Zinke heads to K Street Presented by the Consumer Brands Association

With David Beavers and Daniel Lippman

FIRST IN PI — ZINKE TEAMS UP WITH LEWANDOWSKI: Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke are joining Turnberry Solutions, a lobbying firm with ties to Lewandowski. They’ll serve as senior advisers to the firm, and Lewandowski won’t do any work that would require him to register as a lobbyist, according to Jason Osborne, a partner at Turnberry. “Zinke will if it’s the right clients and it’s something he’s passionate about,” he said.


— Lewandowski and Osborne previously worked together at Avenue Strategies, the lobbying firm that Lewandowski started with Barry Bennett, another Trump campaign veteran, after the 2016 election. Lewandowski quit Avenue in 2017 after stories raised questions about him cashing in on his access to the president. Osborne and another Trump campaign veteran, Mike Rubino, left Avenue soon afterward and started Turnberry. A third Trump campaign veteran, Ryan O’Dwyer, later joined them.

— Lewandowski claimed at the time he had “nothing to do with Turnberry Solutions,” but allowed Turnberry lobbyists to work out of the Capitol Hill rowhouse where he stayed when he was in Washington. And one of Turnberry’s clients, T-Mobile, later said that Lewandowski was advising the company on its proposed merger with Sprint. “Corey Lewandowski is now affiliated with that firm and they have offered perspective to T-Mobile on a variety of topics, including the pending transaction,” T-Mobile said in a statement last year.

— Osborne said the new arrangement would allow Lewandowski to work more closely with Turnberry. “Previously it was friends talking to each other, friends worked together in the same building,” he said in an interview. “Now we’re actually working for the same company.” Lewandowski said in a statement that he looked “forward to working with Secretary Zinke to provide strategic advice and counsel to clients.”

— Zinke, meanwhile, plans to work on energy and defense matters. He’ll split his time among Montana, California and Washington. Zinke is limited in his ability to lobby the administration by Trump’s ethics pledge and doesn’t plan to do so, according to Osborne. But he’s allowed to lobby Congress, in which he represented Montana for one term before resigning to become interior secretary. House ethics rules that prevented Zinke from lobbying his former colleagues expired last year.

Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Tips: [email protected]. You can also follow me on Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.

MICROSOFT HIRES JENNIFER STEWART: Microsoft is adding Jennifer Stewart of Stewart Strategies & Solutions to its army of outside lobbying firms. The move makes Microsoft the latest company to add a lobbyist with ties to the Congressional Black Caucus after Democrats took back the House, giving the caucus substantial sway. Stewart is a former aide to Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), both of whom are Congressional Black Caucus members. Johnson is also chairwoman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Microsoft spent more than $9.5 million on Washington lobbying last year and retains nearly two dozen other outside firms.

T-MOBILE, SPRINT DEFEND MERGER AT HEARING: The House Energy and Commerce Commission kicked off a hearing examining the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint this morning. From The Associated Press as the hearing got underway: “The committee’s chairman, Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, wonders, ‘How can we be sure that consumers who can least afford to pay more are not harmed by the merger?’ T-Mobile says it won’t raise prices for three years, but Pallone says he’s not sure that Trump administration regulators are willing to hold T-Mobile to that promise.” PI outlined the lobbying firms working to sell Congress and the administration on the deal a couple of weeks ago.

APPLE, IBM CHIEFS JOIN TRUMP BOARD: “Apple CEO Tim Cook and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty have joined the Trump administration's new American Workforce Advisory Board, a sign that at least some elements of the tech industry are choosing to participate in Trump business councils that executives once fled,” POLITICO’s Nancy Scola reports. “While for decades it was commonplace for American executives to serve as advisers to presidential administrations, tech executives who initially joined Trump's business councils ended up bailing over various controversies,” including blowback over the president’s “both sides” rhetoric following a white supremacist rally in Virginia in August 2017 that led the White House to disband two advisory councils. Full story.

— Who else is on the board? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Tom Donohue, the National Association of Manufacturers’ Jay Timmons and the National Federation of Independent Business’ Juanita Duggan also made the 25-person roster.

WHO’S LEADING THE SEARCH: The Plastics Industry Association has hired Heidrick & Struggles to lead the search for its next president and chief executive, according to the trade group. Bill Carteaux, the trade group’s previous president and chief executive, died in December.

THREE REPUBLICANS COMBINE FORCES: Three Republicans — Brian Darling of Liberty Government Affairs, Beau Rothschild of Rothschild Policy and Politics and Brett Scott of Capitol Coalitions — are teaming up to start through own firm, Darling Rothschild and Scott. They've signed WeedMaps, a website and app that lets medical marijuana users review local dispensaries, doctors and delivery services, and Digital Asset Policy Network as clients. Each of them will also continue to work through their own firms. Darling is a former aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Rothschild is a former chief of staff to former Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) and Scott is a former aide to former Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).

JOBS REPORT

— Albright Stonebridge Group has hired Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield as a senior counselor and head of the firm’s Africa practice. Thomas-Greenfield was the former ambassador to Liberia under President Barack Obama and later served as assistant secretary of State for African affairs.

— The National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International has hired Kate LaTour as government relations manager. LaTour was previously a legislative aide in Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-Wis.) office.

— Josh London has joined the Jewish Institute for National Security of America as director of government affairs. He previously served as co-director for government relations at the Zionist Organization of America.

— Allison Bormel has joined public relations firm BerlinRosen as a vice president. She was previously a senior strategic communications advisor with USAID.

SPOTTED: At the American Council of Life Insurers’ offices on Tuesday night for a discussion on financial and retirement security, according to a PI tipster: Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Chuy García (D-Ill.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Al Lawson (D-Fla.), and Ben McAdams (D-Utah), four of whom are freshmen and all of whom serve on the House Financial Services Committee; Diane Boyle of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors; Chris Morton of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting; Christopher Gahan of Northwestern Mutual; and Liz Varley of Ameriprise Financial.

Young Victory Committee II (Sen. Todd Young, NRSC, OORAH! Political Action Committee)

Veterans for MAGA PAC (PAC)

Darling, Rothschild & Scott LLC: Digital Asset Policy Network

Darling, Rothschild & Scott LLC: WeedMaps

Forbes-Tate: A.O. Smith Corporation

Forbes-Tate: Emergent Biosolutions

Forbes-Tate: Evolus Beauty

Forbes-Tate: Personal Care Products Council

Forbes-Tate: True Velocity

In Defense Of Christians Advocacy Inc: In Defense Of Christians Advocacy Inc

Lincoln Policy Group: Whitney Partners LLC on behalf of NorthBay

Liz Williams and Company: Altria Client Services LLC

Petra Strategies LLC: American Seed and Trade Association

Rose Law Group, P.C.: Fondomonte Arizona LLC

Scrivner Leon Group, LLC: Venable LLP on behalf of Medici Ventures, Inc.

Stewart Strategies and Solutions, LLC: Microsoft Corporation

The Smith-Free Group, LLC: Housing Policy Council

The Vogel Group: Kalyani Technoforge

The Vogel Group: SMP Automotive Systems Alabama

Thompson Coburn LLP: Medici Ventures, Inc.

Thorn Run Partners: Biogen

Venn Strategies: TriNetX

Winning Strategies Washington: Canon Financial Services, Inc.

JMS Consulting LLC: Brightfields Development LLC

JMS Consulting LLC: Vanguard Renewables

Jochum Shore & Trossevin PC: New Venture Fund

Larry Lohmann: The American Legion

Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, Inc.: Virtus Pharmaceuticals LLC

North Star Strategies, LLC: Missouri S&T

The McKeon Group, Inc.: Cast

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