D.C. POLICE UNION LOBBIES UP: As Congress moved to overrule the D.C. city council’s overhaul of its criminal code earlier this year, the union representing the city’s police force retained Modern Cartographers, a political consultancy specializing in law enforcement issues, to press its case in the Capitol, according to lobbying disclosures filed Monday. — Joe Cameron, a former California police officer, and Hugh Cameron, a former Massachusetts cop and labor leader, began working in early February for the D.C. Police Union, according to the records. That was days before the House voted to pass a resolution to nullify the crime bill, which had been passed over D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s objection in January. — The resolution passed with 31 Democrats joining all Republicans in the House, and after President Joe Biden told Senate Democrats he would not veto the measure, infuriating proponents of D.C. statehood, dozens supported the resolution when it passed last week. GENERICS LOBBY WEIGHS BROADER LOBBYING SHAKEUP AMID LAYOFFS: Last night, Megan scooped that the Association for Accessible Medicines, the generic drugmakers' industry group, laid off its top lobbyist and two other executives as part of an effort to cut more than $4 million dollars from its budget — and some of the association's K Street firms could be next, two people with knowledge of the situation, who were given anonymity to speak freely, tell her. — AAM, which spent around $3 million on lobbying last year, retains some of the town's top lobbying firms, according to disclosures: Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid, Mehlman Consulting, Fierce Government Relations and Capitol Hill Consulting Group, in addition to The Gibson Group. Records show that the association already parted ways with two firms — Mayer Brown and Endgame Strategies — at the end of last year. — According to an internal email from interim CEO David Gaugh and obtained by Megan, the trade group has eliminated the positions of Erik Komendant, its top lobbyist; Allen Goldberg, the head of AAM’s comms shop; and Jonathan Kimball, the vice president of trade, international and strategic initiatives. — The layoffs come amid broader turmoil for the association. Gaugh took over as interim CEO after Dan Leonard’s resignation in December. AAM has lost several other staffers since then — including Polly Webster, a former lobbyist for the group who now handles drug policy for Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — and the group has recently shed several smaller members as well. BANK COLLAPSES EXPOSE FAMILIAR FAULT LINE: “The banking industry’s factions of lobbyists are beginning to draw battle lines following the collapse of regional lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, as a regulatory crackdown looms,” POLITICO’s Zach Warmbrodt reports. — “The opening salvo is coming from the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade association representing the nation’s smallest banks. The group is one of Washington’s lobbying powerhouses, with members beloved and protected by lawmakers on the left and the right.” — “ICBA is gearing up to make the case that the smallest, ‘community’ banks shouldn’t have to pay for the rescue of bank depositors and that the largest lenders deserve stricter oversight from regulators,” in what is beginning to look like a redux of small banks’ lobbying brawl with big banks following the 2008 financial crisis. — “Underscoring the dispute are real-world competitive tensions between small and large banks as depositors rethink where they park cash” in the wake of the bank failures, Zach writes, pointing to a Bloomberg headline Tuesday that read: “Too-Big-to-Fail Lenders Rake In Deposits After Three Banks Fail.” ANNALS OF THE REVOLVING DOOR: Since leaving office in 2013, former Rep. Barney Frank — the Frank in Dodd-Frank — “has been working the other side of the street— as a board member of Signature Bank, which regulators shut down Sunday,” The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Bykowicz writes. “The 2010 Dodd-Frank legislation set tougher regulatory safeguards on banks with more than $50 billion in assets. After leaving office and joining Signature’s board, Mr. Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, publicly advocated for easing those new standards for smaller banks.” MEANWHILE, IN CALIFORNIA: “A California appeals court ruled Monday that Proposition 22, which classifies gig delivery drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, could stand as state law,” The Sacramento Bee’s Maya Miller reports. — “The decision, which overturns a 2021 Alameda Superior Court ruling that deemed the measure ‘unconstitutional and unenforceable,’ is a significant win for California’s rideshare and food delivery industry and a setback for its opponents in organized labor,” who are sure to appeal the ruling. — “Today’s ruling is a historic victory for the nearly 1.4 million drivers who rely on the independence and flexibility of app-based work to earn income, and for the integrity of California’s initiative system,” the business and gig company-backed coalition Protect App-Based Drivers and Services, whose members poured more than $200 million into the Prop 22 ballot fight, said in a statement. MEANWHILE, PART II: “When California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to cut off Walgreens over its plan to scale back access to abortion pills, panicked representatives for the company raced to call his aides for clarity about the state’s retaliatory policy. As the standoff unfolded, the governor’s senior staff heard a familiar voice come over the phone as a lead representative for Walgreens,” our Chris Cadelago reports: It was Newsom’s former chief of staff Ann O’Leary. — “Some top advisers to the governor were alarmed to learn that O’Leary, a national authority on expanding abortion access, was trying to convince them to soften their approach on behalf of Walgreens, according to three people briefed on the exchanges. … ‘It didn’t sit particularly well with the governor that he had a former top aide of his administration now trying to push back on the policy he’s making,’ said one of the people briefed on the calls.” — The involvement of O’Leary, now a partner at the law firm Jenner & Block, struck some Newsom allies as especially ironic given that “it was she, while serving as the governor’s chief of staff, who authored tough revolving-door and conflict-of-interest rules for Newsom’s advisers” following criticism of the governor for attending a birthday dinner for a powerful lobbyist friend at an upscale, exclusive restaurant.
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