Subject: POLITICO Influence: McLarty for Kurds — Fix for FARC victims — Franklin Square for drones, McBee for Virgin Galactic
From: POLITICO Influence <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2016 12:03:07 -0600

By Isaac Arnsdorf | 05/12/2016 02:00 PM EDT

With help from Brianna Gurciullo and Mary Lee

KURDS CONNECTION: McLarty Inbound, part of former President Bill Clinton chief of staff Mack McLarty's consulting business, registered to help Jordan's Capital Bank with access to deposits in Kurdistan. The filing names Richard Burt and Ali Tulbah.

DISTRICT OF COLOMBIA: TwinLogic Strategies is lobbying for Florida law firm Porter & Korvick on terrorism insurance. Last month, the House Judiciary Committee advanced legislation called the Captive Act, which would allow former hostages of the FARC to claim some of the assets that the United States has seized from the terrorist organization with ties to drug trafficking in Colombia, as Reuters reported. While a judge in Florida had awarded three former hostages $318 million, they could only claim a small part because of a technicality in current law. Chani Wiggins (former DHS assistant secretary for legislative affairs), the founder and president of Winn Strategies, is lobbying for Porter
 & Korvick, which represented the victims in the Florida case.

DRONE WAR: Franklin Square Group is representing the Drone Manufacturers Alliance. The filing names co-founder Matt Tanielian [former counsel to former Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.)], co-founder Josh Ackil (former special assistant to President Bill Clinton and staff director of the Office of Legislative Affairs), Kara Calvert Campbell [former adviser to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.)], Brian Peters [former press secretary for former Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.)] and Ryan Triplette (former chief intellectual property counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee). The alliance includes 3D Robotics, SZ DJI Technology, Parrot SA and GoPro.

TO INFINITY: Virgin Galactic retained McBee Strategic Consulting to lobby on issues that could impact the commercial space launch industry. The team includes Executive Vice President Erin Neal [former legislative assistant to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)], Managing Director Kimberly Dorgan (former senior executive vice president of public policy for the American Council of Life Insurers) and Executive Vice President Noe Garcia (former senior policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist). Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies also lobbies for Virgin Galactic.

HAPPY THURSDAY! Don't miss the communique. Please send tips to [email-masked].

WHILE YOU WERE STAKING out the Trump-Ryan summit, John Ratzenberger, better known as the mailman from "Cheers," testified at the House Small Business Committee.

POLITICO AT CONVENTIONS - Live programming originating from the POLITICO Hub during both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions this July will feature a range of conversations from headline interviews and policy discussions to watch parties and performances. Sign up to receive notifications about live programming: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=429070d0b5e94f3d52ff21743262b4fd819cca3086d34877a73dc4bccf6232d9

LOOSE ENDS: The president signed the trade secrets bill we wrote about Monday. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), one of the leading sponsors, spoke before the ceremony at Covington & Burling, one of the leading lobbying firms for the measure.

JOBS JOBS JOBS, and FLY-INS:

- The Beer Institute hired Dan Roth as Director of Communications from the office of Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.).

- Megan Ekstrom, previously head of government affairs for the International Fragrance Association, is the new vice president of government affairs and public relations for the Motorcycle Riders Foundation. The group is having its "Bikers Inside the Beltway" event today with dozens of motorcycle enthusiasts lobbying on updating the definition of a motorcycle, reestablishing the Motorcycle Advisory Council, the REFUEL Act and the Motorsports Act. "If you see tatted up dudes with ripped jeans and chains, don't worry, that's just our members," Ekstrom said. "And we apologize in advance for the longer than usual security lines into the Capitol."

- Ahead of their Hill meetings, nearly 40 chief state insurance regulators and senior staff with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners are hearing today from Sen. Susan Collins from Maine, Sen. Claire McCaskill from Missouri and Rep. Sean Duffy from Wisconsin.

- The National Cannabis Industry Association is lobbying on the Hill today and tomorrow. The trade association says it has over 100 pros in the legal marijuana industry meeting with congressional staffers on giving their businesses access to banking, lowering their tax rates and handing control of pot law over to the states. 

- Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning and Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), and Robert Lee, national cybersecurity fellow at New America, discussed cybersecurity and the vulnerability of the U.S. electrical grid with the website CMS Passcode on the hill this morning.

SPOTTED at the CME Group's reception in the Agriculture Committee hearing room yesterday: Reps. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), Bob Dold (R-Ill.), and Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), Terry Duffy of the CME Group, Kevin Edgar, Borden Hoskins, Jared Sawyer, and Chase Burgess of the House Financial Services Committee, Kenneth Bentsen and Dave Oxner of SIFMA, Rob Strayer from Sen. Bob Corker's office, Anna Bartlett Wright of the Consumer Bankers Association, Rachel Kelly from Rep. Jim Himes' office, Saat Alety fromRoyce's office, Chris Johnson of Liberty Mutual, Brett Quick and Natalia Odebralski from Sen. Mark Kirk's office, Mona Dooley from
 Rep. Peter King's office, Natalee Binkholder from Rep. Mick Mulvaney's office, Sean Gard from Rep. Gwen Moore's office, James Walsh from Rep. Ted Yoho's office, Charles Castagna from Rep. Carlos Curbelo's office and Casey Contres from Rep. Bill Shuster's office.

SOLIDARITY: Top officials at AFL-CIO and three public unions - American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the American Federation of Teachers; and the National Education Association - and environmentalist billionaire Tom Steyer are finalizing a new anti-Trump super PAC, POLITICO's Brian Mahoney and Kenneth Vogel report. Sources say the new venture will be led by Paul Tewes, top director of President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign.

TRADE-OFFS: Financial companies are threatening to pull out of supporting President Barack Obama's Pacific Rim trade deal unless the administration addresses their objection to a provision allowing foreign governments to require they maintain data servers within the country, reports Vicki Needham for The Hill. The groups object to which could be costly and risky. "We would rather see nothing happen than pass TPP with this provision," said Francis Creighton, executive vice president of government affairs at Financial Services Roundtable.

JUST A SPOONFULL OF SUGAR: Food groups such as The Sugar Association and General Mills are grumbling over a new regulation that would require food producers to disclose added sugars on nutrition labels, reports Lydia Wheeler for The Hill. The rule is currently under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget.

SPACE RACE: Heightened competition has space companies led by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson spending more on lobbying, especially with lawmakers whose districts have rocket facilities, reports Samantha Masunaga for the Los Angeles Times. Last year, United Launch Alliance spent $1.4 million on lobbying and Space X spent $1.7 million.

ZIKA FIGHT: Florida Gov Rick Scott lobbied GOP members of Congress and the Obama administration on $1.9 billion emergency funding request for the Zika virus, reports John Kennedy for the Palm Beach Post. Other Florida Republican members who support the need for a financing proposal include Vern Buchanan, David Jolly and Marco Rubio. Groups lobbying on Zika include the American Medical Association, Bayer, Arent Fox for SC Johnson & Son, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and the U.S. Travel Association.

NEW PAC REGISTRATIONS:
Character is Essential PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only Committee, Unauthorized)
Mid-Atlantic Solutions, Inc. PAC (The MAS Labor PAC) (Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized)
Progressive Priorities PAC (Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized) 

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:
Arnold & Porter LLP: The Institute of Internal Auditors
Christians United for Israel Action Fund: Christians United for Israel Action Fund
McLarty Inbound LLC: Capital Bank
Rosemont Group: New York Air Brake
Rosemont Group: PODS

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS:
Williams and Jensen, PLLC: American Bankers Association
Williams and Jensen, PLLC: Bi-State Development Agency (doing business as St. Louis Metro)

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