K Street pounces on supercommittee - Potential supercommittee staff wary of two-year lobbying ban - Cornyn coming to a locale near you - New debt limit report - Penguin alert Presented by Philip Morris International

MAKING IT RAIN: K Streeters haven't wasted any time trying to take advantage of business opportunities with the supercommittee. PI has already gotten a few client presentations, including a missive Quinn Gillespie & Associates co-founder Jack Quinn sent out Thursday afternoon explaining the process and also looking to gin up business.

"QGA brings to our clients many decades of experience with the Congress generally, as well as in high-stakes negotiations that will soon commence. … We will be tracking events and evaluating the politics of possible changes to the tax code, defense programs, health care spending, energy programs and other key issues and ensuring that our clients' perspectives are heard," the veteran Democratic lobbyist wrote.


WORST JOB EVER? As congressional leaders are deciding which of their members they will select to be on the supercommittee, the ball has also started rolling for staffing up the panel. A PI tipster, who looked into the job, tells us that staffers not only would have the difficult task of wrangling the bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers — but they would also face the two-year lobbying ban.

“If you aren’t looking to lobby for the next two years, it’d be a great opportunity to be in the center of the action. That said, if you’ve tasted the sweet nectar of K Street already, you might have some reservations taking a leave of absence,” the tipster joked.

HAPPY FRIDAY! We hope you are enjoying recess — even if it will end up being more work and less play once the supercommittee members are named. Don’t worry, we’ll be right here with you — so please send us tips, gossip and other items of interest to [email protected] and [email protected]. And follow us on the Twitters at @ davelevinthal and @ apalmerdc.

CORNYN COMING TO A LOCALE NEAR YOU: NRSC Chairman John Cornyn isn’t letting the August recess stop him from doing his job. The Texas Republican is taking his show on the road with stops in Denver.; Billings, Mont.; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Amarillo, Texas, among others. Of course, mingling with the chairman comes at a cost. The NRSC email advises attendees to contact the person listed for the events for more information and requested contribution levels.

GRASS-ROOTS BONANZA: With members headed back to their districts, K Street is going to Main Street, if the number of emails in our inbox is any indicator. The International Franchise Association, for one, sent out an email to its members earlier this week asking how they are going to engage, and IFA’s Matt Haller tells PI the group already has one site visit scheduled with Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.) and that many others are coming down the pike. We’ll be keeping track of who is doing town halls, meetings with members and ad blitzes, so drop us a line.

NEW DEBT LIMIT REPORT: Patton Boggs is out with a new report on the Budget Control Act of 2011. The report also offers extensive analysis on key dates relating to Congress’s debt-limit supercommittee. Read the report here: http://bit.ly/pUiOP8

DEBT COMMITTEE CONTEST WINNERS! On Wednesday, we asked you, our precious PI readers, to tell us what you’d name the yet-to-be-formed congressional debt-limit supercommittee that’s charged with, oh, saving the nation from financial ruin.

We received several dozen responses. But only one person could win this contest’s coveted prize: An “I <3 John Boehner” Christmas tree ornament ( http://bit.ly/qYUOY9) that, depending on the winner’s politics, would either make for a cherished family heirloom or BB gun practice target.

And that winner — congratulations! — is Todd Young, the House Natural Resources Committee’s chief of staff, who recommends the appropriately unwieldy and hilarious “Group of Gluttons for Punishment to Punish Gluttony.”

No swag for our silver and bronze medal winners — also, no actual medals, either, in case there’s a question. But these two win PI’s admiration, which is worth its weight in U.S. Treasury bonds:

“DefComm12” is the alarming name that Pamela D. Mitroff, director of state affairs for the National Association of Health Underwriters, would use.

And Serge Eygenson, a corporate public affairs staffer at UPS, wants to dub the committee “SuperCuts” because “it almost seems like a good deal, and then you realize what you’re going to look like for the next couple months.”

Without further ado, the honorable mentions are:

The Apostles ( Kevin O’Neill of Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C., who says it’s appropriate because the committee will involve 12 people and “somebody is going to have to turn Judas and spill blood.”)

Fellowship of the Left and Right Wings ( Shannon Marietta)

Butcher's Dozen ( Sophia Tesch — Mesa, Ariz.)

Debtbusters ( Daria Novak — Connecticut; Diane Collins — Washington, D.C.)

The 12 Pinatas ( Michael J. Fraioli — Washington, D.C.)

Legion of Doom ( Amy Jones — Manassas, Va.)

Debt Men Walking ( Chelsea Richards — Washington, D.C.)

Debt Dozen: 12 Soon-to-Be-Former Members of Congress ( Jessica S. Viator — Washington, D.C.)

Undemocratic Congressional Committee ( Dianna Jackson — Cayucos, Calif.)

IMF: Impossible Mission Force ( Lou Zickar — Washington, D.C.)

Superfriends of Doom ( Grisella M. Martinez — Washington, D.C.)

And finally, perhaps in a bid to prove to his son that he’s reading PI every day: Dave’s father, Steve Levinthal, offers up “Draconian Demons of Debt.” Dave is pretty certain his father, a classical music scholar, owns an LP of post-modern Kyrgyzstani opera also employing that title.

NEW PAC POWERS UP: Energy efficiency advocate O. L. O’Neal filed papers with the FEC this week to create the Efficient America PAC. The PAC, according to its filing, intends to keep two separate, segregated accounts — one that will raise limited cash to donate to political candidates and another to raise unlimited funds to make independent expenditures in support of or in opposition to political candidates. This is notable since organizations engaging in political spending have, to date, created separate traditional PACs and so-called super PACs, but not a single committee that took on the characteristics of both.

O’Neal, a board member for the Residential Energy Services Network, tells PI today that he hopes to raise a quarter-million dollars this election cycle and will support “candidates on both sides of the aisle” who support energy efficiency initiatives.

MEANWHILE ON THE PAC TIP: Several other PACs have sprung up late this week, including two leadership PACs sponsored by congressional members: the Reclaim America PAC of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Defending and Investing in America’s New Endeavors PAC of Rep. Diane Black (R- Tenn.).

The others:

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP PAC of Birmingham, Ala. — Treasurer: S amuel Roderick Kanter

FFP PAC of Clarkston, Mich. — Treasurer: John Charles Berg Jr.

LET THEM EAT CAKE: What better way to lobby government officials than through their stomachs? That’s clearly the idea the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute had in mind when, on Wednesday, it presented a 250-pound cake to lawmakers and staffers gathered in the Rayburn House Office Building foyer. Representatives from about 20 congressional offices showed up. The massive confection, made by Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, N.J., depicted an energy efficient house. (See photo: http://yfrog.com/hscuv5j)

Other event sponsors included the Air Conditioning Contractors of America; the Heating, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International; the Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Contractors; and North American Technician Excellence.

Dave, for his part, is impressed, but made perfectly clear to Anna that the greatest cake ever baked in the history of humanity was served last year at his wedding: http://yfrog.com/khicd7j

PI ON AM: Dave chatted live Thursday afternoon with newsman Scott Braddock on KRLD-AM 1080 in Dallas, where the topic of the hour was the pending lobbying storm awaiting Congress’s debt-limit supercommittee. Give the interview a listen here: http://bit.ly/pr7dvi

AND FINALLY: Since it’s not every day there’s a penguin to greet you when you walk into the newsroom, here’s a picture — you guessed it — of a penguin in our newsroom: http://yfrog.com/gz3p75j (Related fact: The National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins spent $80,000 last year to lobby the federal government. And during the mid-2000s, a firm called Penguin Partners of Nevada did federal lobbying work for Chevron.)

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