How Warren would 'end lobbying as we know it' Presented by the Consumer Brands Association

With David Beavers and Daniel Lippman

HOW WARREN WOULD ‘END LOBBYING AS WE KNOW IT’: Elizabeth Warren debuted a new proposal this morning to “end lobbying as we know it” ahead of a speech in New York tonight, POLITICO’s Alex Thompson and I report. The plan would place myriad new restrictions on K Street, including banning lobbyists from making political contributions, hosting fundraisers and bundling for candidates — a provision likely to face legal challenges if it were ever enacted. (Warren and most of the rest of the Democratic presidential field have already sworn off lobbyists’ money in their campaigns.)

— Warren’s plan would scrap the “20 percent rule,” which allows those who devote less than 20 percent of the time spent working for a given client to lobbying to avoid registering to lobby. (The 20 percent rule is the reason Neil Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush, hasn’t registered as a lobbyist despite meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) and congressional staffers on behalf of a Kuwaiti company, for instance.)

— “The plan would also make it illegal to lobby for foreign governments, political parties and companies — a huge blow to K Street. Lobbyists registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act have been paid more than $1.2 billion since 2017, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That number doesn’t include the lobbying of foreign companies such as BP and Toyota, whose lobbyists aren’t considered foreign agents.”

— The plan would effectively ban many lobbyists from serving in government by forcing them to deregister as lobbyists for two years before entering government, with limited exceptions. “Corporate lobbyists” — it’s unclear exactly how the term is defined — would have to wait six years before serving in government — no exceptions, no waivers. “Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both placed their own restrictions on lobbyists entering their administration, but Warren’s proposal goes much further and would codify the restrictions in law, rather than imposing them by executive order.”

— There are also proposals to require more disclosure from “political intelligence” firms and to restrict “companies’ ability to hire former senior government officials, in an apparent attempt to crack down on former lawmakers and administration officials who advise corporate America without doing anything that would force them to register as lobbyists.”

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.

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NEW BUSINESS: Educational Testing Service, which administers the GRE and other standardized tests, has hired David Carmen and Dal Harper of the Carmen Group to lobby on H1-B visas, which allow companies to recruit skilled workers to labor temporarily in the U.S., according to a disclosure filing. ETS already retained one other lobbying firm, the Penn Hill Group. Former Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) of Holland & Knight will lobby for the defense contractor Navistar Defense on foreign military sales. And Alex Sternhell and Mike Ahern of the Sternhell Group belatedly registered to lobby for Facebook on blockchain and issues related to its Libra digital currency. (POLITICO’s Zachary Warmbrodt scooped that Sternhell was working for Facebook on Libra issues back in July.)

MEANWHILE, IN THE STATE CAPITALS: “The oil industry is trying to crush the booming electric car movement,” POLITICO’s Gavin Bade reports. Groups backed by Exxon Mobil and Charles Koch’s political network “are waging a state-by-state, multimillion-dollar battle to squelch utilities’ plans to build charging stations across the country. Environmentalists call the fight a reprise of the ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ battles that doomed an earlier generation of battery-driven vehicles in the 1990s.”

— “Oil-backed groups have challenged electric companies’ plans in 10 states, according to utility commission filings reviewed by POLITICO, waging regulatory and lobbying campaigns against the proposals. The showdown is taking place as utilities, eager to increase the demand for power, push for approval to build charging networks in locations such as shopping centers and rest stops in more than half the nation. … In the Midwest, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a trade group for gasoline makers, has filed comments against charging plans in Kansas and Missouri, and has opposed Colorado’s new zero-emission vehicle mandate as part of a ‘Freedom to Drive’ coalition of auto dealers and oil groups.”

FLYING IN: The National Automobile Dealers Association is hosting a fly-in today and Tuesday to discuss trade and tariffs, among other issues, with lawmakers. They’ll meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Reps. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Kevin Brady (R-Texas), among others.

WHAT LUTHER STRANGE IS DOING FOR THE SACKLERS: Why are Republican state attorneys general mostly supporting “a tentative multibillion-dollar settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma” while Democratic attorneys general are mostly against it? “Some of the attention has focused on the role played by Luther Strange, a Republican former Alabama attorney general” — and former senator, of course — “who has been working for members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma,” The Associated Press reports. “People familiar with the negotiations say he was at a meeting of the Republican Attorneys General Association over the summer, sounding out members about a settlement months before a tentative deal was struck this week. … Strange would not comment Friday.”

IF YOU MISSED IT ON FRIDAY: “A group calling itself Doctor Patient Unity has spent nearly $30 million on a campaign designed to kill the leading congressional legislation that would make it harder for hospitals and doctors to spring massive, unexpected bills on patients,” POLITICO’s Rachel Roubein reports. The group hasn’t disclosed who’s funding it “but multiple sources tell POLITICO that doctor-staffing firms Envision Healthcare and TeamHealth are significant sponsors — showing just how powerful corporate medicine has become in trying to derail changes to a system that has put thousands of Americans in debt. The group emerged shortly before Congress' August recess and began running $28.6 million in ads targeting prominent lawmakers, according to Advertising Analytics, an independent tracking firm.”

JOBS REPORT

— Jim Cicconi is returning to AT&T as senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs on an interim basis, POLITICO’s Morning Tech reports. Cicconi retired from AT&T in 2016 after 18 years at the company. But AT&T announced last year that Bob Quinn, whom the company hired to succeed Cicconi, was retiring amid fallout from the company’s $600,000 payments to President Donald Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, for strategic advice on AT&T’s proposed merger with Time Warner.

— Charlie Spies, a Republican lobbyist and election lawyer, has left Clark Hill for Dickinson Wright, the firm announced on Monday. Sloane Carlough, who lobbied alongside him at Clark Hill, is going with him, and Jessica Brouckaert is joining the firm as well. The news was first reported in Playbook.

— The American Legislative Exchange Council has hired Sherry Street as vice president of policy advancement. She previously was an external relations officer at the Illinois Policy Institute.

A message from the Consumer Brands Association: There has never been a more critical time to reimagine and rebuild America’s recycling system. It’s a massive undertaking that will take years to achieve but leave generations better for it. We have an opportunity to give Americans what they want, and the environment desperately needs — a modern recycling system that will make a positive, lasting impact. To make this opportunity a reality, the imperative — and sometimes the hardest part — is to begin. See how Consumer Brands has gotten started.

New Joint Fundraisers

None

New PACs

Americans United for Freedom PAC (PAC)

Americans United PAC (PAC)

Discovery Communications, LLC PAC (PAC)

Kentmere Lanr (Super PAC)

Our Revolution Illinois (PAC)

Pushback Political Action Committee Inc. (Super PAC)

Progressive Impact Fund (Super PAC)

The Richmond Planet (Super PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

A.L. Ross Associates: United Aeronautical Corporation

Carmen Group Incorporated: Educational Testing Service (ETS)

Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Port of Houston Authority of Harris County, Texas

Frost Brown Todd LLC: General Cable

Frost Brown Todd LLC: Gonzales & Gonsales

Holland & Knight LLP: ClearPath Foundation

Holland & Knight LLP: Navistar Defense, LLC

Mr. Amir Goulart Scharif: Fuel Ethanol Disruptive Biotechnology Research Center Incorpated [sic]

Mr. H.R. Bert Pena: Safe Drivers Worlwide/DBA The Texas Guardians [sic]

Neale Creek, LLC: South Carolina Ports Authority

Policy AZ, LLC: Hualapai Nation

Schagrin Associates: Autry Museum of the American West

Schagrin Associates: Community Health Center, Inc.

Schagrin Associates: Good Samaritan Hospital

Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Supergoop, LLC

Stapleton & Associates, LLC: Meggitt USA

Sternhell Group: Facebook, Inc.

The Russell Group, Inc.: Mastronardi Produce-USA, Inc.

New Lobbying Terminations

Clark Hill, PLC: GBX Group LLC

Howell Consulting Corporation: Northern Arapaho Indian Tribe

International Safety Equipment Association: American Society of Safety Professinals [sic]

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