With Daniel Lippman MONUMENT SCORES A P.E. STAKE: Monument Advocacy became the latest lobbying and public affairs shop on K Street to cash in on Wall Street’s burgeoning interest in the influence industry, announcing an investment by Boston-based Everlane Equity Partners. Monument CEO John Murray and founder Stewart Verdery will continue managing the firm’s operations along with the rest of Monument’s senior leadership team. — The firm brought in $15.8 million in lobbying revenues last year and represents clients such as Pepsi, Zillow, Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, PhRMA, Netflix and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, with a track record of working with tech startups newer to engaging with Washington. “Our clients are innovators and so are we,” Verdery said in a statement, adding that the investment “will allow us to super charge that approach by expanding our clients’ access to new markets and tools.” — The past few years have seen private equity money pour into D.C.’s array of policy and communications shops as they experience booming demand for their services. — Everlane principal Daniel Vetrano nodded at that dynamic, noting in a statement that “the need for corporations and other sophisticated organizations to utilize best-in-class advocacy is expanding rapidly, and we see Monument as a market leader.” — In one of the latest examples, investment giant KKR in August bought out global communications conglomerate WPP to become the majority shareholder in consultancy FGS Global — ramping up its stake in the strategic comms shop a little over a year after its initial investment. (KKR holds a significant stake in Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company.) — The thirst for acquisitions in the space isn’t limited to private equity, either. Last fall, advertising giant Omnicom snapped up the consulting and public affairs firms FP1 Strategies and PLUS Communications. (Some D.C. firms, meanwhile, have bought back their independence from parent companies.) — Other government affairs shops that have attracted private equity money over the past couple of years include Firehouse Strategies, Precision Strategies, Subject Matter (now Avoq), Hamilton Place Strategies (now part of Penta), GuidePost Strategies and Bullpen Strategy Group. Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI, where our thoughts are with everyone in the path of Hurricane Milton. Send K Street tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko. WHAT’S THE HOLD UP: “Less than a month before Election Day, Donald J. Trump’s campaign has not yet participated in the government’s official presidential transition process, a significant break from past practice that could threaten the seamless transfer of power should the Republican nominee win election,” per the New York Times’ Ken Bensinger. — “Mr. Trump’s team has missed two key deadlines to sign agreements with the administration that are set by federal law and has also failed to sign an ethics plan that is required to jump-start the process of planning for a new administration.” — While the split from tradition “appears to be guided, at least in part, by the candidate’s deep suspicion and mistrust of the government he is running to lead,” Trump may also have another motivation: “His refusal to sign the documents allows him to circumvent fund-raising rules that put limits on private contributions to the transition effort, as well as ethics rules meant to avoid possible conflicts of interest for the incoming administration.” FLYING IN: Congress may be gone for another month or so, but preparations for next year's tax cliff are still underway, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce flying in more than 50 members of its Small Business Council on Tuesday to discuss the stakes for small businesses in the tax fight. — Small business owners met with staff from House and Senate offices from the Arizona, Utah, Illinois, Maryland and Virginia delegations, to whom they sought to make the case for preserving the 20 percent deduction for pass-through businesses; a low corporate rate and the research and development credit. The Small Business Council plans on heading back to the Hill early next year to lobby the new Congress. HURRICANE HELPERS: The Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida state societies of D.C. and the Tennessee Business Forum are hosting a reception tomorrow at Mission Navy Yard to raise money for local charities assisting in the rebuilding and recovery process for those impacted by Hurricane Helene. Southern Company, American Electric Power, Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Edison Electric Institute, GE Vernova, Fluence and Teco Energy, Nextera Energy and EDF Renewables are among the event’s benefactors. POT, MEET KETTLE: “During an October debate, Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy denounced his Democratic opponent, Sen. Jon Tester, for ‘eating lobbyist steak’ while the Republican fought in Afghanistan,” The Associated Press’ Matthew Brown writes. — But the AP obtained emails revealing “Sheehy himself had a taste for red meat and lobbying,” mixing the two “in pursuit of government contracts that allowed his aerial firefighting company to rapidly expand over the past decade.” — “‘I hope you enjoyed the steakhouse,’ Sheehy wrote to Ryan Osmundson, the state Budget Director after a November 2021 meeting in Martinsdale, Montana. Sheehy went on to describe his company’s aircraft as ‘ideal’ for a dedicated, state-based fleet of planes to aggressively fight fires. There’s no indication the lobbying of Montana officials involved any wrongdoing by Bridger Aerospace or Sheehy.” ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE: “Senate Democrats are accusing Senate Republicans of illegally financing their campaign ads,” and an FEC vote on the matter slated for tomorrow is expected to split the commission down partisan lines, allowing the GOP’s tactic to continue, Axios’ Stephen Neukam and Stef W. Kight report. — The fight centers around whether joint fundraising committees composed of candidates and their party’s congressional campaign arm can fund what appear to be attack ads against their opponents at the discounted price reserved for authorized campaign committees. — Democrats have accused Republicans, whose fundraising has lagged behind Democrats’ this cycle, of abusing that practice to take advantage of lower ad rates — while skirting caps on the allocation of funds for such ads by joint fundraising committees. — Republicans have defended the practice as not only sanctioned but required by a decadesold FEC advisory opinion while arguing that it’s been used by prominent Democratic candidates including Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton. BRUSSELS RAINS ON SILICON VALLEY’S PARADE: “More than six years after it took effect, Europe’s mighty data-protection rulebook is getting its second wind — by stymieing the artificial intelligence plans of Big Tech giants,” our European colleagues Sam Clark and Pieter Haeck report, noting that “in just a few months, Google, Meta, X and LinkedIn have paused or delayed AI projects in the European Union, blaming an old yet familiar foe: Brussels red tape.” — “The blocks to AI technology come at a time when the EU is second-guessing its tradition of heavy-handed regulatory intervention — especially on AI, which is seen as critical in Europe’s efforts to compete with the United States, China and other world regions.” — “Actions by regulators have reignited the animosity of Big Tech firms toward the EU’s digital and data laws. Meta, Google and others have launched intense lobbying campaigns in recent weeks to hammer home the message with EU officials: Enough with the heavy-handed crackdown on new services.” APROPOS OF NOTHING…: Peter also reports that “ChatGPT maker OpenAI will open offices in Brussels and Paris, building up its lobbying presence as it races to counter regulatory scrutiny in Europe.” — “Olga Nowicka, who joined the company in December from Workday, said on LinkedIn that she would staff the Brussels office with competition and intellectual property lead Jakob Kucharczyk, formerly of Meta, and Rafaela Nicolazzi, who works on data protection and consumer protection and previously worked for Google.” They’re the latest in a string of lobbyists OpenAI has nabbed from other tech giants as it’s moved to expand its footprint on the continent.
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