Subject: POLITICO Influence: Sixkiller on military transgender policy — Grimm to Orrick, Story Partners hires two, ACG replaces Raben at CEF — Fly-ins: ASCAP, NAPEO, AH&LA
From: POLITICO Influence <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 May 2016 12:05:11 -0600

By Isaac Arnsdorf | 05/18/2016 02:00 PM EDT

With help from Brianna Gurciullo, Mary Lee and Daniel Lippman

NEW DEALS:

- Mariah Sixkiller, who helped then-Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's (D-Md.) office to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell in 2010, recently registered the Palm Center, an advocate for LGBT service members, to lobby on the military's stalled policy on transgender personnel. (h/t LUNA + EISENLA media)

- Thorn Run Partners is lobbying for T-Mobile. The team includes founder Chris Lamond (former staffer for former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.)), Stuart Chapman (former chief of staff for former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.)), Jason Rosenstock (former legislative counsel to former Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.)) and Andrew Rosenberg (former legislative assistant for former Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.)). Thorn Run also recently registered to lobby for Comcast. The filing didn't specify which issues Thorn Run would cover, and T-Mobile already has a fleet of other consultants including Mercury Strategies, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Farragut Partners, Forbes-Tate, Harbinger Strategies, ML
 Strategies, Podesta Group, S-3 and Tauzin Strategic Networks.

- McKesson Corporation signed W Strategies founder and principal Darren Willcox (former assistant for health policy to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert) to lobby on legislation related to prescription drug abuse and health information technology. 

- The nonprofit U.S. Water Alliance retained Judson Greif (former finance director for Sen. Patty Murray's (D-Wash.) 2004 campaign) of K&L Gates to lobby on water infrastructure finance and funding issues. 

- Richard Cooper and Luke Barefoot of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are lobbying for the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico on the debt bill.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Send tips to [email-masked].

BUSINESS CARDS:

- Christopher Grimm is joining Orrick as a senior strategist in the public policy group, leading state legislative and regulatory practice. Orrick has been working on behalf of fantasy sports operators FanDuel and DraftKings, as well as Zenefits, DISH Network, AT&T, Fortress Investment Group and Microsoft. Grimm was formerly the president of DC Impact Group, an independent public affairs and government relations firm where he managed the fantasy sports campaign in 10 states; executive director of Fan Freedom, a national advocacy group for live entertainment and sports fans; and an account supervisor with strategic communications firm Powell Tate.

- Story Partners hired Tal Woliner as vice president from PR agency Ketchum and Philippa Levenberg as digital communications and advertising director from iStrategyLabs. At Ketchum, Woliner worked for IBM, Nestl&eacute;, the Council for Biotechnology Information's GMO Answers program, the auto aftermarket industry's Quality Parts Coalition, Airlines For America, Delta Air Lines, the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and The Clorox Company. Levenberg previously worked at LEVICK.

- American Continental Group's Sheryl Cohen was hired as the new executive director of The Coalition for Education Funding, succeeding Joel Packer, who's retiring. ACG will lobby for the organization seeking increased educational funding; the organization was previously represented by the Raben Group. Packer was Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-Conn.) chief of staff from 1999-2008 and managed his presidential campaign from Jan. 2007 to Jan. 2008. 

- Patricia (Pat) R. Hatler joined Squire Patton Boggs' financial services practice as counsel in Columbus, Ohio. She was most recently served as executive vice president, chief legal and governance officer at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Hatler was responsible for six divisions and 1,400 staff. She provided legal and regulatory support for Nationwide's mergers and acquisitions and implementation of Dodd-Frank regulations. She also led an industry coalition that persuaded Congress to amend Dodd-Frank's capital requirements and represented the insurer in the litigation and regulatory inquiries that followed Hurricane Katrina.

Other recent additions to Squire Patton Boggs' financial services practice include: Wolfgang Maschek, formerly senior counsel and vice president for international regulatory Affairs at Western Union; Donald Lamson, a former senior lawyer with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Bob Barnett, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Ray Natter, a former deputy general counsel of the OCC and senior lawyer at the Federal Reserve Board; Zach Luck, a former senior adviser to the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and Jim Sivon, a former general counsel of the Association of Bank Holding Companies and staff director for the Republican members of
 the House Financial Services Committee.

- Global Strategy Group opened a corporate impact practice to help corporations manage their reputations and corporate social responsibility, co-led by executive vice presidents Tanya Meck and Julie Hootkin. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7917fe5de9f7ec202bbda728115021a878d66fdd78fb4de2145240d7346c90e6

- Michael Kaplan, most recently president and CEO of AIDS United, is the new leader of the Melanoma Research Alliance.

- Caterpillar Foundation President Michele Sullivan joined the ONE Campaign's board of directors.

LIVIN' ON A PRAYER: Songwriters performed and donated manuscripts and lyric sheets to the Library of Congress at the library's annual "We Write the Songs" event Tuesday night with the ASCAP Foundation. "It's a great honor to stand in front of you and recognize the one word we're here to protect - copyright," ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams said. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) introduced Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon, who performed "Our Beautiful Country" from "Cold Mountain." Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) introduced Randy Goodrum, who performed "Bluer Than Blue" and "You Needed Me." ASCAP EVP of Membership John Titta introduced Monica, who performed "You Should've
 Known Better" and "I Know." Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) introduced MoZella, who performed "Wrecking Ball" and "One Call Away." Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) introduced Brett James, who performed "I Hold On," and Priscilla Renea, who performed "Something Bad" and "Oceans." Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) introduced Brian McKnight, who performed "Anytime" and "Back at One." Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced Desmond Child, who performed "Livin' On A Prayer" and "Livin' La Vida Loca."

- Today, ASCAP songwriters will meet with legislators on the hill to push for the Songwriter Equity Act and updating ASCAP's consent decree with the Justice Department. The meetings are led by ASCAP's lobbyists Harriet Melvin of Thorn Run Partners and Alec French of Thorsen French Advocacy. 

FLY-INS:

- The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations has 200 representatives in town this week to discuss new proposed regulations implementing the voluntary IRS PEO certification program and other new developments in workplace laws and regulations.

- H-2B employers from landscape, carnivals, hotels, forestry and other industries are meeting with their lawmakers to support the visa program and the returning worker exemption to their seasonal businesses and permanent workforce. 

- FaegreBD Consulting is bringing in 35 insurance executives representing the the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices to meet with Senate Banking Committee members on S. 1679, the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act, the Senate companion to the House-approved Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act (H.R. 2901).

- The American Hotel & Lodging Association and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association have more than 500 hoteliers from across the country meeting with lawmakers and hearing from Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and political analyst Charlie Cook. The hoteliers are opposing the new joint employer standard and DOL overtime regulation, asking for new restrictions on online booking websites, and seeking an FTC study on short-term rentals like Airbnb.

- More than 90 members of the National Association of Chemical Distributors met with members of Congress, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Office of U.S. Trade Representatives on Tuesday.

- Vice President Joe Biden will speak Thursday to the National Urban League.

- More than 250 American Land Title Association members are in town this week to support changed to new mortgage rules affecting disclosures about the cost of title insurance.

- Reps. Dave Brat (R-Va.) and John Sarbanes (D-Md.) spoke today at the inaugural meeting of the R Street Institute and New America's Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group to develop idea's to imrpove Congress's effectiveness. 

- More than 60,000 medical professionals, patients and advocates have contacted members of Congress opposing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' recent proposal on payments for drugs covered under Medicare Part B. The Community Oncology Alliance organized the campaign using Phone2Action grassroots advocacy tools.

- More than 120 members of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association are here to meet with more than 150 Senate and House offices and two executive branch agencies to lobby on tax and financial services matters and hear from former Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), the president & CEO of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee.

- The Options Clearing Corporation Executive Chairman Craig Donohue and members of the PAC Board have a reception tonight in the House Agriculture Committee Room.

RUNNING FOR OFFICE: The American Council of Life Insurers' three-mile Capital Challenge race Wednesday morning in Anacostia Park included Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark., fastest man in the Senate), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H., fastest woman in Senate), Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz., fastest woman in House), Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas, fastest man in House), Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Reps. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Steve Scalise (R-La.), Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) and Mia Love (R-Utah), White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and CBS' John Dickerson. The race benefits the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, an
 organization whose mission includes providing life-changing guide dogs to blind veterans. Supporting sponsors include ACLI member companies Guardian, Hannover Life Re, John Hancock, MassMutual, MetLife, Nationwide, New York Life, OneAmerica, Prudential, RGA, Transamerica, USAA and Western & Southern.

SPOTTED at last night's reception by Colombian Ambassador to the U.S. Juan Carlos Pinz&oacute;n honoring former House Speaker John Boehner: Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Reps. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Mario D&iacute;az-Balart (R-Fla.), Ambassador Thomas Shannon, former SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. John F. Kelly, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno, MSNBC's Luke Russert and Vanity Fair's Maureen Orth.

STREISAND EFFECT: Barbra Streisand is pushing a bill by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) to improve inclusion of women and minorities in biomedical research. Streisand sent a letter to all senators and co-authored an op-ed in The Hill with Women's Heart Alliance co-founder Ronald O. Perelman

NEW PAC REGISTRATIONS:
Blue Horizon PAC (Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized)
Californians for Fiscal Responsibility (Independent Expenditure-Only Committee, Unauthorized)
Citizens 4 a Better America (Independent Expenditure-Only Committee, Unauthorized)
Libertarian Youth Caucus (Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized)
Louisiana Rural Water Association Federal Political Action Committee (Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized)
Society for Conserving and Preserving Beliefs of Americans PAC (Non-Qualified Non-Party, Lobbyist/Registrant PAC)
Vapers United Fund (Independent Expenditure-Only Committee, Unauthorized)

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:
Banner Public Affairs, LLC: Coolfire Solutions
Belvedere Strategies: Yankee-Foxtrot (on behalf of Redlen Technologies)
Bret Healy (doing business as Riverbluff Strategies): Rosebud Sioux Tribe
Capitol Decisions, Inc.: Coalition to Stop Opioid Overdose (Informal Coalition)
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC: JetBlue Airways Corporation
Peck Madigan Jones: Varsity Brands, LLC
SLK Strategies: American Feed Industry Association
SLK Strategies: AquaBounty Technologies Inc.
SLK Strategies: Farm Animal Welfare Coalition (ad hoc coalition)
SLK Strategies: National Renderers Association
The Estell Group, LLC: City of Gary, Indiana
The FGA Group LLC: American E-Liquids Manufacturing Standards Association
Vectis Strategies: Parsons Corporation
Washington Premier Group, LLC: Federally Employed Women

TERMINATIONS - NO ACTIVITY:
Blank Rome Government Relations: Native American Contractors Association

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7917fe5de9f7ec20cc0a325340d5a3ee9e832ba2fbe0e045c383aa0a5ec03c52
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7917fe5de9f7ec20a1ec6de61de1d548b4a9f461c3ea38ff5341589be09ad721 or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=57cf03c73f21c5ef65b9c058ca0f6cfa66691761e73177ec0e60f9f00920ab5bcfef844c84478fddd9008d6e48e4d697a4530e2f2a84422fThis email was sent to [email-masked] by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

To unsubscribe,http://www.politico.com/_unsubscribe?e=00000154-c506-d750-a5fd-c5665ffb0000&u=0000014e-f112-dd93-ad7f-f917a8270002&s=81a0f879603cdff635eaaef4b49308f75c341a5e41ae69daf6e1de800a8346da52ef563261ff874489f028fe329047c791b52d71ea5511165550d38dc86ef365