Subject: POLITICO Influence: Dining for dollars — Pro-hedge fund ads notch $1.8M — Ketchum's Levinson to PhRMA
From: POLITICO Influence <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2016 12:02:45 -0600

By Isaac Arnsdorf | 05/02/2016 02:00 PM EDT

With help from Cogan Schneier and Brianna Gurciullo

JOLLY JAM: Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), who rattled the NRCC with his participation in the "60 Minutes" hidden-camera congressional fundraising expos&eacute; (even while holding his own fundraiser within days) is doubling down: Yesterday he appeared on Effective Radio with Bill Samuels (airing in New York and Westchester, Fla.), calling for replacing campaign ads with free and equal time on public television and a lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists. Jolly used to work for Van Scoyoc Associates and started Three Bridges Advisors.

- Fundraisers have been busy! Among the Democrats in the last couple weeks: Cedric Richmond of Louisiana hosted a "jazz fest" at the New Orleans Hyatt Regency; Tim Walz of Minnesota went to a Nats-Twins game; Donald M. Payne Jr. brought Nancy Pelosi to a black tie ball in Newark; Kathleen Rice of New York heard Bruce Springsteen play the Barclays Center; John Garamendi of California booked the Lincoln Suite for a Nationals-Phillies game; Brian Higgins of New York and Don Beyer of Virginia went to another game in the series; John Weinfurter of Witt O'Brien hosted a reception for Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts; the Eris Group hosted a reception for Elizabeth Esty of Connecticut; and Michelle
 Lujan Grisham of New Mexico held her "3rd Annual Tequila & Oysters Reception" at Johnny's Half Shell. More ball games and fancy meals to come this month.

AIR WARS: The Center for Individual Freedom, the nominal sponsor of those pro-hedge fund Puerto Rico debt ads, dropped another $38,000 on radio spots in Wisconsin and Minnesota, according to data from The Tracking Firm. That brings the running total to $1.8 million.

- And "Protect America's Consumers," the anti-CFPB group, spent another $34,980 on 1,150 cable spots this week in Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and West Virginia, making its total for the year almost $115,000.

HAPPY MONDAY! You can't fight in here, this is the Institute of Peace! You can send tips to [email-masked].

FINGERPRINTS: Biometrics company MorphoTrak registered to lobby for use in the Visa Waiver program, Medicaid, welfare and criminal justice. Becker & Poliakoff also represents the company.

SPORTY: 

- A group of retired WWE wrestlers hired Lockridge Grindal Nauen to lobby on concussion research and sports safety regulation. The team is led by Dennis McGrann. WWE owners Linda and Vince McMahon are major Republican donors.

- The NFL terminated John Dudinsky, who lobbied on sports betting issues. The league spent $340,000 on lobbying last quarter.

- The Raben Group is lobbying for the nonprofit U.S. Soccer Foundation for funding for mentorship and after-school programs. The filing names Karen Marangi [former counsel to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on the Judiciary Committee] and Joel Packer (former deputy assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs in the Department of Labor) as well as Broderick Johnson (former staff assistant for the Committee on Education and Labor's investigations staff), James Colligan (former litigation legal assistant for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom) and Rory Verrett [former legislative counsel for former Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.)].

SCRIPTS:

- The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America hired Lauren Levinson as vice president of communications, after eight years as a senior leader of Ketchum's Washington public and corporate affairs practice.

- Johnson & Johnson has hired BGR Government Affairs to lobby on the 340B drug discount program. HHS is in the process of making several technical changes to the program, which has grown dramatically in recent years - to the dismay of the pharmaceutical industry, POLITICO's Brett Norman reports. The agency is also weighing a proposed "mega guidance" that would overhaul the entire program, and it's unclear whether that will be finalized this year.

The BGR team includes principal Ryan Long [former chief health counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and former legislative director for Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas)], principal Dave Boyer (former senior director of federal affairs for PhRMA and former special assistant to the president for legislative affairs under George W. Bush) and SVP Brent Del Monte (former senior vice president for federal government relations at BIO and former counsel for the Energy and Commerce Committee).

- Carl Thorsen, the former Tom DeLay aide now with Thorsen French Advocacy, registered to lobby for Cardinal Health on prescription drug abuse and pharmaceutical market value.

DETROIT RISING: Clark Hill is lobbying for Wayne County, Mich., which is looking for federal funding for its health and social programs, juvenile justice programs, jail and transportation infrastructure. The group includes Lucius Vassar (Detroit's former chief administrative officer), Charles Spies (co-founder of Restore Our Future and former chief financial officer for Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign), Reginald Turner (former White House fellow under Bill Clinton and a current director of Comerica, Inc. and Masco Corporation), Carlos Gutierrez Jr. [former legislative aide for Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)] and Tom Kelly (former senior policy adviser at the White House Domestic
 Policy Council).

COURTSIDE: Rebecca Greenberg (former confidential assistant at the Department of Education and former appropriations committee staffer) is lobbying for Azoff MSG Entertainment, a joint venture with the Madison Square Garden Company, and Global Music Rights, which is part of that venture. She's focusing on issues related to artists and songwriters. Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said Tuesday that his committee will move forward with a review of copyright law - a process that began three years ago - and soon propose reforms. Greenberg previously served as vice president of government relations and public affairs for Live Nation Entertainment, whose former executive chairman Irving
 Azoff, is now the CEO of Azoff MSG Entertainment. Azoff has also been a personal manager for years, working with huge artists like The Eagles.

GOING CORPORATE: Republican PAC America Rising has launched a new for-profit company to help arm corporations, trade associations and the wealthy in political or public policy fights, The Wall Street Journal's Patrick O'Connor reports. America Rising chairman Matt Rhoades, who ran Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, will be the CEO if the new affiliate, called Definers. The new firm will provide the types of tools usually afforded politicians and campaigns to companies, such as opposition research, public opinion tracking tools and rapid responses in public fights or reputational challenges. Rhoades and Joe Pounder, cofounder of America Rising and a key member of Sen. Marco Rubio's
 presidential campaign team, modeled Definers on the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge, which helped Planned Parenthood face allegations its employees were selling fetal body parts. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=642dd09ed7887e257042f29247deb007d8aba9d1a5ecd044151b453d1c52fe59

FINTECH GEARS UP: Bloomberg's Elizabeth Dexheimer reports that as the online lending industry grows, facing more attention from lawmakers and government regulators, small business lenders have formed a group to differentiate themselves from other fintech companies. On Deck Capital Inc., Kabbage Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. and more have formed the Online Small Business Lending Task Force as extension of the Electronic Transactions Association, an online payments trade group. ETA's senior vice president of government relations, Scott Talbott, will lead the group. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=642dd09ed7887e2585f7d156f9874c6eb56c5e7c8e40d33472f6b052057b57c8

ICMYI: Playbook had all your WHCD spottings this weekend. One that got away: Thursday's Daily Caller/War Room Strategies pre-game with War Room Strategies founder Trey Hardin; Nick Giordano and Michael Formica of the National Pork Producers Council; Michael Robbins, The Moak Group; Krista Staley, Kaitlan Collins, and Joe Corbe of The Daily Caller.

NEW PAC REGISTRATIONS:
Defend Louisiana PAC (Independent expenditure-only committee - unauthorized)
Equal Access PAC (Independent expenditure-only committee - unauthorized)
Granite Voices PAC (Independent expenditure-only committee - unauthorized)

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:
Alston & Bird LLP: Cheniere Energy
Morphotrak: Morphotrak
Subject Matter: The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
Venn Strategies, LLC: Rail Security Alliance

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS:
MICA-PR, Inc. Lancashire Partners, LLC

TERMINATIONS - NO ACTIVITY:
Polaris Government Relations, LLC: Genentech

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