| | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | With help from Daniel Lippman TIKTOK FOLLOWS DENHAM TO DENTONS: TikTok wasn’t going to lose an ally to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy when former Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) jumped from K&L Gates to Dentons earlier this year. The embattled video platform signed up Denham’s new firm last month to continue lobbying on regulation of content platforms, according to newly filed disclosures. — K&L Gates was one of the first firms in Washington hired by TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, and holds one of the company’s longest-running lobbying contracts. In addition to Denham, former Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) also works on the account at K&L Gates along with Stacy Ettinger — a former Chuck Schumer aide — and Samuel Miclot, disclosures show. — Denham, who is listed as the only lobbyist working on the account at Dentons, helps give TikTok one more line to the GOP speaker as his conference moves to drill down on businesses’ ties to China and lawmakers in both parties introduce measures to restrict or ban the immensely popular video app over data security concerns. A former McCarthy aide, Freddy Barnes, is an in-house lobbyist for ByteDance. — Dentons is just the latest new firm TikTok has enlisted for help in recent weeks. The company recently retained the Democratic consulting powerhouse SKDK, which doesn’t lobby but will provide communications support to the embattled platform, Daniel reported last week. MORE NEW BUSINESS: Morton Salt has hired its first lobbyists as the salt giant faces scrutiny from federal workplace safety regulators, disclosures show. Morton Salt retained former Louisiana Sen. John Breaux and Stephanie Leger of Crossroads Strategies earlier this month to lobby on issues related to mine safety and health. — The hire came roughly three months after the Labor Department hit one of the company’s mines with a pattern of violations notice for failure to comply with federal safety regulations, a reprimand reserved for “mine operators who are chronic violators and demonstrate a disregard for the health and safety of miners,” according to a news release from the department. — It was the first time such a designation has been issued since 2014, the department said, and the notice allows DOL to recall workers from the mine if the pattern continues. — Over a yearlong period between 2021 and 2022, inspectors from the Mine Safety and Health Administration cited 82 “significant and substantial” health and safety violations at Morton Salt’s Weeks Island Mine and Mill in Louisiana, the department said. The violations were related to roof and rib hazards at the mine, per DOL, and more than a third of the violations were issued for “high negligence or reckless disregard” on behalf of the mine operator. Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. Hosting or attending any interesting fundraisers soon? Launching any interesting campaigns on the Hill? Get in touch: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | ROY BLUNT-HBS PIPELINE STILL STRONG: Husch Blackwell Strategies has hired Stacy McBride, a longtime aide to friend of the firm Roy Blunt. McBride, who most recently served as the former Missouri senator’s chief of staff, will be a principal in HBS’ D.C. office. — McBride will be just the latest staffer with ties to Blunt at HBS, which formed as part of a merger of two firms run by Andy Blunt, the senator’s son, and Gregg Hartley, one of McBride’s predecessors as chief of staff. HBS also employs Amy Blunt, the senator’s daughter. — In an interview, McBride said she was attracted to HBS’ variety of offerings for clients, as well as its bipartisan staff and smaller size compared to some of the mega firms on K Street. In her time in Blunt’s office, McBride served as a clerk on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing agriculture and FDA funding and a staff director for the full Senate Rules Committee and Senate GOP Policy Committee, giving her the “ability to look at these issues from a 360-degree vantage point and see how they can get done,” McBride said. — She plans on registering to lobby eventually, and expects to work on some of the same issues Blunt focused on in the Senate, including agriculture and the farm bill and health care research and ARPA-H. SVB’S CAMPAIGN CASH BECOMES TOXIC: Top lawmakers Schumer and House Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) are swearing off past campaign contributions from Silicon Valley Bank and its executives following the bank’s collapse. — Schumer, who received $5,800 from the shuttered bank’s CEO Greg Becker last cycle and $2,700 from the bank’s PAC in 2015, has donated an equivalent amount to New York charities, a spokesperson for the senator told CNBC’s Chelsey Cox and Brian Schwartz. — Waters, who received $2,500 from SVB’s PAC in 2020, told our Hailey Fuchs, Jessica Piper and Holly Otterbein she’s returning that money. “Everybody knows I have an open-door policy,” she told POLITICO, though she “maintained that she did not speak with the bank about the 2018 bill that loosened up regulations of banks like SVB” — which has been faulted by Democrats since the bank’s failure last week. Waters opposed the bill. — In all, Silicon Valley Bank’s PAC gave more than $50,000 to the campaigns of nearly two dozen senators and representatives between 2017 and 2022, FEC filings show. The donations were concentrated among members of both parties on relevant committees like House Financial Services and Senate Banking. — The top two recipients of SVB’s contributions over that period were Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who each took $7,500 in that time and who have defended the 2018 Dodd-Frank rollbacks. Lobbyists at Franklin Square Group, which has been the bank’s sole D.C. lobbying firm for more than a decade, also donated to lawmakers like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who voted for the eased banking rules while still a Democrat in the House. FED COULD CLAMP DOWN ON MID-SIZE BANKS: “The Federal Reserve is rethinking a number of its own rules related to midsize banks following the collapse of two lenders, potentially extending restrictions that currently only apply to the biggest Wall Street firms,” according to The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Ackerman. — “A raft of tougher capital and liquidity requirements are under review, as well as steps to beef up annual ‘stress tests’ that assess banks’ ability to weather a hypothetical recession, according to a person familiar with the latest thinking among U.S. regulators.” — “The rules could target firms with between $100 billion to $250 billion in assets, which at present escape some of the toughest requirements,” thanks in part to the 2018 rollback of parts of the banking regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. “The changes under consideration, which are allowed under that 2018 law, could have the effect of reversing that shift by significantly lowering that threshold,” the Journal notes, and would impact around two dozen banks including Fifth Third Bancorp and Regions Financial. — “The Fed was already reviewing a number of its regulations, led by Michael Barr, the central bank’s pointman on banking supervision. But the past weekend’s banking crisis has caused officials to rethink parts of their review and to refocus their efforts on smaller institutions.” RENEWABLES GROUP WORKS TO WOO CONSERVATIVES: “While Republican politicians castigate Wall Street over its climate initiatives, another group of conservatives is trying to change hearts and minds in rural counties and state capitals on the benefits of the nation’s shift to clean energy,” Bloomberg’s Saijel Kishan reports. — “In town halls, courthouses and statehouses across the Midwest, South and Appalachian states, members of the Conservative Energy Network have been meeting with farmers, landowners, Evangelicals and state lawmakers to convince them that wind, solar and other forms of renewable power are good for their wallets, rights and votes.” — “The group does however eschew the term ‘green energy.’ And while its members say they believe the science underpinning climate change, ‘net zero’ and the Paris climate accord aren’t top of mind. Instead, their message squarely focuses on energy independence, free markets, land rights and consumer choice.” CORRECTION: Tuesday’s edition of Influence mislabeled new lobbying registrations. PI regrets the error.
| | | — Tim Keating has joined Sierra Space as chief strategy officer and senior vice president of global government operations. He was most recently a senior policy director at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and previously served as head of government relations for Boeing. — Andrew Nehring has joined Vogel Group as a director. He previously ran the boutique government affairs firm Fourth Street Advocacy, and is bringing clients MCR Oil Tools and Texans Against High-Speed Rail with him. — FreedomWorks has added Marty Irby as chief operating officer and promoted Margaret Iuculano to executive vice president. Irby was most recently a senior vice president at the Center for a Humane Economy and executive director of Animal Wellness Action. — David Cleary has joined DLA Piper as senior policy adviser in the firm’s health policy strategic consulting practice. He was most recently principal adviser to former Sen. Richard Burr, and is a Lamar Alexander and longtime Senate HELP alum. — America’s Essential Hospitals hired Allison Lee from the Advanced Medical Technology Association to serve as legislative affairs manager. The association also hired Daniel Jones, who previously worked for former Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), as a junior legislative affairs manager; and Julia Grady, formerly of PLUS Communications, as a legislative affairs associate. — Jake Leffew has left Schmidt Futures, where he was an associate and program lead for the International Strategy Forum. He’s now working as a freelance speechwriter and ghostwriter. — Rasheed Muhammad has been promoted to be a senior consultant for crisis communications at FTI Consulting. — Former Georgia state representative and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams joined Rewiring America as senior counsel, per Morning Energy. — PJ Hoffman is now head of privacy public policy at Amazon. — Javad Parvizi is now president of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. Parvizi is a professor at Thomas Jefferson University. — David Trulio will be president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. He most recently was managing editor and head of strategy and editorial operations at FOX News Digital. — Willie May has been elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He currently is vice president of research and economic development and professor of chemistry at Morgan State University, and is a Commerce and NIST alum. — Oren Shur has been promoted to partner at SKDK, Liz Kenigsberg has been promoted to managing director and Pia Carusone is now president of SKDK’s political practice. Shur was previously managing director and is head of the political practice, and Kenigsberg co-leads the firm’s tech and cyber practice. Carusone most recently led Sen. Mark Kelly’s (D-Ariz.) reelection campaign. — Gloria Dabek is now managing policy adviser for agriculture at Carbon180. She previously was assistant director of government relations at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. — Yates Baroody is joining Stronger Than Communications as a partner. She previously was a partner at Beacon Media and is an A|L Media, EMILY’s List, DSCC and DCCC alum. — Kenneth Field is now partner and health care antitrust practice leader at Hogan Lovells. He previously was an antitrust partner and co-chair of the global health care practice at Jones Day. — Tealanie “Tea” Baldwin has joined Capital One as manager of government affairs. She was most recently manager of government affairs at Guardian Life Insurance.
| | | BILIRAKIS-CASTELLI VICTORY FUND (Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Committee to Elect Christian Castelli)
STRONG VICTORY FUND (Rep. Dale Strong, Securing the Republic for Our Next Generation, NRCC)
| | | Baton Rouge Busters (Super PAC)
Educate Young Voters (Super PAC)
Flip Forward PAC (Hybrid PAC)
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Ardent Strategies: River Birch, LLC
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: 2U, Inc.
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Air Products And Chemicals, Inc.
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: City Of Kent, Wa
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Kochavim Behavioral Health Inc.
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Morton Salt, Inc.
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Truckers Integral To Our Economy Inc (Tie)
Dentons US LLP: Animal Wellness Action
Dentons US LLP: Change & Impact Inc.
Dentons US LLP: Child And Family Service
Dentons US LLP: Intramotev
Dentons US LLP: Madison Marquette Property Investments LLC
Dentons US LLP: Scanstat Technologies, LLC
Dentons US LLP: Tiktok Inc.
Dentons US LLP: Velta Holding USa Inc
Dentons US LLP: World Dog Alliance
Franklin Square Group, LLC: Roblox Corporation
Holland & Knight LLP: Water Agency Leaders Alliance
Hutton Strategies: Occidental Chemical Corporation
Ikon Public Affairs: Autism Science Foundation
Mission Strategies LLC (Energy): Edison International
Mission Strategies LLC (Energy): Equinor US Operations LLC
Mission Strategies LLC (Energy): Goodleap
Mission Strategies LLC (Energy): Paper Recycling Coalition
Mission Strategies LLC (Energy): Stem, Inc.
Olympus Capitol Strategies, LLC (Olym Poli Cons,LLC): Micron Pure, LLC
Pat Williams And Associates: T-Mobile USa, Inc.
Plurus Strategies, LLC: Daikin America, Inc.
Plurus Strategies, LLC: Edward M. Kennedy Institute
Plurus Strategies, LLC: Trumpf Photonics
Tarplin, Downs & Young, LLC: Option Care Health
Ten Government Strategies, LLC: Stvt-Aai Education, Inc. Dba Ancora Education
The Consilio Group: Advanced Photonic Sciences
The Consilio Group: Alti, LLC
The Kpm Group Dc LLC: Jeremy Levin
Venable LLP: Alliance For Digital Innovation
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | American Horse Council: American Horse Council
Ballard Spahr LLP: 8Minute Solar Energy, LLC
Ballard Spahr LLP: Bipartisan Policy Center Action
Ballard Spahr LLP: California And Nevada Credit Union League
Ballard Spahr LLP: City Of Providence
Delta Development Group, Inc.: Butler County Commissioners
Delta Development Group, Inc.: Greene County Board Of Commissioners
Delta Development Group, Inc.: Mifflin County Academy Of Science And Technology
Delta Development Group, Inc.: Mifflin County Board Of Commissioners
Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.: Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.
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