| | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | | | With John Hendel, Daniel Lippman PR FIRM DRAGGED INTO PGA-LIV BRAWL DROPS TOUR: Clout Public Affairs — the PR firm whose work for both the PGA Tour and an advocacy group for 9/11 victims and their families got it dragged into the legal saga over the tour’s now-former rival LIV Golf — has dropped the PGA as a client following the golf leagues’ planned merger, Hailey Fuchs and I report. — The firm had been working to help the families of 9/11 victims agitate against LIV Golf over its funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund — one of a number of public relations or lobbying shops that had cashed in on the high-profile golf feud. — “Given recent events, we have respectfully ended our engagement with the PGA TOUR,” Clout President Ashlee Rich Stephenson told POLITICO on Wednesday. 9/11 Justice, the advocacy group, remains a client of the firm. — Clout’s work for both 9/11 Justice and the PGA Tour sparked LIV’s ire, and the Saudi upstart subpoenaed the firm as part of its litigation with the PGA, a legal dispute set to wind down as part of LIV and PGA’s forthcoming union. Clout, in turn, had accused LIV of trying to track the 9/11 families. — Brett Eagleson, the president of 9/11 Justice, said it was the right decision for Clout Public Affairs to part ways with the PGA Tour. The group had decided to hire Clout because the firm was also working with the PGA, an ally of the 9/11 families on this issue, he said. — “They’re choosing the side of justice and transparency,” he said of Clout’s decision to drop the Tour. “I wholly support their decision, and I’m proud to stand with them. I’m proud to support ’em.” Like similar coalitions that antagonized LIV’s Saudi ties, Eagleson’s group expressed fury at the merger announcement. — The split is also one of several golf-related breakups over the past week for consultancies linked to Washington and, in particular, the 2024 presidential race. Clout Public Affairs is a division of Axiom Strategies, which was founded by Jeff Roe, an adviser to the super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ White House bid. Over Memorial Day weekend, DeSantis hosted Eagleson and other 9/11 families along with Gold Star families and veterans at the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump, whose resort outside of D.C. was hosting a LIV tournament. FIRST IN PI: Kevin Cummins has left the cybersecurity startup Zscaler, where he was the firm’s first in-house lobbyist, to join Franklin Square Group as a partner. He’ll work on issues related to software, tech and cyber policy for the firm, whose clients include a host of tech or tech-adjacent startups and software providers. — Before working at Zscaler, Cummins was senior director of U.S. government affairs for software giant SAP America, and before that he served as a senior adviser to former Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a Senate appropriator and member of the Commerce Committee, and was a professional staffer on the Commerce Committee. Happy Thursday and welcome to PI, where we hope all of our East Coast readers are staying safe and out of the smoke. Send tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | A message from bp: The US is home to bp’s largest employee base, and we’ve invested $140B+ in the US economy since 2005. See how we’re investing in America. | | | BEIJING EMBASSY FLACK HANGS A SHINGLE: Michael Turner has launched Turner Global Solutions, a consulting firm focused on China and Indo-Pacific issues. Turner, who has also joined the Atlantic Council as a senior fellow, most recently spent the past four years at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, where he was head of communications for the embassy and focused on countering disinformation and strategic communications. — “I feel deeply honored to have served the nation as a U.S. diplomat and naval officer for nearly 24 years,” Turner told PI in an email, adding that he aims to use “my (relatively rare) recent experience on-the-ground in China” and his background with the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere around Washington, including on the Hill and with the intelligence community, “to help U.S. enterprises solve problems through analyzing risk, understanding trends in/about China, and developing crisis, strategic, and counter-disinformation narratives.” NAB TO HIKE DUES: The National Association of Broadcasters intends to hike dues for all its TV and radio broadcast members by 33.3 percent starting in January, according to an internal association message obtained by John. That’s a significant hike for this long-established lobbying powerhouse in Washington — and its leaders are telling members that “Big Tech” is partly to blame. — In its recent message to members, NAB board leaders Perry Sook and Dave Santrella blame the situation on having to cancel two of the association’s annual NAB Shows during the pandemic “as well as new threats from Big Tech and the auto manufacturing industry.” They cite a “major loss in revenue” but pledged to keep fighting for NAB’s signature lobbying priorities, including making sure AM radio stays in new vehicles (the subject of a Tuesday hearing) and reducing the regulatory fees that broadcasters pay. — “We do not take this increase lightly — our stations and yours are fighting every day to survive in a marketplace crowded with Big Tech companies that have nearly unlimited resources,” Sook and Santrella wrote. The board approved the hike “overwhelmingly without opposition,” they added. — NAB spokesperson Alex Siciliano told John the increase amounts to “a real vote of confidence by our board for our advocacy efforts and our success in Washington.” But the dues increase extends a decision NAB leaders took in 2020 to levy what the association said then was a one-time financial assessment on membership owing to pandemic economic pressures. The financial stress also follows tension flaring last fall between the NAB’s TV network and affiliate members over how to approach rules around the streaming era. HOME DEPOT LAUNCHES PUBLIC AFFAIRS PRACTICE: Home Depot is standing up a new public affairs operation that will operate alongside its lobbying shop in Washington. Sarah McDonald, a longtime member of the home improvement retailer’s government affairs team, will move over to serve as director of public affairs. — Evelyn Fornes and Megan Farrell will move over from Home Depot’s comms team to round out the new public affairs operation, the launch of which comes as corporate America has increasingly found itself trying to avoid being dragged into any number of ideological culture wars. FLYING IN: The United States Tour Operators Association held its annual fly-in on Wednesday to talk about a range of issues related to the tourism sector. Members were set to meet with Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), to name a few. — And the American Trucking Associations, which holds smaller fly-ins throughout the year rather than one giant event, also hit the Hill this week with truckers with its affiliates in Iowa, Kentucky and Ohio. Trucking execs and staff are meeting with 30 different offices from their respective delegations to call for a repeal of the excise tax on heavy-duty trucks and discuss supply chain, labor, energy and environment issues and lawsuit abuse.
| | | | A message from bp:   | | | ICYMI WEDNESDAY — KNOWING WILL HILD: The head of the conservative dark money group Consumers’ Research “is gearing up for his next battle against Wall Street and the forces behind ESG investing,” Bloomberg’s Saijel Kishan writes in a profile of the activist. — “Hild and his tiny staff at Consumers’ Research are at the forefront of the movement, crafting adversarial campaigns that attack money managers who try to combine profits with altruistic goals by using environmental, social and governance metrics to help decide where to invest.” — “The 37-year-old Hild, backed by powerful right-wing operative Leonard Leo, is part of a network of conservatives committed to defeating ESG, many of them opposed to efforts to mitigate climate change.” — “Most notably, Hild has zeroed in on BlackRock Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink. Operating with an annual budget last year equivalent to 0.002% of BlackRock’s income, he helped catapult ESG from a niche investment strategy mostly popular in Europe to a topic that’s at home on right-wing AM radio talk shows.” — “His efforts contributed to efforts by politicians in Florida, Texas and elsewhere to try to ban the company from doing business with their states.” Hild has settled on Bank of America as his next target, “singling out the second-largest US bank and CEO Brian Moynihan for being the most vocal among Wall Street lenders when it comes to climate risks and other topics tied to ESG, including gun rights and abortion,” and he “said he’s only in the early stages of his anti-ESG campaign,” which has already spent $10 million and could last beyond next year’s presidential election. SPOTTED at a reception on Wednesday following the Southeastern Conference's fly-in to call for federal NIL legislation, per a tipster: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.); SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and coaches Nick Saban of the University of Alabama, Dawn Staley and Shane Beamer of the University of South Carolina, Bruce Pearl, Hugh Freeze and Johnnie Harris of Auburn University, John Calipari of the University of Kentucky, Sam Purcell and Zach Arnett of Mississippi State University, Dennis Gates of the University of Missouri, Yolett McPhee-McCuin of Ole Miss, Clark Lea and Shea Ralph of Vanderbilt University and University of Florida athletes Trinity Thomas, Zippy Broughton and Jack Pyburn. — And at the Rainey Center Freedom Project’s awards reception on Wednesday at the Capitol Hill Club, per a tipster: Reps. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), Jake Ellzey (R-Texas), Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), Burgess Owens (R-Utah), Michael Guest (R-Miss.), Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), August Pfluger (R-Texas), Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), Russell Fry (R-S.C.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Carter; Sarah Hunt and JP Carroll of the Rainey Center, Neal Patel of the Alpine Group, Matthew Rimkunas of Breakthrough Energy, Matt Mailloux of ClearPath, Joe Bishop-Henchman of the National Taxpayers Union, Bill Ball of Foley & Lardner, Pasha Majdi of Conservation International, Alex Walton of Log Cabin Republicans, Chet Love of Cornerstone Group, Katie Harbath of Anchor Change, Elliott Guffin of Hudson’s office, John Hart of C3 Solutions, Devan Patel of American Unity Fund and John Vinson of Ragnar Research Partners.
| | | | GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | | — Connor Woodrich is now director of government affairs at Fortera. He most recently led state advocacy efforts at the Nuclear Energy Institute. — Mark Wetjen is now a senior adviser at Patomak Global Partners, per Morning Money. He was previously acting CFTC chair and was former head of policy and regulatory strategy at FTX U.S. — Rex Wackerle is starting a consulting firm called First Amendment Partners. He most recently spent over two decades as head of federal affairs at Prudential. — Katherine Thordahl is now digital director and deputy communications director for Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.). She most recently was senior account manager at DCI Group. — Alex Chizhik has joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce as chief operating officer. He was most recently COO and chief revenue officer of HarrisX and is an Okcoin alum. — Peter Krug has joined the Council for Innovation Promotion as its inaugural director of outreach and development. He was most recently senior policy adviser and D.C. office administrator with Irell & Manella and is a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office alum.
| | Team Baugh 2024 (Scott Baugh for Congress, Stop Collectivism Or Totalitarianism Triumphs PAC, Club For Growth Action)
Whitesides Victory Fund (George Whitesides for Congress, California Democratic Party)
| | | | Advance the Electorate PAC (Hybrid PAC)
BEST OF AMERICA PAC (Super PAC)
Child Protection Fund (Super PAC)
| | | | LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today. | | | | | | | New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS | | | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Solvd Health
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Volley Automation
Farragut Partners LLP: Charter Brokerage
Forbes-Tate: Hd Nursing
Forbes-Tate: Techimmune LLC
Ice Miller Strategies LLC: Blr Aerospace
Jon Thomas Consulting: The Home Builders Association Of Greater Cleveland
Jon Thomas Consulting: West Broadway Business And Area Coalition
Manatt, Phelps, And Phillips: Ncats Alliance, Inc
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.: Coalition For Effective Forced Labor Enforcement
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.: Lidochem, Inc.
Squire Patton Boggs: Inspur Electronic Information Industry Co., Ltd.
The Raben Group: Rights And Security International
The Smith-Free Group, LLC: Pillar Health Group
The Smith-Free Group, LLC: Technology Network (Aka Technet)
Tonio Burgos & Associates, Inc.: Hunt, Guillot & Associates
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Hettinger Strategy Group LLC: Savantage Solutions
United Network For Organ Sharing: United Network For Organ Sharing
| | | | A message from bp: We support 240,000+ jobs in the US — a workforce aiming to deliver the energy America needs today while developing lower carbon alternatives. From producing oil and gas to developing wind and solar farms to creating biogas and beyond. See how we’re investing in America. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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