The companies that drive the most congressional chatter Presented by the Consumer Brands Association

With David Beavers, Garrett Ross and Daniel Lippman

THE COMPANIES THAT DRIVE THE MOST CONGRESSIONAL CHATTER: Which big companies are mentioned most often by members of Congress? Quorum, a legislative analytics startup, analyzed a decade of congressional press releases, floor statements and social media posts to find out. The analysis also included email newsletters to constituents sent since 2016. The most-mentioned Fortune 100 company was Facebook by a wide margin, followed by Alphabet, the parent company of Google. (Quorum tried to avoid counting mentions of Facebook in which members urged their constituents to connect with them on the platform.) Notably, two of the top five Fortune 100 companies by revenue — Berkshire Hathaway and UnitedHealth — weren’t in the top 15. Here’s the full report.



Facebook (mentioned 6,861 times by Democrats and 7,155 times by Republicans) Alphabet (mentioned 3,011 times by Democrats and 2,927 times by Republicans) Ford (mentioned 2,009 times by Democrats and 1.951 times by Republicans) Boeing (mentioned 1,307 times by Democrats and 2,043 times by Republicans) General Motors (mentioned 1,722 times by Democrats and 1,499 times by Republicans) Apple (mentioned 1,017 times by Democrats and 1,264 times by Republicans) Walmart (mentioned 976 times by Democrats and 1,265 times by Republicans) ExxonMobil (mentioned 1,767 times by Democrats and 443 times by Republicans) Fannie Mae (mentioned 811 times by Democrats and 1,372 times by Republicans) Freddie Mac (mentioned 801 times by Democrats and 1,316 times by Republicans) Wells Fargo (mentioned 1,422 times by Democrats and 414 times by Republicans) UPS (mentioned 743 times by Democrats and 1,095 times by Republicans) Verizon (mentioned 1,095 times by Democrats and 721 times by Republicans) Amazon (mentioned 959 times by Democrats and 815 times by Republicans) AIG (mentioned 771 times by Democrats and 767 times by Republicans)


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BUSINESS TAKES A FRESH LOOK AT DEMOCRATS: “Business groups, at war with President Donald Trump over trade and immigration, say they’re taking steps to rebuild the political center — including taking fresh looks at moderate Democrats,” POLITICO’s Lorraine Woellert and Marianne LeVine report. “The American Bankers Association this month began airing ads in support of candidates for the first time, including Democrats Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Rep. Lou Correa of California. The International Franchise Association has more than doubled its support to Democrats this cycle, with 27 percent of its donations going to centrists in the party. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which leans heavily Republican, endorsed Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey over Republican John McCann, who has the support of former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka.

— “If businesses shift significant support away from Republicans, it could deal a blow to GOP fundraising and the party's hopes to retain control of the House and Senate in midterm elections in which Democrats are expected to be energized. But some Democrats are skeptical that the talk about boosting moderates will translate into cash for their campaigns. ... ‘We’ve heard this story before,’ said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a member of the moderate New Democrat Coalition. ‘Until these business groups genuinely prove, through behavior as well as words, that they’ve had a conversion and they’re going to actually behave fairly instead of make an empty promise, frankly Democrats have no reason to trust those folks.’” Full story.

TODAY’S NOTABLE REGISTRATIONS: Another day, another two more trade registrations. The International Dairy Foods Association hired Adeline Strategies to lobby on NAFTA negotiations, Canadian dairy subsidies and tariffs, and Halliburton hired Richard Sawaya to lobby on steel and aluminum tariffs, tax reform implementation and economic sanctions.

— In non-trade lobbying news, Stonington Strategies signed B & H Foto & Electronics Corp. Nick Muzin will lobby for them on the “remote sellers tax.” Stonington Global, a separate limited liability company that Muzin co-founded, drew headlines earlier this month for hiring former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and then walking the hiring announcement back.

TOM STEYER’S $110 MILLION PLAN TO REDEFINE THE DEMOCRATS: “Tom Steyer has set plans to spend at least $110 million in 2018, making the billionaire investor the largest single source of campaign cash on the left and placing him on a path to create a parallel party infrastructure with polling, analytics and staffing capabilities that stand to shape and define the issues the party runs on in November,” POLITICO’s Edward-Isaac Dovere reports. “Steyer is building out an operation that’s bigger than anyone's other than the Koch brothers' — and the billionaire and his aides believe the reservoir of nontraditional voters he’s already activated could become the overriding factor in House and other races across the country.

— “Yet Steyer’s oversize role also stands to position him squarely against Democratic Party leadership, which has shown little appetite this fall for pursuing one of his signature causes: impeachment. Unlike the $80 million being spent by Michael Bloomberg, Steyer will put his cash toward building out NextGen America and Need to Impeach, his two growing political organizations, as well as funding clean-energy ballot initiatives in Arizona and Nevada. Steyer has already doubled his initial $20 million investment in Need to Impeach to $40 million and has not ruled out adding more.” Full story.

NEW COALITION ALERT: Automotive groups are getting ready to launch an official coalition to combat potential auto tariffs from the Trump administration, Gloria Bergquist, vice president of public affairs at the Auto Alliance, told PI. “We’ve been coordinating for weeks and we’re looking to coordinate in a more official way,” she said. The coalition, which consists of the Auto Alliance, the American Automotive Policy Council, the Auto Care Association, the American International Automobile Dealers Association, Global Automakers, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association, got together prior to the Commerce Department’s hearings on auto tariffs earlier this month. It will likely announce an official name in the next two weeks. It’s already run an ad in The Wall Street Journal opposing the tariffs.

BUSINESS LOBBY TELLS POMPEO HOW IT FEEL ABOUT TRADE WAR: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged on Monday to ramp up the Trump administration’s diplomatic engagement with Asia in a speech that followed a blistering attack on the president’s trade policies by a usually stalwart Republican business ally,” The New York Times’ Gardiner Harris reports. “Thomas J. Donohue, the longtime U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive, introduced Mr. Pompeo at an Indo-Pacific business forum by criticizing protectionist trade measures that he said led to both the Great Depression and World War II. He said American commitment to free trade since then had kept the peace around the world. ‘If our companies lose access to foreign markets, they will struggle to remain competitive in the global economy,’ Mr. Donohue said in a clear reference to President Trump’s trade war and tariffs. ‘Today, foreign policy is domestic policy.’” Full story.

NEW FIRM ALERT: John Sawyer, who was director of federal affairs for the National Association of Community Health Centers, launched his own firm last week. The firm, JTS Policy & Strategy, will focus on the health care sector.

SPOTTED: At the D.C. Communicators reception hosted at the American Trucking Associations’ townhouse last night, according to a PI tipster: Frank Coleman of the Distilled Spirits Council, Jeff Solsby of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, Sue Hensley of the American Trucking Associations, Katie McBreen and Bethany Aronhalt of the National Retail Federation, Ron Bonjean of ROKK Solutions, Steve Danon of the National Restaurant Association, and Christin Baker of Ford Motor Company.

JOBS REPORT

— Greg Lebedev has joined the advisory board of Potomac International Partners. He’s also the chairman of the Center for International Private Enterprise and a senior adviser to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among other roles.

— Courtney Houston-Carter is now a director of government affairs at U.S. Bank. He was previously a legislative assistant to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

— Microsoft has promoted Portia Wu to managing director of U.S. public policy, reporting to Fred Humphries, the company’s corporate vice president of U.S. government affairs. She was previously director for workforce policy. Microsoft has also hired Angel Smith and Daniel Lerner as directors on the Azure government affairs team and Ryan Connor as a program manager. Smith previously worked for the House Intelligence Committee, Lerner previously worked for the Senate Armed Services Committee and Connor previously worked for Burson-Marsteller.

— David “Chip” Bartlett, Sean Murphy and Leela Vosko have joined the Independent Community Bankers of America. Bartlett, who was previously a senior legislative assistant for Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), will be vice president of congressional relations; Murphy, who was previously a strategic account manager for FIS, will be vice president of member relations for the Midwest; and Vosko, who was previously manager of marketing and communications at the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, will be director of marketing engagement.

— Eva Bandola is now a director at Definers Public Affairs. She previously was a senior account manager at Trident DMG, Lanny Davis’ firm.

— Kelly Ryan has left Square Communications, where she was account executive and social media manager. She will be going to Marquette University Law School.

NEW JOINT FUNDRAISERS:

McCaskill Sinema Victory Fund (Sen. Claire McCaskill [D-Mo.], Rep. Kyrsten Sinema [D-Ariz.], Missouri Democratic State Committee, Arizona Democratic Party)

Young Victory Committee (Rep. David Young [R-Iowa], Republican Party of Iowa)

NEW PACs:

Defend Justice PAC Inc. (super PAC)

Transparency In Government PAC (super PAC)

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:

Adeline Strategies, LLC: International Dairy Foods Association

Ballard Partners: CKP Insurance, LLP

Cassidy & Associates, Inc. (formerly known as Cassidy & Associates): Husch Blackwell Government Strategies on Behalf of Bayer AG

Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting: GoodRx

Freemyer & Associates P.C.: EIP Credit Co. LLC, and EIP III Credit Co., LLC

Jeff Burton: Jupiter Oxygen

Park Strategies, LLC: Catholic Health Services of Long Island

Potomac Strategic Development Company, LLC: City of Grand Rapids

Potomac Strategic Development Company, LLC: Kent County Administration

Richard Sawaya: Halliburton Energy Services

Stonington Strategies LLC: B & H Foto & Electronics Corp

The Brightup Group LLC: American Supply Association

Timothy R. Rupli & Associates, Inc.: National Credit Alliance

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS:

Ballard Partners: Globovision Tele Ca, Corp.

Peck Madigan Jones: Junction Investments

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