Subject: POLITICO Influence: Delahunt for JetBlue, McGivern for Justice Action — Connie Mack's Puerto Rico backlash — Jessica Venable to McAllister & Quinn, Margaret Shepard to 1776, Jai Chabria to Mercury
From: POLITICO Influence <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 May 2016 12:02:50 -0600

By Isaac Arnsdorf | 05/20/2016 02:00 PM EDT

With help from Brianna Gurciullo, Mary Lee and Daniel Lippman

LEGROOM: Former Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) is helping lobby for JetBlue. Delahunt joined Eckert Seamans after he retired from Congress and now acts as special counsel in Boston. Evelyn Sahr, Drew Derco (former intern for Eric Cantor) and Reese Davidson (formerly of the DOT's Office of Aviation and International Affairs) are working on the ground in Washington. JetBlue also has Federal Hill Group on its payroll.

MCGIVERN ON SENTENCING REFORM: Tim McGivern is joining the fight for criminal justice reform. The longtime AT&T lobbyist - and close associate of Paul Ryan - now at Ogilvy Government Relations will lobby on the Sentencing Reform Act, Recidivism Risk Reduction Act and Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act for advocacy group the U.S. Justice Action Network. McGivern still represents AT&T and also lobbies for the Cellular Telecom & Internet Association, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Pfizer and Verizon. This year, the U.S. Justice Action Network also hired Republic Consulting and Monument Policy Group. 

INTERNATIONAL: Cypress Advocacy is lobbying for the Turkish Institute for Progress on U.S.-Turkey immigration and education issues. The team includes Managing Director Mike Haywood [former legislative assistant for former Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.)], Director Steve Pavlick [former staffer to former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) and the NRSC] and Principal Jim Freeman (former senior legislative director for the National Association of Realtors). The institute also has Mercury in its corner. Among other things, the organization, formed last year, tries to influence states and school districts to not teach the 1915 Armenian massacres as a genocide.

HAPPY FRIDAY! Programming note: I'm off for the next two weeks. I leave you in the capable hands of Brianna Gurciullo and Mary Lee. So please send your tips to [email-masked] and [email-masked].

MACK THE KNIFE: Former Rep. Connie Mack, lobbying against the Puerto Rico debt deal on behalf of bondholders, ticked off House leadership by circulating a list of conservative voices opposing the bill - except many of the names on the list refuted that claim, POLITICO's Colin Wilhelm reports. The National Taxpayers Union, the Republican Study Committee, the Heritage Foundation, multiple members of Congress and conservative pundit George Will all denied they're against the legislation, as Mack claimed.

- "The deceptive efforts to mislead on Puerto Rico have backfired," said AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan.

- Mack's email "kind of struck me as odd at best and desperate at worst," said Ryan Ellis, a Republican consultant contracting for the lobbying firm Akin Gump.

- "It's unfortunate that a former member of Congress would put himself in a situation to spread dishonest information," said Javier Ortiz, executive director of the Puerto Rico Economic Recovery Initiative, another group backing the legislation. 

GRAIN STORAGE? The recently formed Direct Selling Caucus introduced its first bill, the Anti-Pyramid Promotional Scheme Act of 2016 (H.R. 5230). Sponsor and caucus chair Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who sold books with Southwestern Company to put herself through college, says the bill will help distinguish legitimate businesses from pyramid schemes. But critics such as the League of United Latin American Citizens say the bill seeks to define pyramid schemes narrowly to undermine the FTC's efforts to stop pyramid schemes. American Continental Group lobbies for the Direct Selling Association, which represents controversial multi-level marketing companies such as Herbalife.

HI, I'D LIKE TO ADD YOU TO MY PROFESSIONAL NETWORK:

- McAllister & Quinn hired Jessica Venable, most recently coordinator for research development services at Virginia Commonwealth University. The firm's education clients include Bucknell, Clemson and Gallaudet.

- Margaret Shepard, formerly executive director for communications and strategy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, started at 1776 as a Managing Director. 

- Tax lawyer Chuck Hurley joined Norton Rose Fulbright as a partner from Mayer Brown. spent more than 13 years with the US Department of Justice's Tax Division.

- Rick Limardo joins the Ways and Means Committee as coalitions director from the National Association of Manufacturers, where he worked as director of government relations. He previously was chief of staff to Rep. Jim Renacci.

- Katharina Kopp will join the Center for Digital Democracy as deputy director and director of policy. Most recently she was the director of the privacy and data project at the Center for Democracy and Technology. 

- Cassie Boehm, a press assistant for Sen. Mark Kirk, is becoming press secretary for Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC).

- George Riccardo is now macro policy analyst at Hedgeye Risk Management (Hedgeye Potomac Research) in D.C. He previously was a research assistant on the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

- After 20 years of working for John Kasich, Jai Chabria is joining Mercury Public Affairs as managing director in Columbus.

- SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association appointed Kiran Mand general counsel. Mand practiced corporate law at Gap and 24 Hour Fitness in San Francisco. She previously worked in DC at KBM Law Group and Whiteford Taylor & Preston.

- Joseph O'Neill, President and CEO of Public Strategies Washington, has been named The University of Texas at Austin Graduate School's Outstanding Alumnus for 2016.

VOTER VISION: Univision is rolling out an advertising campaign targeting Latino voters hoping to sway the outcome of the presidential election, reports Catherine Ho for The Washington Post. The company hired Victoria Luxardo Jeffries - an attorney who has represented Netflix, Google and other tech companies before the FCC and DOJ - as vice president of public policy. Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, previously a top partner at Monument Policy Group, oversees the company's lobbying.

MERGER MAYHEM: A wave of consolidation in the agriculture sector is raising concerns of anti-competitive practices by farmers and legislators, reports Jacob Bunge for The Wall Street Journal. Bayer's bid for Monsanto will put a majority of the corn-seed and pesticide market in the hands of three companies. President of the National Farmers Union Roger Johnson and director of biotechnology at the National Corn Growers Association Nathan Fields plan to bolster efforts in making their case before lawmakers. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R. Iowa) has said if the Bayer-Monsanto deal goes through, he may take it up with the DOJ. Monsanto's lobbyists include Akin Gump, American Continental Group and
 Lincoln Policy Group. Bayer's include Greenberg Traurig and Gephardt Group.

WHOSE CAMPAIGN IS IT ANYWAY? A group claiming to lobby on behalf of ordinary citizens against large insurance companies is in fact orchestrated by the hospital industry itself, reports Sheila Kaplan in STAT. The Campaign for Consumer Choice was created and quietly funded by the Greater New York Hospital Association and its union. State medical societies and the American Medical Association have also supported the group. David Balto, an antitrust lawyer who is organizing the campaign on behalf of hospitals and unions, says the funding isn't relevant. The group has also hired the Smoot Tewes Group, 270 Strategies, Strategies 360, Graff Public Solutions, and Remington Road Group.

SPOTTED at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's 20th anniversary party last night at Brick & Mortar: Larry Duncan from Lockheed Martin, Stu Ingis from Venable, Dave Grimaldi from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Shawn Donilon from NAB, Rachel Wolbers from TwinLogic, Dan Jaffe from ANA, Dick O'Brien from the 4As, Ed Desmond from the Toy Industry Association, Michelle Persaud from T-Mobile, Lyndon Boozer from AT&T, Todd Thorpe from News Corp, Leigh Freund from the Network Advertising Initiative, Matt Gelman from Microsoft, Bijan Madhani from CCIA, Kara Sutton from Trans Atlantic Business Council, Rita Cohen with Magazine Publishers of America, and Randall Rothenberg, Dave Grimaldi, Brad
 Weltman, and Alex Prope with IAB.

- At the Government Affairs Industry Network and PAC PALS reception at Del Campo: Andrew Fullerton, National Kidney Foundation; Blake Major, AIG; Eric Storey, American Academy of Family Physicians; Brian Horn, US Business Leadership Network; Ellie Shaw, American Express; Izzy Klein, Roberti Global; Hannah Levy, Beekeeper Group; Ferhan Hamid, INADEV; Cory Brown, Cygnal; Kenny Ames, Fireside21; John Nelson, The Readmond Group; Joshua Habursky, American Diabetes Association; Stephanie Klarer, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP; Allison Whitten, American Wood Council; Ryan Uyehara from Sen. Joe Donnelly's (D-Ind.) office; Remi Martin, AIG; Madeline Morgan, Bloomberg; Amy Meli, Aristotle; Carter
 DesRochers, International Council of Shopping Centers; Arielle Eiser, National Society of Professional Engineers.

- Amazon opened its new customer innovation center with a reception honoring the Washington State Congressional delegation on Thursday night before today's traditional Potlatch dinner. Among the attendees were: senior staff from offices of Sen. Patty Murray, Reps. Suzan DelBene, Jim McDermott, Derek Kilmer, Jamie Herrera Beutler and Adam Smith, Missy Foxman and Nika Nour with the Entertainment Software Association, Katherine Lister and John Mulligan from Monument Policy Group, Tim Day with the U.S. Chamber, and Jay Carney, Brian Huseman, Steve Hartell, Shannon Kellogg, Kate Viar, Ashleigh de La Torre, Naomi Duprey, and Jill Kerr with Amazon.

NEW PAC REGISTRATIONS:
1865 PAC
Copper State Rural (Independent Expenditure-Only Committee, Unauthorized)
Jobs, Education & Family First (JEFF PAC) (Non-Qualified Non-Party, Leadership PAC)
Midwest Growth PAC (Non-Qualified Non-Party, Unauthorized)

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:
Belvedere Strategies: Gephardt Group Government Affairs (on behalf of American Science & Engineering)
Belvedere Strategies: Gephardt Group Government Affairs (on behalf of the Water Quality Association)
HillStaffer, LLC: Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Porter Group, LLC: Harris Corporation

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS:
None

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a156919a5e833098fe6b701bf9dc51dfff15dd478ac82d017062508058df3370
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a156919a5e83309881c59677e958a0bca4fc01027c2c32daee5a347afdced24f or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=57cf03c73f21c5ef65b9c058ca0f6cfa66691761e73177ecd766c0cfef08661f50c18109eedc244f2cd21745eec196c663d91568d0d1656aThis 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-cf53-d7b8-a57d-cf7b04f40000&u=0000014e-f112-dd93-ad7f-f917a8270002&s=690e8c3a1c8ed4a6b647103d0ddfc6a6bdb93c374ae6f970c1b0d48c8962a48751b2decde19efe0d4896019b9aa287d9729001c96678d51119c038fe95bfc48d