Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Ripple hires Ballard

Presented by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street.
Nov 20, 2024 View in browser
 
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By Caitlin Oprysko

Presented by 

the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

With Chris Marquette, Dana Nickel, Daniel Lippman 

EMBATTLED CRYPTO FIRM ENLISTS TRUMP ALLY: The crypto industry may be readying for its resurgence in Washington — thanks to the more than $160 million it spent to elect a new wave of allies in Congress and the White House — but one crypto firm is still mired in a legal battle that began in the final days of Donald Trump’s first administration, and it just hired one of Trump’s top allies on K Street.

Ripple Labs, which was sued by the SEC in 2020 for allegedly violating securities laws with the sale of one of its tokens, retained longtime Trump ally Brian Ballard on Nov. 13 to lobby on the “regulation of digital assets, cryptocurrencies and blockchain and related legislation,” according to a disclosure filing. Ballard PartnersJustin Sayfie will also work on the account.

— Ripple’s contract with the firm began one day before the president-elect announced plans to nominate his former SEC Chair Jay Clayton to be the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, with jurisdiction over Wall Street.

— It was Clayton who signed off on the Ripple Labs lawsuit just days before leaving office, and that suit is still working its way through the appeals process, though the company scored a partial victory for the industry last summer.

— Ripple has four other outside lobbying firms on retainer, including Michael Best & Friedrich, the law and lobbying firm where Reince Priebus, Trump’s first White House chief of staff, is president.

FIRST IN PI — CRYPTO LOBBYIST HEADS TO WILLIAMS & JENSEN: Williams & Jensen has added Democratic lobbyist Josh Fendrick as a principal. Fendrick was most recently a U.S. policy manager at Coinbase, where he led the crypto exchange’s Democratic outreach.

— Fendrick joined the exchange in 2022, a tumultuous year for the crypto sector that culminated in the implosion of rival exchange FTX and rendered the industry politically toxic in Washington. But crypto’s fortunes have changed dramatically since then, with the industry pouring more than $100 million into political races this year to replace its main foes with more crypto-friendly faces.

— Williams & Jensen previously lobbied for Ripple Labs, but it doesn’t currently have any crypto clients, Fendrick said in an interview. That could change with the coming crypto ascendance in Washington, however. In the meantime, Fendrick will work primarily with the firm’s financial services clients, which include Visa, JPMorgan Chase, Vanguard, Fidelity and Bloomberg.

— Before joining Coinbase, Fendrick spent eight years on the Hill for Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) as well as Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), two lawmakers well-known for their centrism and ability to reach across the aisle — which will be crucial with Republicans’ House majority potentially being just a seat or two.

MORE NEW BUSINESS: Ripple isn’t the only digital assets firm to lobby up in recent days. Last week, crypto investment manager Wave Digital Assets retained Treasury alumni Andrew Eck and Michael DiRoma of DiRoma Eck & Co. to work on regulatory and legislative issues related to digital assets, according to a disclosure.

Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko.

A message from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network:

Congress, when you prioritize the fight against cancer, you make time for survivors to live their lives to the fullest. As you finish work before the end of the year, support robust funding increases for cancer research and prevention at the NIH and NCI and pass H.R. 2407 / S. 2085 to provide a pathway to coverage for multi-cancer early detection tests once FDA-approved and clinical benefit is shown. Congress: Fight Cancer. Make Time.

 

DIGGING INTO DUFFY’S CLIENTS: Per our Chris Marquette, Transportation secretary nominee and former BGR Group lobbyist Sean Duffy did a good deal of lobbying on behalf of Polaris Industries, a company that makes ATVs, motorcycles and boats.

— That includes three quarterly filings in 2021 that earned the firm $180,000. What did Duffy do for Polaris, exactly? All of the lobbying descriptions noted that he advised the company on “EV incentives,” among other topics. That’s intriguing considering that Duffy, in a Fox News segment last year, criticized electric trucks as not being suitable for rural driving, quoting a Ford owner who called such vehicles “the biggest scam of modern times.”

— One description from the second quarter of 2021 said Duffy was among a group that worked to “Provide strategic counsel, tactical planning, cohesive messaging, and policy analysis on issues impacting the Company including: EV incentives and 301 tariff action.” The group lobbied the White House and Congress on the matter.

ANNALS OF DARK MONEY: “A group routing the fortunes of conservative and libertarian donors that progressives have dubbed the Right’s ‘dark money ATM’ issued a record $351 million in grants last year,” Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky reports.

— “The IRS filing for DonorsTrust, obtained by the Washington Examiner, provides the most up-to-date financial accounting for a charity that has established itself as an important vehicle for right-leaning donors.”

— The donor-advised fund “reported having more than $1.2 billion in the bank while pulling in $226 million” in 2023. “The charity has received large transfers over the years from the 85 Fund, a group in [conservative activist Leonard Leo’s] network, among other conservative groups, according to financial disclosures. In turn, in 2023, $351 million flowed from the coffers of DonorsTrust to other organizations, compared to the $242 million it disbursed in 2022.”

MCKINSEY’S FOSSIL FUEL TIES: While global consulting giant McKinsey & Company publicly touts its work helping clients curb emissions and respond to climate change, the firm has been “quietly advising its clients on boosting fossil fuel production or sales” at the same time, The Guardian’s Ben Stockton and Hajar Meddah report.

— One such example is McKinsey’s role advising Saudi Arabia’s Neom project, the futuristic city powered only by renewable energy that the kingdom is building to showcase its commitment to moving beyond fossil fuels. But “behind closed doors, it has also helped the Saudi kingdom find lucrative ways to keep its oil industry afloat,” according to documents obtained by the Guardian and the climate group the Centre for Climate Reporting.

— “Though little is publicly known about the vast scale of the US consultancy giant’s work, a cache of US court records filed by McKinsey — as it applied to represent clients in bankruptcy proceedings — offers a glimpse into this secretive world.”

— “A dataset compiled with the support of non-profit research group Aria and investigative data analysts Data Desk reveals the identities of thousands of entities connected to the firm and previously unknown details about how lucrative some of them are.”

— Entities identified as having “client connections” to the consultancy “include the operator of one of the world’s largest open pit coalmines; companies exploiting Canada’s dirty oil sands; and Koch Industries, the wealth generated from which has been used to thwart action on the climate crisis for decades, critics say, through the creation and support of thinktanks and climate-denial groups.”

IT DIDN’T STAY IN VEGAS: The New York Times’ Teddy Schleifer has a peek behind the scenes of last weekend’s Rockbridge Network summit, the first gathering of the shadowy conservative donor group since one of its founders, JD Vance, became vice president-elect.

— The Las Vegas summit drew such bold-faced names from the Trump universe as newly named chief of staff Susie Wiles, fellow campaign manager Chris LaCivita, campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio and chief fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke, signaling how powerful the coalition of right-leaning tech executives has become. Others spotted at the gathering included megadonor Rebekah Mercer, crypto investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.

SPOTTED at Forbes Tate Partners for a welcome reception for incoming House GOP freshmen, per a tipster: Reps-elect Troy Downing of Montana, Brandon Gill and Craig Goldman of Texas, Julie Fedorchak of North Dakota, Derek Schmidt of Kansas, Mike Kennedy of Utah, Abe Hamadeh of Arizona, Pat Harrigan of North Carolina, Sheri Biggs of South Carolina, Jefferson Shreve and Mark Messmer of Indiana, Mike Haridopolos of Florida and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania; and Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas).

Jobs report

Penta is adding Megan Whittemore, Joe Abbey and Felicia Wasson as managing directors. Whittemore previously was at Corning Inc., Abbey at Edelman and Wasson at Nike.

Aaron Walker is joining Think Big as managing director of its new public relations and crisis comms practice. He previously was executive vice president at WE Worldwide and is an Edelman alum.

Prism Group has hired John Guy as a senior director. He was senior manager for emerging companies policy at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. The firm has also promoted Shannon Deitzel to associate.

Kyle Gerron has joined the Society for Vascular Surgery as legislative advocacy manager. He was previously a vice president at DDC Public Affairs and is a Williams & Jensen alum.

Nick Pennington has joined the Association of American Universities as senior coordinator for government relations and public policy. He was previously legislative director for Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.).

— The Federation of American Hospitals has promoted Rebecca Lira to senior vice president of government relations.

Daniel Grattan has joined the Structured Finance Association as its new head of global advocacy. He was previously a senior vice president of federal government affairs at Regions Bank and an associate vice president for legislative and political affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

— The Aerospace Industries Association elected L3Harris Technologies CEO Chris Kubasik as board chair. General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic will serve as vice chair for the same term, and Eric Fanning has been reelected as AIA president and CEO.

Douglas Murray is joining the Manhattan Institute as senior fellow and contributing editor at City Journal.

Priya Anand has left journalism and is now advising executives and startups on comms and messaging. She spent nearly a dozen years covering Big Tech and startups for publications including Bloomberg, The Information and BuzzFeed.

Kathi Vidal will rejoin Winston & Strawn as a partner in its litigation department. She most recently has been undersecretary of Commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

 

A message from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network:

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New Joint Fundraisers

None.

New PACs

Flower PAC (PAC)

National Ground Game PAC (Super PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Ballard Partners: SAS Institute, Inc.

FTI Government Affairs: Lanxess Corporation

New Lobbying Terminations

S-3 Group: Micron Technology, Inc.

A message from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network:

Over 2 million people in the United States will be diagnosed this year. Others will grieve the loss of a friend, colleague, or family member, one of projected 620,000 lives that will be lost to this disease. As you finish this year, Congress has the opportunity to prioritize the fight against cancer to help millions of people.

When Congress prioritizes policies to end cancer as we know it, for everyone, you make time for patients, loved ones, caregivers, and everybody else affected by the 200 diseases known as cancer. Now is the time to support robust funding increases for cancer research and prevention at the NIH and NCI and pass H.R. 2407 / S. 2085 to provide a pathway to coverage for multi-cancer early detection tests once FDA-approved and clinical benefit is shown. Congress: Fight Cancer. Make Time.

 
 

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