Lobbyists blindsided by transition rules Presented by the Consumer Brands Association

With help from Taylor Gee and Mary Lee

TRANSITION IN TRANSITION: Lobbyists on the Donald Trump transition were caught off guard last night by the impromptu announcement that they'll have to terminate their clients and commit to a five-year ban. Here's the text of the new ethics pledge:

“By signing below I hereby certify that I am not currently registered and reporting as a federal lobbyist as defined by the Lobbying Disclosure Act as amended or as a compensated lobbyist at the state level in any state. If I was listed as lobbyist in the most recent lobbying disclosure forms or reported to be filed by federal or state law, I hereby notify the president-elect’s transition team that I have filed the necessary forms to the appropriate government agency to terminate my [lobbying registration]. I will provide the transition team with written evidence of my federal or state lobbyist termination as soon as possible."

That's significantly more lenient than an earlier code of ethics for the Trump transition obtained by POLITICO and the Obama transition team's policy restricting hires who lobbied for one year prior.

But on the flipside, transition and administration officials will have to commit to a five-year lobbying ban. That's sending a chill across K Street and could hobble the transition's ability to attract top talent as it purges its ranks. "It's not a great result," one Republican lobbyist said.

But others were skeptical the ban would have real teeth, since it might not be enforceable beyond the length of Trump's term and it appears to use the loophole-riddled definitions under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. "You're going to see more and more people unregister — I'm calling it the shadow lobbying society," said Paul Miller, president of the National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics. "It seems like more rhetoric and a knee-jerk reaction to filling transition with lot of lobbyists when he campaigned at 11th hour about draining the swamp."

If the Trump transition is serious about closing the loopholes, it already has at its disposal a draft executive order that would do so. The draft, prepared by former Obama and Bush ethics lawyers and obtained by POLITICO, would apply revolving door restrictions to anyone with a financial conflict of interest, not just registered lobbyists. But since the draft was prepared when Chris Christie and his aides were running the transition, it's fate is unclear under the new regime.

— Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) introduced a bill to block lobbyists on transition teams. “On the campaign trail, President-elect Trump promised to ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington," he said in a statement. “But he’s not living up to that promise by stocking his transition team with corporate lobbyists. This bill is a meaningful step toward reducing the undue influence of wealthy and entrenched special interests in Washington.”

SORRY, K STREET: Speaker Paul Ryan put the kibosh on a proposal to bring back earmarks, Rachael Bade and Ben Weyl report. Ryan said it would be improper to bring back the controversial and abuse-prone measures in a secret vote after such an anti-establishment election. Proponents of the revival say the ban ceded too much power over spending decisions to executive branch bureaucrats.

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A message from the Consumer Brands Association: America’s recycling system just got an abysmal review – at a time when we need it most. Only 11% of respondents of our latest poll said the recycling system is doing its best. With more plastic waste in the wake of COVID-19, it’s time to fix this mounting problem.

JOB NEWS:

— Zakir Baig, a former aide to Sen. David Vitter, registered to lobby for ClearPath Action Fund, Jay Faison's Republican climate group, on H.R. 4979, the Advanced Nuclear Technology Development Act of 2016; H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015; S. 2012, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2016; and H.R. 4622, the Carbon Capture Act.

— BGR Group hired Carola McGiffert as managing director. She founded the U.S.-China Strong Foundation, a Mandarin-language learning and study abroad nonprofit. She was a senior adviser to Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell in the State Department from 2010 to 2012. She previously was chief of staff to Center for Strategic and International Studies CEO John Hamre and a senior fellow at the think tank. She co-founded an independent consulting firm to help American companies do business in Asia. BGR represents India, Bangladesh, the Kurds, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

— Public affairs firm Marathon Strategies hired Susan Del Percio as a managing director, joining Phil Singer and Jane Hardey on the leadership team. She had her own consulting firm advising companies, political campaigns and organizations. She served in the administration of New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as deputy commissioner for finance and administration and as a Special Advisor to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

— Dentons will start accepting applications to join a worlwide network of public affairs firms to work with its clients on lobbying, public relations, advertising, grassroots organizing, grass-tops outreach, survey research and digital and social media. Member firms won't pay fees. “Dentons serves our clients in the court of public opinion as well as the court of law,” chairman Joe Andrew said in a statement. “In today’s media-centric, cable and digital world, this can often mean integrating cross-functional services such as legal representation and public affairs capabilities. By building a public affairs network we expand our already strong public affairs offering to serve our clients in a one-stop-shop way across the globe.” The service is called Nextlaw Global Public Affairs Network.

— Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, the former U.S. undersecretary of State for global affairs, joined APCO’s International Advisory Council.

— Lawrence Collins, a Texas lobbyist specializing in appropriations, is joining Magellan Health as vice president of business development.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, PART n: A ProPublica investigation by Jesse Eisinger and Justin Elliott reveals how top economists and professors moonlight for consulting firms like Compass Lexecon and are paid by corporations to lend their prestige to help justify corporate mega-mergers such as AT&T-Time Warner. Donald Trump has appointed one of these economists, Joshua Wright, a professor at George Mason’s Antonin Scalia Law School and former consultant for Charles River Associates, as the head of his anti-trust transition team. Economists tapped to provide similar reports include Dennis Carlton, economist at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business for the AT&T-Time Warner merger, and Jonathan Orszag, senior managing director at Compass for Apple.

SPEAKING OF AT&T: Wall Street is watching to see if the phone giant can move forward with its planned $85 billion merger with Time Warner under Donald Trump, who once said he would block the deal if elected president, or if he’ll pull back from his campaign rhetoric and support deregulation, Thomas Gryta, John D. McKinnon and Keach Hagey report for The Wall Street Journal. “The deal wasn’t predicated on who would be in the White House in 2017,” said David McAtee, AT&T’s general counsel. “It was predicated on the law and the facts.” Other high-profile mergers facing regulatory scrutiny include Dow Chemical and Dupont; Bayer and Monsanto; Anthem and Cigna; and Aetna and Humana.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, PART n+1: Former Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a potential pick to run the CIA, lobbied for the Kurdish regional government, a Belarusian potash company and a Libyan organization, Benjamin Oreskes reports for POLITICO. At Greenberg Traurig and Dickstein Shapiro he worked for coal giant Peabody Energy and tobacco company Lorillard. Hoekstra chaired the House Intelligence Committee and currently heads Hoekstra Global Strategies, whose clients include manufacturer Columbia Helicopters and oil production company Core Energy.

AROUND TOWN:

— More than 100 travel industry executives are in D.C. today for the U.S. Travel Association’s fall board meeting. They're discussing working with the new administration, especially on infrastructure issues such as airport modernization. The group's lobbying team has briefed the Trump campaign and transition team.

— Glen Echo Group celebrated is new office with founder and CEO Maura Corbett; Michael Petricone, CTA; Gigi Sohn, FCC; Amanda Kaufman, Twitter; Austin Carson; Elizabeth Frazee, TwinLogic Strategies; Gene Kimmelman, Public Knowledge; Patrick Ruffini, Echelon; Larry Irving; David Grossman; Svetlana Matt, McNerney; Craig Aaron, Free Press; Brett Solomon, Access; Delphine Halgand, Reporters Without Borders; Angela Hooks, Yelp; Evan Engstrom, Engage; John Purcell, National Association of Manufacturers; Dan O'Connor, CCIA; Bill Barloon, Sprint; Katie Peters and Andy Bianchi, Pandora; John Windhausen, SHLB; and Brad Queisser, Bose Public Affairs.

NEW PACs:

Caldwell County, Texas Republican Party: Unknown

Knowledge To Action: Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized

Masses Unite: Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized

Popular Vote Pac: Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized

Progress For Wisconsin Pac: Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:

Clearpath Action Fund For Conservative Clean Energy, Inc.: Clearpath Action Fund For Conservative Clean Energy, Inc.

Follow us on Twitter Theodoric Meyer @theodoricmeyer