers to pause action on a bipartisan package of antitrust bills aimed at Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon. But their revelation could deepen skepticism in Congress about the beware-of-China message."

FLYING IN: Pizza Hut franchisees are heading to D.C. this week, delivering a slice of legislative priorities to Congress. They're slated to meet in person and virtually with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Reps. John Rutherford (R-Fla.), Andy Barr (R-Ky.), Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) and Darren Soto (D-Fla.), and issues on the menu for their talks with lawmakers include tax deductions for pass-through entities, universal family and sick leave, mandatory retirement plans for employees, and Biden's recently announced Covid mandates.

— Also flying in: new Amazon boss Andy Jassy, per Daniel Lippman and Emily. In his first trip to the Hill since taking on the role of chief executive this summer, Jassy met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Pelosi and McCarthy, as well as his two home-state senators, Democrats Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, Daniel and Emily report.

ANOTHER TOP MILITARY OFFICIAL CHIDES DEFENSE LOBBYISTS: "The Air Force general in charge of combat aircraft is concerned that lobbyists are keeping lawmakers from understanding the full picture when it comes to" Lockheed Martin's F-35 and and Boeing's F-15EX programs, "saying he sees these aircraft as complementary and not pitted against each other," POLITICO's Lee Hudson reports.

— "'When I come into town and there's obviously discussion and debate by lobbyists that get paid to have them versus each other,' Gen. Mark Kelly said Wednesday at the Air Force Association 's annual Air, Space & Cyber conference. 'I'm concerned with decision-makers not having a full picture and being fully informed in the capabilities of the weapon system, and making decisions on the future weapons systems,' he added."

— Both companies, of course, drop millions of dollars annually on lobbying. And Lee notes that "tightening defense budgets mean lawmakers will have to decide whether the less sophisticated but more affordable F-15EX is suitable or if it is necessary to buy the more expensive F-35 for various missions. The Air Force will offer its view on the right force mixture in the form of the tactical aircraft study, which is under review by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall."

— Readers might remember hearing a similar complaint from the Navy's top admiral, Mike Gilday, last month. Gilday told a room full of defense industry executives that efforts to persuade Congress to add aircraft that he doesn't need to the defense budget are "not helpful."

AFP POURS MORE CASH INTO RECONCILIATION, BIF AD BLITZ: Americans for Prosperity , the political advocacy group founded by the Koch brothers, is dropping millions more on what was already a seven-figure ad campaign targeting both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Democratic reconciliation package. The group is running ads on online and connected TV platforms playing on fears that the reconciliation package would amount to a dangerous government takeover and worsen inflation, while hiking Medicare premiums for seniors. The effort also includes targeted radio ads, direct mail and layered digital ads, in addition to grassroots efforts that the group says have already led to 2 million letters and 200,000 phone calls to elected officials and more than 500 events across the country.

— The new blitz targets about two dozen Democrats in the House, as well as Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who've been vocal critics of the reconciliation plan as currently written, and Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who is up for reelection next fall. The ads will also target Reps. Tom O'Halleran of Arizona, Jim Costa of California, Stephanie Murphy of Florida, Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, Ed Case of Hawaii, Cindy Axne of Iowa, Jared Golden of Maine, Elissa Slotkin and Haley Stevens of Michigan, Angie Craig of Minnesota, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Josh Gottheimer and Andy Kim of New Jersey, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, Henry Cuellar, Lizzie Fletcher, Vicente Gonzalez and Filemón Vela of Texas, Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, and Ron Kind of Wisconsin.

— The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers also launched a seven-figure ad campaign this week urging House Democrats to reject new taxes on refineries and plastic producers. The campaign includes television, radio, digital video and print ads, both in English and Spanish, and focuses on Democrats in Texas and Central California, some of whom expressed concerns about the provisions in a letter to House leadership last week.

PROGRESSIVE DONOR NETWORK FINDS ITS NEXT LEADER: "The Democracy Alliance, a secretive club of wealthy progressive and Democratic donors, has named Pamela Shifman its new president ahead of what is likely to be a tough and expensive midterm election season for the party," POLITICO's Hailey Fuchs reports. "As of this week, Shifman, a lawyer who has long worked with social justice philanthropies, has taken the reins of what is among the most powerful yet little-known groups in progressive politics. The group and its 'partners,' which counts Tom Steyer and George Soros among its members, has long operated behind a veil of secrecy. Democracy Alliance helps to funnel money from a group of anonymous mega-donors to an infrastructure of groups it hopes will 'advance a progressive agenda for America.'"

PFIZER LEADER URGES STAFFERS TO FIGHT DRUG PRICING PUSH: Pfizer's chief executive wants his employees to let lawmakers know that the workers who created one of the first Covid vaccines aren't mad; they're just disappointed. In a video message from Albert Bourla to Pfizer employees and obtained by POLITICO's Sarah Owermohle, Bourla urged his employees to fight congressional Democrats' drug pricing legislation, which the party is hoping to use to offset the cost of their $3.5 trillion social spending and climate bill.

— Bourla "said he was 'particularly disappointed' that a House Democratic leadership-backed drug pricing plan and similar proposals 'will have a little positive impact on patients where it really matters at the pharmacy,' according to the three-minute video," which also "included a link labeled 'CLICK HERE To e-mail your Member of Congress today.' A disclaimer at the bottom read: 'Participation in any Pfizer Grassroots mobilization is completely voluntary and is not a requirement of your employment at Pfizer.'"

— "While Bourla echoed complaints previously raised by pharmaceutical companies about proposed reforms slowing new drug development, he framed advocacy against the measures as another effort for his staff on the back of an exceptional year in which the company's Covid-19 vaccine became a keystone of the global pandemic response. 'When we asked the Pfizer colleagues to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in less than a year, you did. When we asked you to rapidly expand manufacturing so we can produce 3, 4 billion doses per year, you did it,' Bourla said. 'Now, we are asking you to do something equally important to educate yourself regarding policies that will help our breakthroughs get into the hands of those who need them, while protecting our sector's ability to develop those breakthroughs in the first place.'"

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SPOTTED last night at an in-person event hosted by BGR Group to benefit the NRSC, per a PI tipster: NRSC Chair Rick Scott (R-Fla.); Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.); Tobi Young of Cognizant, Jess Moore of Textron, Mitch Rose of Comcast, Robert Fisher of Verizon; and BGR Group's Haley Barbour, Bob Wood, Joe Lai, Erskine Wells and Dan Murphy.

And at Firehouse Strategy 's fifth anniversary party at Nats Park: John Hishta of AARP, Maury Donahue of FedEx, Lori Bettinger of Alliance Partners, Jonathan Collegio of the National Automobile Dealers Association, Stephanie Lester of Gap, Erik Komendant of the Association for Accessible Medicines, Brett Ewer of CrossFit, Brendon Plack of NFL, Brendan Dunn of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Jonny Slemrod of Harbinger Strategies, Don Stewart of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Sam Lisker of the American Bankers Association, and Brian Barnard of Uber.

Jobs Report

— William Michalisin will be executive director of the American Academy of Actuaries. He was previously executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Institute of Internal Auditors.

— Chris Hinze is now chief marketing and business development officer at Steptoe & Johnson. He most recently was global head of communications at Hogan Lovells.

— Samantha Keitt is joining Left Hook as a vice president of public affairs. She previously was director of public affairs at SKDK.

— The American Cleaning Institute tapped Nathan Sell to be senior director of sustainability. He was previously director of regulatory science at ACI and is an EPA alum.

— Ben Rosner is launching Anabasis Partners, an international marketing and comms consultancy, as partner and head of the U.S. He previously was head of strategy and crisis comms for the Israel Defense Forces.

— Andrew Sperling is now senior director of government affairs at IntraCellular Therapies, Inc . He was most recently director of legislative advocacy at the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

— David Bloomgren is joining Finsbury Glover Hering's energy and sustainability team as managing director in the D.C. office. He most recently led communications for Enviva and is an EPA alum.

Be a Policy Pro. POLITICO Pro has a free policy resource center filled with our best practices on building relationships with state and federal representatives, demonstrating ROI, and influencing policy through digital storytelling. Read our free guides today .

New Joint Fundraisers

None.

New PACs

ABIDE - Action before indoctrination defending education (PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Capitol Energy Advocacy, LLC: Zero Electric Vehicles
Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Atrium
Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Edeniq
Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Elcon
Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Firstelement Fuel
Constantinople & Vallone Consulting LLC: Whitmer & Worrall LLC On Behalf Of The Coalition For American Electronic Recy.
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC: American Medicines Company
Federal Science Partners LLC: Gmto Corporation
Husch Blackwell Strategies: Argentum
Lincoln Park Group L.L.C.: K&L Gates LLP O/B/O Clark Street Associates O/B/O Trucklabs
Lobbyit.Com: Md Integrations
Lobbyit.Com: Wdm USa Limited
Mcdermott+Consulting LLC: Unity Point Health
Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, Inc.: Hra Council, Inc.
Mr. Kevin Kayes: National Association Of Chain Drug Stores
Peter Damon Group LLC: Strata Clean Energy
Rich Feuer Anderson: Coinbase, Inc.
Tiger Hill Partners LLC: Plaid Inc.

A message from Coalition for App Fairness:

Lack of Competition Hurts Security and Consumer Choice

· Consumers purchase and own their devices — they should have the right to use them as they wish.
· The Apple App Store will still exist. But with more competition, consumers will have options - they can continue to use the app store that gives them the best experience.
· Allowing alternative app stores on iOS devices or offering the same access on iPhones as Apple already does on Macs, would give users more choice and force Apple to compete to provide the best service and security.
· App store gatekeepers feel no competitive pressure to improve security — because there is no alternative.

Competition and choice would make devices more secure. #OpentheAppStore with the Open App Markets Act.