With help from Daniel Lippman and Marcia Brown FIRST IN PI — SIGNAL GROUP BUYS BACK ITS INDEPENDENCE: Lobbying and strategic comms shop Signal Group has bought itself back from the law firm Wiley to put Signal Group under independent ownership once again. Blake Androff will serve as the newly independent firm’s chief executive, while Chelsea Koski will become president, overseeing day-to-day operations. Rob Bole will be the head of innovation and strategy, a newly created position focused exclusively on helping grow the business. — The firm was first launched in 2002 by Steve McBee as McBee Strategic Consulting. Wiley acquired it amid a period of turbulence at the end of 2014, following the abrupt departure of McBee and several other staffers, and the firm, which operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Wiley, rebranded as Signal Group in 2016. In an interview, Androff said that Signal Group will continue to do the law firm’s public affairs work and work with Wiley on shared clients. — A key factor in the decision to buy back Signal Group’s independence was that “we realized we could do this on our own,” Androff told PI. “We could continue to grow, we could continue to bring on people, could continue to get new clients, offer new services, and be really dynamic and responsive to our clients.” — Signal Group’s buyout bucks the recent explosion of consolidation and private equity investment on K Street, with Wall Street looking to cash in on record revenues for political firms helping clients decode the Washington gridlock and whiplash. Before that, lobbying and consulting shops downtown had been getting snatched up by global PR conglomerates, but several, like Cassidy & Associates and BGR Group, ended up buying out their corporate bosses years later. — As for Signal Group, Androff said the firm will have more flexibility now to expand its physical footprint. “We can also try new things. … Everyone who is closest to the decision-making process are the true practitioners here,” he noted, while attributing the firm’s growth to “smart strategy,” including a bipartisan makeup, good company culture and, on the policy side, expertise in the booming renewables sector. Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. Send K Street tips and gossip: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
|
FIRST IN PI — MORE TIKTOK TIES TO CANTWELL: Squared Communications, the strategic communications and political consulting firm started by former Maria Cantwell chief of staff Michael Meehan, is working for TikTok, two people familiar with the matter told Daniel. — One of the people said that they compile media clips for TikTok's government relations office — a similar service to one they provide for other tech clients like TikTok rival Meta. (They also do PR for Amazon, and previously worked with Google.) The firm said all of its clients knew about Squared's work for TikTok. The consulting arrangement started in the spring of 2023 but has not been previously reported. Earlier last year, TikTok worked with the Democratic firm SKDK before the client relationship ended. — Kim Lipsky, who works in government relations for TikTok, also briefly worked for Cantwell, the Senate Commerce chair who has emerged as one of the leading Democratic Senate critics of the House’s anti-TikTok bill, Daniel reports. Lipsky was the staff director for the Senate Commerce Committee from 2015 to 2019, mostly under former Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and stayed on for a few months with Cantwell when she took over as ranking member. — Lipsky didn't respond to a request for comment, but TikTok spokesperson Jodi Seth pointed out in a statement that Lipsky’s two-decade Senate career included stints as staff director on multiple committees, including the Veterans’ Affairs panel and Special Committee on Aging. TIKTOK ROUND UP: The bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok under threat of a U.S. ban sailed through the House this morning, 352-65, which our Rebecca Kern reports marks “the most serious threat to the popular video-sharing platform to date.” The vote brought together odd bedfellows on both sides (as our Anthony Adragna breaks down here), with Republicans mostly sticking together despite opposition from former President Donald Trump. — Trump’s reversal was in part based on the app’s immense popularity among young voters — adding to a “long list of opportunistic Trump pivots,” per our Meridith McGraw, Natalie Allison and Burgess Everett — “sudden pronouncements that capture the momentum of the moment, but which leave many conservatives bewildered and grasping for a response.” — The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey and Jeff Stein report that a documentary from former Trump aide David Bossie about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also fueled the former president’s antipathy toward Meta. — Meanwhile, “behind the scenes … Trump and his aides have spoken about TikTok to people with direct financial ties to [ByteDance investor Jeff] Yass,” like Kellyanne Conway, and former Trump advisers David Urban (a lobbyist for ByteDance) and Tony Sayegh (who works for Yass’ Susquehanna International Group) have been in contact with Trump’s circle about TikTok. — And some TikTok lobbyists have complained about who’s not gotten involved in their bid to save the app, per Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Joseph Zeballos-Roig: Oracle, the cloud computing giant whose agreement to host TikTok’s U.S. data has been key to TikTok’s defense. — “‘TikTok has been vocal about their wish that Oracle would step up,’ one senior aide to a Republican member told Semafor. ‘They wish Oracle were being more proactive.’ … Oracle representatives have told allies the company is staying out of the fight because part of its role is guaranteeing the integrity of TikTok’s data. A senior TikTok executive said the company understands the limits of Oracle’s role.” HOW HOVDE CASHED IN ON OFFSHORE INSURERS: Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde invested tens of millions of dollars in insurance companies that operated in the U.S. but were based in Bermuda, and therefore benefited from not having to pay U.S. corporate taxes, Daniel reports. — Hovde disclosed during an unsuccessful Senate run in 2012 that he had assets worth at least $50 million. He hasn’t filed a personal financial disclosure yet for this campaign, but Hovde has indicated that he will be self-funding his campaign and has suggested that he could spend at least $20 million of his money on the race against Sen. Tammy Baldwin. — Between 2003 and 2013, Hovde’s asset management firm Hovde Capital reported non-controlling investments worth up to $74 million in more than a dozen Bermuda-based insurance companies, according to a PI analysis. — Bermuda doesn’t have a corporate income tax and has even offered “tax assurance certificates” to ensure holders temporary insulation in the event that ever changes. Every Bermuda insurer that Hovde Capital invested in held those certificates, according to a review of SEC documents. — Hovde said in a radio ad during his first Senate campaign in 2012 that it was “wrong” that “major corporations often pay little to nothing in corporate taxes.” He also said in the ad, “We must get rid of corporate welfare, lower tax rates across the board and make the system fair for everyone.” — In 2021, Hovde said that he agreed with a Democratic proposal to pass a minimum tax rate for corporations. “This is one I really agree with them on because I’ve always hated it — companies like Goldman Sachs or Apple can put all their technology in offshore places and pay no taxes,” he said. — One of Hovde Capital’s top investments was worth $7 million in Bermuda reinsurer Max Re, whose CEO reportedly said that many investors in the company understood that it was “a tax-efficient” investment play and has told investors that the company planned to operate so that it would “not generally be subject to tax” outside of Bermuda. Hovde’s firm also invested in several American companies that moved their headquarters to Bermuda to save on taxes; Bermuda, which has been called “the world’s risk capital,” is the center of the reinsurance industry. — In a statement, Hovde campaign spokesperson Ben Voelkel chalked up an inquiry about the investments to “ridiculous attacks” from liberals “because Sen. Baldwin can’t run on her own record as a nearly 40-year career politician and rubber stamp for the Biden agenda.” Volkel also chided Baldwin and Congress for not addressing “our broken tax system that favors big corporations and leaves small and medium businesses stuck footing the bill.” AUTO REPAIR HIT THE AIRWAVES: The Auto Care Association is launching a new campaign to win over the public in favor of the REPAIR Act, a bill that would make it easier for independent auto repair shops to fix cars and other automobiles. The group, which represents more 500,000 independent repair shops, parts stores and distributors, is placing a six-figure digital ad buy on YouTube and other channels. — “You can’t do the simplest job anymore without being able to get into the computer system,” said Dwayne Myers, co-owner of Maryland-based Dynamic Automotive, in one of the videos. — Supporters of the bill say that it fosters competition in the market for repair and for parts, and lowers costs and wait time for consumers. The bill has bipartisan support and unanimously passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce in November. — Manufacturers and others who oppose the bill argue that it creates a cybersecurity threat and risks revealing intellectual property that companies spent heavily to develop. — The REPAIR Act has advanced further than any other federal repair legislation, but much of the momentum is at the state level. In dozens of state legislatures, lawmakers are advancing bills intended to require manufacturers to provide the information and tools needed to make repairs for cars, farm equipment, home appliances and personal electronics. — Oregon’s legislature recently passed one of the strictest so-called right to repair bills yet, banning for the first time the practice of “parts pairing,” where a manufacturer imposes software blocks on replacement parts, blocking certain functionalities. Big Tech is divided over the bill: Google favors it, but Apple is opposed, arguing that it’s broader than the California legislation the phone maker supported. SPOTTED at the Miller Strategies offices last night for a 50th birthday party for founder Jeff Miller, per a PI tipster: Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Speaker Mike Johnson, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Garret Graves (R-La.), David Rouzer (R-N.C.), Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), David Valadao (R-Calif.), Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa.), French Hill (R-Ark.), John James (R-Mich.), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), John Duarte (R-Calif.), Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.), Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), Mike Collins (R-Ga.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), GE Aerospace's Pete Giambastiani, Pernod Ricard's Tara Engel, CoreCivic's Tony Grande, Southern Company's Jeanne Wolak and Dan Murray, Hunt Companies' Sinclair Cooper, Oracle's Josh Pitcock, Altria's Phil Park, Congressional Leadership Fund's Dan Conston, Anheuser Busch's Daniel Keniry, U.S. Tennis Association's Stacey Allaster, Delta Airlines' Eric Burgeson and Heather Wingate and Amgen's Nickie Currie. — And at a reception in Cannon for the Asian American Hotel Owners Association’s spring fly-in reception, per a tipster: Reps. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), Bill Posey (R-Fla.), Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), Jenn McClellan (D-Va.), Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Carol Miller (R-W.Va.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), Russell Fry (R-S.C.), Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Ro Khanna (R-Calif.) and Kim and Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.).
|
Alston & Bird LLP: Wellspan Health Clareo: Key Minerals Forum (Informal Coalition) Conlon Public Strategies: Chestnut Health Systems Conlon Public Strategies: National Louis University Endgame Strategies, LLC: Association Of Accessible Medicines Ervin Graves Strategy Group, LLC: Datamaxx Applied Technologies, Inc. Federal Business Group: Everett Ship Repair Fti Government Affairs: St Engineering North American, Inc. Icebreaker Strategies, LLC: H2L Solutions, Inc. Icebreaker Strategies, LLC: University Of Idaho College Of Engineering Invariant LLC: Corebridge Financial, Inc. And Affiliates Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid, LLC: Advamed Imaging Liberty Partners Group, LLC: Alliance For America's Promise, Inc. Mindset Advocacy, LLC (Fka Cypress Advocacy, LLC): National Coordinating Committee For Multiemployer Plans (Nccmp) Ott Bielitzki & O'Neill Pllc: Neros Technologies The Daschle Group: Coalition For Cannabis Policy, Education, And Regulation (Cpear) The Daschle Group: Reason For Hope Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc.: Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. Van Scoyoc Associates: New Classrooms Innovation Partners, Inc. Velocity Government Relations, LLC: Exploration Laboratories LLC, Aka Exlabs Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale And Dorr LLP: Nephron Nitrile, LLC
|
