| | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by Philip Morris International | With Daniel Lippman SALT POINT ADDS DEM TECH AIDE: K Street has lured yet another top Democratic tech staffer away from the Hill. Jerry Leverich is joining Salt Point Strategies , the lobbying firm founded by former NTIA Administrator David Redl, after spending the past seven years as an attorney on the House Energy & Commerce Committee — most recently as the panel's chief telecom counsel. — In an email announcing Leverich's hiring, Redl wrote that Leverich served as the lead House Democratic staffer for major pieces of telecom legislation and that most recently, he led the bipartisan House efforts to pass a federal privacy standard and reauthorize the FCC's spectrum auction authority. — The House passed the spectrum legislation this summer, and while the privacy bill sailed out of committee, it smacked into opposition from Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and California lawmakers including, crucially, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. — Leverich is the latest tech staffer on the Hill to take their institutional knowledge to the private sector, where it will aid the Silicon Valley titans who want it most. Since leaving the Trump administration and launching Salt Point in 2019, Redl has signed up a who's who of tech and telecom clients including Apple, Meta, Comcast, Broadcom, HP, VMware, NetChoice, Rakuten and Motorola . The firm is on track to bring in record lobbying revenues this year, beating its $2.2 million haul posted last year, according to disclosure filings. Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | A message from Philip Morris International: Philip Morris International is fully committed to leaving cigarettes behind. We've invested over $9 billion developing smoke-free innovations that are scientifically substantiated to be better than continued smoking. We have the ability to end smoking in America, but a new approach is needed. Learn how. | | | COMMERCE REBUTS WARREN ATTACK OVER TECH TIES: "The Commerce Department said it observes 'unprecedented, heightened' ethical standards in response to criticism that it's beholden to the interests of the world's largest technology companies, including Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.," Bloomberg's Emily Birnbaum reports. — "In a letter to Senator Elizabeth Warren , who has criticized the department's ties to the tech industry, the Commerce Department's senior adviser for legislative affairs wrote that the agency complies with the laws and regulations preventing conflicts of interest among government officials, as well as the Biden administration's ethics pledge." — "The response comes after months of scrutiny from progressive lawmakers and groups who say the Commerce Department's personnel and policies demonstrate excessive ties to the largest technology companies. The clash with the left wing of the Democratic Party has focused particularly on staff brought in under Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo." — "Warren responded to Raimondo on Thursday, saying the department's response wasn't enough to quell her concerns. The letter didn't 'provide information on how you would address the untoward influence of Big Tech on free-trade agreements,' the Massachusetts Democrat said in a follow-up letter" that was also signed by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). — "The Commerce Department said in a statement that President Joe Biden and Raimondo share the same views on paring back the power of the largest tech companies and that all of the department's political appointees were approved by the White House." NDAA CARD FEES FIGHT GETS CHIPPY: Financial trade groups are swinging back at merchants' push to include revisions to credit card-routing regulations in the NDAA, while the Independent Restaurant Coalition today threw its support behind the amendments. — Nearly a dozen financial trades, including the American Bankers Association, Association of Military Banks of America, Bank Policy Institute, Consumer Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Electronic Payments Coalition, Independent Community Bankers of America and National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, have urged House and Senate leadership and the top members of the Senate and House Armed Services committees not to incorporate the Credit Card Competition Act from Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) into the final NDAA, which the Senate will take up starting next week. — "These non-germane amendments will rob military families of their credit card rewards, reduce the availability of safe credit, and undermine the nation's data security," the trades wrote in a letter to the lawmakers Tuesday. The groups ripped Durbin and Marshall's companion amendment that would require a report on surcharge fees for using credit or debit cards at military commissaries while taking aim at rising prices at retailers. — Leon Buck, the National Retail Federation's vice president of government relations for banking and financial services, refuted an accusation from the Electronic Payments Coalition published in yesterday's Influence that veterans are being used as "pawns." — "This guy has no earthly idea what he's talking about," Buck said in an email, arguing that "retailers are bringing light to the fact that these veterans that have risked their lives for their country, have to pay outrageous [surcharge] fees at military commissaries. These credit card companies and banks should be ashamed that this has been going on for so long." — As merchants and financial groups spar over the interchange fee amendments' potential inclusion in the defense policy package, Hogan Lovells' Ivan Zapien summed up the legislation's significance in a memo to clients that described the NDAA as the "Last Horse Out of the Barn." — "Republicans and Democrats alike have been frustrated by the delay in the Senate's consideration of the NDAA, as this is the last-best vehicle for member priorities that fell by the wayside this Congress," Zapien wrote.
| | | | LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today. | | | | | MEANWHILE, IN THE STATES: Financial Times' Dave Lee reports that a new lobbying group aimed at fighting food delivery apps in state and local battles over fees and customer data has ties to Uber founder Travis Kalanick's so-called ghost kitchen startup, pitting Kalanick against his former company. — "The Digital Restaurant Association's stated goals — to challenge fees and gain access to customer data fiercely protected by food delivery apps — pits it against Uber, from which Kalanick was ousted as chief executive in 2017 following a string of scandals, as well as DoorDash and Grubhub." — "The association was formed in March by executives at Tusk Holdings, a lobbying firm recently hired by Kalanick's City Storage Systems (CSS) —the parent company of CloudKitchens — to help it fight regulatory battles around so-called dark kitchens, which buy property to use as space to cook food to be sold via delivery apps." — "Senior CSS executive Guido Gabrielli, who heads up the group's payment platform Otter , was listed as being on the DRA's board but was removed this week following the FT's inquiries into the association's formation and leadership. A promotion for Otter remains on the DRA website, where it is described as a 'partner.'" — "Kalanick has become a significant player in the digital restaurant business through his CloudKitchens venture, a market that grew rapidly during the pandemic as households unable to dine out ordered in. At its most recent funding round, CSS was valued at $15bn. It has more than 4,000 employees across the US, Latin America, the UK and Middle East. But growing demand has caused friction between digital restaurants and food delivery apps over who has access to customers' personal data." RYAN TOOK MONEY FROM DRUG DISTRIBUTORS AMID OPIOID CRISIS: "Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, who has made his opponent's questionable record fighting the opioid epidemic a central theme of his campaign for Ohio's open U.S. Senate seat, has received campaign donations over the years from drug distributors blamed for key roles in the crisis," The Associated Press' Julie Carr Smyth reports. — "The contributions to Ryan from AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health, the three biggest drug distribution companies in the U.S., came in between 2007 and August of this year." — "Earlier this year, the companies finalized a $21 billion settlement with state, local and Native American tribal governments and others over the toll of the opioid crisis. The settlement is the largest over opioid claims and keeps the companies from facing thousands of lawsuits." — "The trio's combined giving to Ryan of $27,000 represents a fraction of the $50 million he has collected over the course of his career. Still, contributions from those donors are notable as Ryan hammers the spotty record of the anti-opioid nonprofit started by his Republican opponent, 'Hillbilly Elegy' author JD Vance."
| | | | A message from Philip Morris International:   | | | | | | — Alex Gibson has joined the Zero Emission Transportation Association as deputy communications director. He previously led external communications at the American Apparel & Footwear Association. — Lillian German has joined the Health Care Service Corporation as director of federal affairs. She was most recently the chief in-house lobbyist for Ferring Pharmaceuticals and is a House alum. — Peter Templeton will become president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council and Green Business Certification Inc. He was previously interim president and CEO. — Sarah Sinovic is now director of public affairs and communications for Rockwool North America. She previously was director of comms and digital strategy for Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.). — Tim Granholm and Teal Pennebaker are launching Shallot Communications. Granholm previously was a senior adviser for strategic communications at HHS and is a Boeing and Obama White House alum. Pennebaker is chief comms officer at Capsule and is an Amazon and HHS alum. — Lauren Skowronski is now senior director of internal communications at Snap . She previously was senior vice president of corporate communications at Snap. — Harley Geiger and Heather West have joined Venable as counsel and senior director, respectively, in the e-commerce and privacy group. Geiger was most recently senior director for public policy at Rapid7 , and West was most recently a director for privacy policy at Meta.
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Swallego Victory Fund (Reps. Ruben Gallego, Eric Swalwell)
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| | New Lobbying Registrations | | Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Sj Medconnect
Albertine Enterprises, Inc.: 1854 Cycling Inc
Armory Hill Advocates (Formerly Known As Rawlson Policy Group): Falcon Healthcare Inc.
Cavarocchi Ruscio Dennis Associates, L.L.C.: Kidneycan
Cgcn Group, LLC (Formerly Known As Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen, LLC): Td Bank, N.A.
Co2Efficient LLC: Differentiated Gas Coordinating Council (Informal Coalition)
Epplin Strategic Planning: Centerline Action, Inc
Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC: Aerovironment, Inc.
The Vogel Group: Architectural Surfaces
The Vogel Group: Servpro Industries, LLC
The Vogel Group: The Mitchell Firm, Inc.
Tom Bradley Health Policy LLC: Capitol Counsel On Behalf Of Physicians Advocacy Institute
Williams And Jensen, Pllc: Cube Yadkin Generation, LLC
Williams And Jensen, Pllc: Fidelity National Financial
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | California Special Districts Association: California Special Districts Association
Delta Development Group, Inc.: Chestnut Hill College
Delta Development Group, Inc.: Ywca Of Lancaster
Mission Government Relations (Formerly Known As Muroff Law Firm, LLC): Jevs Human Services
Mission Government Relations (Formerly Known As Muroff Law Firm, LLC): Quntessence Theatre Group
Rb Crowe LLC Formerly Known As Robert Crowe: Sea Shepherd
Vectis Dc: City Of Escondido
Washington Matters LLC: Coalition For Equitable Regulation And Taxation
| | | | A message from Philip Morris International: Philip Morris International is fully committed to leaving cigarettes behind. We've invested over $9 billion developing smoke-free innovations that are scientifically substantiated to be better than continued smoking. Those in public health and policymaking have the power and responsibility to support the end of smoking, but a new approach is needed. Learn how. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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