FGH ACQUIRES HARBOUR GROUP: International public affairs firm Finsbury Glover Hering is acquiring the Washington, D.C.-based Harbour Group , the firm announced today. Once the acquisition is complete, The Harbour Group will be integrated fully into WPP-owned Finsbury Glover Hering, which itself is the result of a recent merger between the Glover Park Group, Finsbury and Hering Schuppener. — "We are delighted to join Finsbury Glover Hering. It brings back together good friends with perfectly complementary businesses that have already teamed up on numerous projects," Harbour Group managing director Richard Mintz said in a statement. "With a developed Middle East network and large Washington office, Finsbury Glover Hering offers our US and international clients access to local and global support along with vastly more capabilities." — The merger will offer a reunion of sorts: FGH managing partner and D.C. office head Joel Johnson founded The Harbour Group with the firm's current managing director Richard Marcus in 2001. Johnson left to join the Glover Park Group in 2006. K STREET WEIGHS STEPPING IN ON DEBT CEILING STANDOFF: "Business groups and corporate interests are quietly weighing whether they should invest their lobbying capital to urge Senate Republicans to end the standoff with Democrats and pass an increase or suspension of the debt limit," Roll Call's Kate Ackley reports, discussions that "come as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — an obvious group to take the lead on such an effort — finds itself on the outs with key congressional Republicans." — Though there's universal agreement that breaching the debt limit would be catastrophic, "K Street tends to focus its influence on matters that affect particular clients, such as lobbying for the infrastructure package that already passed the Senate with bipartisan support or lobbying against Biden's proposed multitrillion-dollar reconciliation package and higher corporate tax rates to pay for part of it. The debt ceiling fight has also become a partisan battleground, and companies and trade groups do not want to be seen as picking a side, even as numerous organizations have said that default shouldn't be an option." — "'I do have clients and knowledge of efforts being made to encourage people to get out there and push folks on the Hill to resolve this amicably and in a bipartisan, efficient manner. I don't have anybody that is actually actively getting engaged,' said lobbyist Ivan Zapien, a partner at Hogan Lovells . Zapien, a former Democratic chief of staff in the Senate and House, added that it's not just the debt ceiling that is rattling business interests. There's also the uncertainty surrounding the infrastructure measure: Biden reaffirmed last week that it is tied to passage of the broader reconciliation effort, which would expand social programs and raise taxes." HOT JOB: The Justice Department's FARA Unit is beefing up its staff, according to an online job posting that went up this week. The department is hiring a FARA analyst for what former FARA Chief Brandon Van Grack said in a tweet was the first time in years. He elaborated further in a Twitter message to PI that analysts, who work alongside attorneys in the FARA Unit, review filings and help root out deficiencies, as well as help investigate potential violations. "Most times when you call the Unit with a question, you're speaking to an analyst," he wrote. While the unit has recently hired a new attorney, looking to add a new analyst "shows that they're beefing up in all facets," Van Grack, who is now at the law firm Morrison & Foerster said, adding that he believes it will allow DOJ to better scrutinize FARA filings. — Fine print: Applicants must already work within DOJ (although that includes the FBI, DEA and ATF). Though the gig pays up to $159,000 a year, according to the listing there's no potential for a promotion. Sad! WHY BIG TOBACCO KEPT ITS POWDER DRY IN CALIFORNIA: "Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved a hefty tax on vaping products that made it to his desk with surprisingly little fanfare or arm-twisting," POLITICO's Victoria Colliver writes. "The bill flew through the Legislature with little to no industry opposition, winning supermajority support, and will take effect next July." — "The deep-pocketed industry's willingness to roll over on the 12.5 percent tax hike reflects a need to pick its fights carefully as its influence wanes and existential threats continue to surface. Tobacco interests are now gearing up for a November 2022 ballot initiative to overturn one of them: a California ban on most flavored products that Newsom signed into law last year. — "The tobacco industry sat out the tax fight, said state Sen. Anna Caballero , the Central Valley Democrat behind CA SB395 (21R), because it knew it was unwinnable." Still, "major tobacco companies reported spending nearly $400,000 on state lobbying in the second quarter alone, and SB 395 was the only bill listed on their lobbying reports, yet sources said the firms were not actively engaged in lobbying for amendments to the bill or trying to block it. The companies — Juul, Altria (formerly Philip Morris Companies, Inc.) and Reynolds American — were never listed as being in opposition in committee analyses." REPORT: AT&T ASKED OAN TO LOBBY ON MERGER FOR BETTER DISTRIBUTION DEAL: Reuters' John Shiffman is out with a must-read examination of how the right-wing cable network One America News came to be, and the major role that AT&T played in its origin story. According to court documents, as part of an effort to help get the network off the ground, the telecom giant enlisted OAN founder Charles Herring to help smooth things over with the government, which was reviewing AT&T's proposed takeover of DirecTV in 2014. — AT&T President of content and advertising Aaron Slator "told him AT&T needed help to allay FCC and other officials' concern that the DirecTV deal – a consolidation of providers – might make it harder for independent networks to get on the air, Charles Herring said" in a sworn account in a lawsuit the Herrings would later file against AT&T. According to Herring in the affidavit, "Slator proposed a new deal: If the Herrings lobbied on AT&T's behalf, AT&T would air OAN and WealthTV on both U-verse and DirecTV. The Herrings would be paid one-third less per subscriber, but because DirecTV had so many more subscribers, the deal could be worth $100 million over five years." — "The Herrings got to work. Charles Herring hired a Washington lobbyist and met with FCC officials, FCC records show. He says he signed a filing of support 'ghostwritten by AT&T' and sent it to the FCC. He says he attended a $50,000-per-person Republican fundraiser as part of the campaign. The Herrings even offered to air positive news about AT&T on OAN, the network said in its lawsuit against AT&T, which said it could not comment on the litigation." A former senior AT&T executive denied to Reuters that there was any quid pro quo, while arguing that lobbying from a conservative cable outlet during the Obama administration would likely have been futile. | 
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