Subject: POLITICO Influence: Lobbyist prom — Mercury hires Alvarez, Public Affairs Council hires Horsley, Save the Children Action Network hires PMJ's Murphy, Regan leaving Fox
From: POLITICO Influence <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 12:27:37 -0600

By Isaac Arnsdorf | 04/28/2016 02:24 PM EDT

With help from Cogan Schneier and Brianna Gurciullo

LOBBYIST PROM: Last night the Bryce Harlow Foundation dinner raised a record of almost $530,000 to fund graduate students starting careers in government relations. Sen. Chuck Schumer (Chucky) introduced former Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Blanchey), now at her own lobbying shop. Former Rep. Dave Camp, now with PwC, introduced House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas). Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) told stories about Harlow, whom he once assisted in the Nixon White House. 

Kevin Burke of Airports Council International chaired the dinner. Foundation chair Jeff Birnbaum of BGR Public Relations said, "People who complain about lobbyists and the so-called special interests often are lobbyists themselves who represent interests that happen to benefit from making the special-interest argument." SPOTTED: Craig Purser of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Dawn Sweeney of the National Restaurant Association, Bryce Harlow's son and grandson (both named Bryce Harlow and both lobbyists), Katherine Lugar of the Hotel and Lodging Association, Meredith Baker of CTIA The Wireless Association, Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Jeff Strunk of Forbes-Tate, Maurice Perkins
 of ACLI, Ivan Adler of McCormick Group, Annie Policastro of UPS, Andrew Kovalcin of the Chamber, Neil Chatterjee and Erica Suares from Sen. Mitch McConnell's office, Brian Johnson, Khary Cauthen and Louis Finkel of API, Kelley Hudak from Rep. Steve Scalise's office, John Sandell, Harold Hancock and Barbara Angus from Ways & Means staff, Booth Jameson of ACC, Bill Koetzle of Chevron.

GAINFULLY EMPLOYED:

- Mercury hired Danielle Alvarez as vice president on its Florida public affairs team. She was the director of external affairs at economic development organization Enterprise Florida, press secretary for Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, and statewide events coordinator for Gov. Rick Scott's reelection campaign.

- The Public Affairs Council (one of the professional organizations competing to pick up the Association of Government Relations Professionals' pieces) promoted Sheree Anne Kelly to senior vice president and hired Laura Horsley as its new director of marketing and communications. She was vice president of communications and marketing for the American Society of Interior Designers.

- Sheila Murphy joins Save the Children Action Network as senior director of government relations from Peck Madigan Jones. She was an aide to Sens. Tom Daschle, Dick Durbin, Bob Kerrey, Ben Nelson, Tom Carper and, most recently, Amy Klobuchar.

- Pro Technology's Alex Byers reports for POLITICO's On Media blog 21st Century Fox's top lobbyist, Michael Regan, will step down by June 30 after 15 years running the company's Washington office. Regan, a Republican and close friend of Rupert Murdoch, will likely be replaced by a Democrat, as Fox's policy team already has a strong team of Republicans. Regan will act as a Fox consultant after he leaves, and a successor "will be named shortly." Regan joined the firm in 2001, when it was still News Corp., before the company split into two publicly traded companies - Fox and News Corp. - in 2013. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e7ddd149573b5855ce58c97434604f63b727c6fc94a0e76b150fba06912df449

- Fred H. Hutchison, founder and executive director of LNG Allies, has joined the pro-LNG exports coalition Our Energy Moment as its new executive director.

HAPPY THURSDAY! Congratulations to Aretha Franklin for having a Yale residential college named after her! Send pitches and tips to [email-masked].

BLUEGRASS: Jeff Forbes, Robert Raben and John Weinfurter are hosting a fundraiser next month for Lexington, Ky., Mayor Jim Gray who's running for Sen. Rand Paul's seat. The invitation also names Sens. Harry Reid, Chuck "Chucky" Schumer, Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Murphy, Tammy Baldwin and Heidi Heitkamp, and Rep. John Yarmuth.

HORSE RACE: Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is in Washington today to advocate for legislation to give the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency oversight of horse racing. He'll speak with the Congressional Horse Caucus co-chairs Andy Barr (R-Ky.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), who have introduced the Thoroughbred Horseracing Integrity Act, with 34 cosponsors, Flay will also meet with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), as well as Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the ranking Democrat on the House Energy & Commerce Committee. He will also attend the Coalition for Horse Racing Integrity Reception in Rayburn tonight. Shawn Smeallie and David Urban from ACG are lobbying on the issue. 

STONE COLD: Campaign Pro's Scott Bland reports several high-powered GOP operatives have formed the Granite Voices PAC in an effort to defeat New Hampshire Republican Rep. Frank Guinta in his primary against former BAE Systems executive Rich Ashooh in September. The list includes Chris Christie alum Matt Mowers as general consultant, former Mitt Romney ad-man Russ Schriefer on media, Charlie Spies, an attorney for both Jeb Bush's and Romney's super PACs, as legal counsel, and John Kasich's New Hampshire campaign manager Simon Thomson as treasurer. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e7ddd149573b58554f5c6bf82f42e050ef36cfc319bffcf7ffb1573d0b67c777

UNDER PRESSURE: POLITICO's Rachel Bade, John Bresnahan and Colin Wilhelm report labor leaders are pushing House Democrats to demand Republicans eliminate a provision in the Puerto Rico rescue package that directs bondholders to receive payment before retirees during debt restructuring. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders and Mary Kay Henry, leader of the Service Employees International Union, met with Senate Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva Tuesday to discuss the issue. Under Puerto Rico's constitution, payments to creditors, like bondholders, are prioritized over pensioners, and House
 Republicans kept that mandate in their first draft of the bill to bring more conservatives and bondholders into the negotiations. The pressure from unions to change the provision could jeopardize Republican support for the legislation, which is running out of time. Puerto Rico's government bank will default May 1 on a $422 million debt payment, and then again on a $2 billion payment July 1. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e7ddd149573b5855d868418d78ec20cd77208a47beac2120c5926185bd2d2981

FULL DISCLOSURE: The House Ways and Means Committee is marking up Peter Roskam's (R-Ill.) that would lift the requirement for nonprofit groups to show their donors to the IRS. Good-government groups including the Sunlight Foundation, the Brennan Center for Justice, Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, CREW and Public Citizen are up in arms, while politically-inclined secret-money groups that would benefit, like the Kochs' Freedom Partners, support the proposal. (Another Koch network group, Americans for Prosperity, this month won a court decision allowing them to withhold their donor list from California Attorney General Kamala Harris.)

- Reps. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) are the co-chairs of the new Congressional Campaign Finance Reform Caucus, launching today.

BENCHMARKS: Lobbying spending fell 3 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the biggest drop since 2013, Will Tucker at OpenSecrets reports. Pharmaceutical companies, crop producers and pro-abortion groups were among the industries that saw gains. Pharma spending - including companies and organizations like GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Novartis AG and PhRMA - surged about 21 percent from the previous quarter. One of the biggest targets was the 21st Century Cures Act.

CABLE GUY: Bloomberg's Todd Shields reports that as industry groups eye the Federal Communication Commission's vote today on whether to propose rules regulating rates cable and phone providers can charge competitors to carry business data, the cable industry has begun to resent the Commission's leader, who once was one of them. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler led both the National Cable Television Association and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, and worked as the managing director at venture firm Core Capital Partners before President Barack Obama nominated him in 2013. Wheeler's FCC has been less than favorable to the industry - Rich Greenfield, a telecom analyst with BTFIG
 LLC in New York, cited the FCC's thwarting of Comcast Corp.'s merger with Time Warner Cable Inc., its net neutrality rules and its effort to break cable providers' grip on set-top boxes as blows to the industry. NCTA gave no comment on today's vote, though the group, whose members include Comcast, Time Warner and Charter Communications, has criticized some of Wheeler's policies in the past. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e7ddd149573b58555000e967580d53e69c258236915b90e5e7bdd1913a28bcd2

You're Invited: POLITICO's State of the Race Event - Mike DuHaime, Stephanie Cutter, Kevin Madden, April Ryan and POLITICO's Mike Allen discuss major narratives playing out on the campaign trail in the final stretch before each party announces its nomination. Monday, May 2 - 2:45pm; Washington Hilton - 1919 Connecticut Ave NW. RSVP: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e7ddd149573b5855a9051b37d21f1d913c5cebb5ec233228f5a2b3c13bef0ef5

SPOTTED at Joe's Stone Crab: former Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), now senior VP of strategic integration & partnerships/managing director at advertising firm R&R Partners.

- HLP&R Advocacy's Tim Hannegan, Daniella Landau and Jennifer Poersch celebrated the addition of their newest partner, Jerr Rosenbaum, at Stanton & Greene Wednesday night. The specialty cocktails were "Maker's America Great Again" and "Feel the Tito's Bern." SPOTTED: Sens. John Cornyn, Thad Cochran, and Jack Reed; Reps. Robert Hurt, Billy Long, Richard Hudson, David Rouzer, Dan Newhouse and Kyrsten Sinema; former Rep. Jack Kingston; Steve Johnson of American Airlines, Bob Helm of General Dynamics, Rita Lewis of NCTA, Lance Mangum of FedEx, Ambassador Tim Rosser and Caroline Beresford of the Embassy of New Zealand, Jeff Shockey and Art Cameron of The Boeing Company, Steve Hartell of Amazon,
 Hugh Gamble of Salesforce.com, Ken Wingert from National Association of Realtors, Michael Meehan from Square Communications, Katie Oppenheim from Merck, Jen Swenson from Pfizer, Jill Zuckman from SKDK, Jennifer Hing of the House Appropriations Committee staff; Julie Dwyer, Sen. McCaskill; Gerry Petrella, DPC; Meghan Taira, Sen. Schumer; Andrew Siracuse, Sen. Cornyn; Neal Campbell, Sen. Reed; Arjon Mody, Sen. Barrasso; Ned Michalek, Rep. Engel; Alex Herrgott, Senate EPW; Toni-Marie Higgins, Sen. Boozman; Shelley Husband, House Judiciary Committee; Meyer Seligman, Senate Appropriations Committee; Kate McGregor, House Natural Resources Committee; Carrie Meadows, Rep. Newhouse; Brendon Plack,
 Sen. Thune; Andrew Duke, Rep. Hensarling; Jeannette Windon, Sen. Kirk; Ron Bonjean, ROKK Solutions; John Scofield, Rob Collins and Martin Delgado of S-3 Group; and Chris Walker, JDA Frontline.

- Jim Nicholson, former RNC Chair, Vatican ambassador and VA secretary, is the keynote speaker at the Student Leader Awards presented by Kiwanis Club of Washington today.

NEW PAC REGISTRATIONS:
Common Sense Leadership for America
Conservative Action PAC
Full Employment Now-Political Action Committee 
Reignite Iowa
Strong Leadership for America

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:
Dutko Worldwide, LLC (doing business as Grayling): Wayfair LLC
Foresight Law + Policy PLLC: Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation
Peck Madigan Jones: The Ickes and Enright Group (on behalf of Puerto Rico Healthcare Crisis Coalition, Inc.)

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS:
Freemyer & Associates P.C.: Anadarko Petroleum Corp
Legal Momentum: Legal Momentum
Nutter & Harris, Inc: Plum Creek Timber Company

TERMINATIONS - NO ACTIVITY:
Xaxax Analytics LLC: Xaxax Analytics LLC

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