LIV'S PR NETWORK: "As the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament prepared for its launch this year, it quietly contracted the public relations giant Edelman for help. The relationship, which ended in March, was never filed with the Department of Justice under foreign lobbying rules," Hailey Fuchs and Daniel report. — The golf marketing firm Performance54 contracted United Entertainment Group, an Edelman subsidiary, to help launch LIV Golf, an arrangement confirmed by Performance54 COO Gary Davidson and a spokesperson for LIV Golf. It "illustrates the degree to which LIV Golf has been able to lean on establishment institutions and professionals even amid a controversial rollout of a tour that has roiled professional golf and captured lawmakers' attention in Washington." — "Ari Fleischer, who was press secretary in the Bush White House, has done public relations work for LIV, and former President Donald Trump has offered his own endorsement of the tour — by holding an event at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club in late July," with another LIV tournament slated for Trump Doral in the fall. — "In a statement, Kate Meissner , an Edelman spokesperson, said the firm does not currently have a relationship with LIV Golf. However, she confirmed that United Entertainment Group was enlisted by Performance54 for a project last year that has since concluded. Meissner maintained that the project did not fall under FARA requirements. When asked about the project's details, she said the firm has 'confidentiality commitments with all of our clients and are unable to share specific information.'" BALLARD TEAMS UP WITH K-12 LOBBYIST: Ballard Partners today announced that it has struck up a strategic partnership with education lobbyist Tom Cerra. Cerra is a former deputy superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and has served as the district's lobbyist for more than two decades while running an education consulting firm. He'll register to lobby at the federal level as needed on behalf of K-12 clients, Ballard's Justin Sayfie told PI. ANOTHER ONE: Apple has nabbed another top government antitrust official, POLITICO's Josh Cisco reports, "marking the latest of a series of government enforcers to decamp to the tech giants they've been investigating." — "Until recently, Jeff Wilder served as Director of Economics at the DOJ's antitrust division, supervising the economic aspects of antitrust probes including merger reviews and the tech giants." DOJ, of course, is in the middle of antitrust litigation against another tech giant, Google, and is investigating Apple for potential antitrust violations as well. — "Wilder is the latest in a long line of DOJ and Federal Trade Commission antitrust officials going to Apple. Kyle Andeer, who oversees the company's antitrust work, was previously a trial attorney at the FTC, and Frances Marshall, who led the antitrust division's SEP policy work between 2017 and early 2020, also now works at Apple. Wilder's departure came after DOJ hired Stanford business professor Susan Athey as its chief economist. She is a former Microsoft economist who testified on behalf of Epic Games in that company's antitrust trial against Apple." STOKING THE CULTURE WARS: "A conservative 'dark money' group is claiming that it will spend millions of dollars in the run-up to the midterm election blasting what it calls 'the woke ideology of sheltered white liberals,'" POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reports. — "Citizens for Sanity , a tax-exempt nonprofit organization working with prominent Republican consultants, has begun running a television, newspaper and billboard advertising campaign in battleground congressional districts, according to details shared first with POLITICO. This week, the organization says it will begin running a contentious six-figure TV ad blitz highlighting the issue of transgender women playing on sports teams that match their gender identity." — The commercial was produced by John Brabender , a longtime Republican operative "who has worked for a range of high-profile Republican candidates over the years," and "imagines a transgender athlete competing in a women's track meet and handily defeating the competition." — "Republican operative Ian Prior is serving as a strategic consultant to the group. He is also executive director of Fight for Schools , another nonprofit that helped to make critical race theory a central issue in the 2021 Virginia governor's race, as shorthand for a broader critique of how race and social issues are being taught in the K-12 education system. Most public school officials across the country say they do not teach the theory, even in districts where lawmakers are seeking to ban it." TIK'D OFF: TikTok's top lobbyist swiped back at a warning from the House's IT office last week urging House staffers not to download the wildly popular video platform due to security and privacy concerns, Huddle's Katherine Tully-McManus reports. — In a letter to House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor, TikTok's Michael Beckerman sought to counter "factual inaccuracies" leveled in CAO's advisory to staffers including about where U.S. user data is stored, and what data TikTok is able to collect from users. — "While we would have preferred a dialogue with your office prior to the Advisory being sent, we look forward to meeting with you to further discuss the facts laid out in this letter and ensure that accurate information about TikTok is shared going forward," Beckerman wrote.
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