Univision says it will lobby hard on DACA Presented by American Academy of Dermatology Association

With David Beavers, Aubree Eliza Weaver and Daniel Lippman

UNIVISION WILL LOBBY HARD ON DACA: As President Donald Trump pursues a potential deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on DACA, companies continue to mobilize in support of the legislation. Univision sent a letter to its employees on Wednesday outlining its strategy to preserve DACA, which includes lobbying, public-service announcements and efforts to mobilize Univision viewers. “We are monitoring Congressional activity and plan to weigh in privately and publicly with Congress at every opportunity to cite Univision’s support of DACA,” wrote Jonathan Schwartz, Univision’s chief legal and corporate affairs officer. “We consider a vote on DACA to be a ‘key vote,’ meaning that Univision has made the legislation a priority in terms of our support.”

— Others lobbying on DACA include more than a dozen universities; Donald Graham, the chairman of Graham Holdings and former publisher of The Washington Post, who hired Navigators Global to lobby on the issue; Cummins; the Los Angeles Unified School District; and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which hired Vectis Strategies to lobby on the issue in March.

21ST CENTURY FOX BACKS ANTI-SEX-TRAFFICKING BILL: Chip Smith, the executive vice president of global public affairs at 21st Century Fox, sent a letter to Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Wednesday throwing the company’s support behind their Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. The letter pits the company against the Internet Association, Google and other big tech companies, which have been at odds with 21st Century Fox for years and are opposing the legislation. Smith took a barely veiled shot at them in the letter, writing, “It is unfortunate and alarming that critics of your bill would resort to hyperbole and scare tactics, arguing that passage of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act will signal the demise of free speech and innovation on the internet. Thankfully, those critics, influential as they may be, do not speak for the entire internet community.”

— The Internet Association — which represents Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Uber and other tech companies — was not amused. “Internet companies devote considerable resources — both monetary and engineering expertise — to ridding the internet of human traffickers like backpage.com through active collaboration with law enforcement, work with non-profits, and by leveraging the power of their platforms,” the association said in a statement to PI. “It’s insidious to see other companies attempt to curry favor with Congress by sending letters, rather than working to rid the internet of these bad actors and bring justice to victims.”

CLYBURN AIDE LEAVES FOR CVS: Ashli Palmer is leaving the Hill to become a lobbyist for CVS Health, where her title will be director of federal government affairs. She was previously policy director for Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the assistant Democratic leader. Before that, she worked for the Agriculture Department and in the office of former Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.).

Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Tips: [email protected]. Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.

A message from American Academy of Dermatology Association: Board-certified dermatologists treat more than 3,000 diseases, including skin manifestations of COVID-19. American Academy of Dermatology Association members are virtually on Capitol Hill this week, strongly supporting the bipartisan Coronavirus Provider Protection Act (H.R. 7059), which would protect physicians from unwarranted COVID-19-related lawsuits while working in good faith during this public health emergency.

CORRECTION: PI included an excerpt of a POLITICO story on Wednesday that misstated the American Academy of Dermatology’s position of repealing Obamacare. The association did not take a position on the issue. The story has been corrected. POLITICO regrets the error.

HOW HARRY ALFORD EXERTS INFLUENCE IN WASHINGTON: The final installment in Zachary Mider’s blockbuster Bloomberg News series, on the use and abuse of amicus briefs, profiles Harry Alford, the founder and chief executive of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. “Alford has filed friend-of-the-court briefs in recent years challenging Playboy centerfold Anna Nicole Smith’s claim to an oil fortune, backing a finance executive’s quest for a $7 million severance and siding with Samsung Electronics Co. in a patent dispute with Apple Inc.”

— “Outside the courtroom, he has endorsed a phosphate mine, opposed gambling expansion in Maryland and advocated for the owners of Argentine debt. He has weighed in on a rum-tariff dispute involving the U.S. Virgin Islands and favored restrictions on solar power in Florida. He has both invited and opposed a shutdown of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The common thread: Someone with deep pockets stood to gain from Alford’s words. Many of his efforts also coincided with campaigns run by DCI Group LLC, a Washington consulting firm that gets paid to generate just the sort of advocacy Alford provides.” Full story.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER FLY-IN: The National Music Publishers’ Association hit the Hill on the Wednesday to press members of Congress on music licensing reform. Musicians including Logan Brill, Ryan Kinder, Paul Overstreet and Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish met with lawmakers. Members of the Association of Women’s Business Centers are also in town and meeting with Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) and Diane Black (R-Tenn.).

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RT: The Hill’s Megan Wilson has answers to your questions about RT’s announcement that the Justice Department has asked the Russian state-owned TV station to register as a foreign agent. “At least three other media companies have registered with the Justice Department, with the most prominent being China Daily, a state-owned outlet. The other two are companies in Japan and Korea that re-broadcast programming from those countries into the United States. … During the Cold War, the state-owned Soviet Life Magazine hired a consulting firm that registered with the Justice Department. Other Russian or Soviet-era publications, both public and private, have also had representatives register as foreign agents in the past, though all of those contracts have been terminated.” Full story.

IF YOU MISSED IT LAST NIGHT: “The U.S. Office of Government Ethics has quietly reversed its own internal policy prohibiting anonymous donations from lobbyists to White House staffers who have legal defense funds,” POLITICO’s Darren Samuelsohn reports. “The little-noticed change could help President Donald Trump’s aides raise the money they need to pay attorneys as the Russia probe expands — but raises the potential for hidden conflicts of interest or other ethics trouble. ‘You can picture a whole army of people with business before the government willing to step in here and make [the debt] go away,' said Marilyn Glynn,” a former acting OGE director during the George W. Bush era. Full story.

— Readers: Have you given to one of these legal defense funds? Would you consider doing so if you could remain anonymous? Let me know: [email protected]. I’ll keep you anonymous, of course.

JOBS REPORT:

— Carol Danko is joining the administration as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation’s managing director of communications. She was previously vice president of public affairs at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

— Purple Strategies has hired Ben Kane as an account manager on their insights team. He was previously a senior associate at the Glover Park Group.

— Dezenhall Resources has added David Vorland as a vice president. He was previously a policy adviser in the secretary of defense’s office at the Pentagon.

— The Consumer Bankers Association has tapped Brad Conner as the next chairman of its board of directors. Conner is vice chairman of consumer banking for Citizens Bank.

— Paul Dorsey has left the Hill to join the National Automobile Dealers Association as manager of legislative affairs. He was previously a legislative aide for Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.).

— Hillary Alvaré has joined FamousDC as director of partnerships. She was previously manager of partnership development for POLITICO Live.

SPOTTED: At a going-away party for Nadeam Elshami, who's leaving Pelosi’s office to join the Signal Group, in the Rayburn Room yesterday, according to a PI tipster: Pelosi, Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Ed Markey of Massachusetts; Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Joe Crowley of New York, John Conyers of Michigan, John Sarbanes of Maryland, Debbie Dingell of Michigan, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Nita Lowey of New York, Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Brad Schneider of Illinois, David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Carolyn Maloney of New York, Pete Aguilar of California, Louise Slaughter of New York, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, Maxine Waters of California, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Barbara Lee of California, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Sheila Jackson Lee of Florida and Jared Polis of Colorado; Jen Palmieri; Izzy Klein of Roberti Global; Tom Kahn of the American Federation of Government Employees; Steve Elmendorf of Subject Matter; Peter Karafotas of Cicilline’s office; Paul Tencher of Markey’s office; Yebbie Watkins of Rep. Jim Clyburn’s office; Matt Gelman of Microsoft; Brad Wolters of Signal Group; Todd Schulte of FWD.us; Paula Short of Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid; Brendan Daly of Save the Children; Jon Stivers of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission; Alexandra Veitch of CSRA; Tom Manatos of Spotify; and Danny Weiss, Pelosi’s new chief of staff.

ON THE CALENDAR: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne will speak on NAFTA at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies at 4 p.m. today following a morning meeting with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

NEW JOINT FUNDRAISERS:

Lou Victory Fund (Rep. Lou Barletta, Leaders Only Unite Political Action Committee, NRSC)

NEW PACs:

Hoosiers For Conservative Values (Super PAC)

The People'S Ticket PAC (Leadership PAC: Arnold Sweeney)

The Washington Empire Super PAC (Super PAC)

WitsPAC (PAC)

WitsPAC: c/o Dillard and King, LLC (PAC)

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:

Jake Perry + Partners: Elevate Credit

Ochin Inc.: Ochin Inc.

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS:

None

Follow us on Twitter Theodoric Meyer @theodoricmeyer