MEANWHILE, IN CALIFORNIA: “The advertising industry has kicked off a campaign to kill a California bill that would make it easier for residents to request that data brokers delete their personal information,” POLITICO’s Alfred Ng reports. — “A person who works in the California Legislature told POLITICO that multiple lawmakers received printouts credited to the Association of National Advertisers this week titled: ‘10 Reasons SB 362 Will Harm California’ and ‘Negative Real-World Impacts of California SB 362.’ The handouts warned that allowing people to delete their data en masse would hurt the government’s ability to prevent fraud and prevent hospitals from providing services.” — “The email came from a representative at Interpublic Group, an advertising company that owns the data broker Acxiom. That message sought to set up a meeting with lawmakers to discuss the legislation.” — “That email contained a link to a call to action website titled ‘No to SB 362’ and a digital version of the ANA documents. That campaign has no attribution noting who is behind it. But the language in the email and the documents attributed to ANA, which were all obtained by POLITICO, and the webpage are nearly identical. The ANA, which includes Amazon, Google and Meta, did not respond to a request for comment.” — The bill “would allow California residents to make a single request to delete their data that goes to multiple companies” — making the state the first in the nation with that option. “Under California’s current data privacy laws, residents must contact companies like data brokers individually to make such requests.” ANNALS OF OPPO RESEARCH: “David McCormick hasn't announced another bid for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania. In fact, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in early August that the Army veteran and former Bridgewater CEO, who narrowly lost the 2022 Republican Senate primary to Mehmet Oz, is ‘not in a rush’ to declare his candidacy to face off against incumbent Democrat Bob Casey and is ‘being cautious about the decision,’” The Washington Free Beacon’s Eliana Johnson writes. — “Democratic opposition researchers? Not so much. They have hit the ground running in an effort to collect damaging information on the would-be GOP candidate in what is certain to be one of the most competitive Senate races of the 2024 cycle.” — “One of those researchers, former 60 Minutes producer Marley Klaus Dowling, has set off both confusion and alarm bells among McCormick acquaintances, including current and former Bridgewater employees, leaving some with the false impression that she is a working journalist.” — “Klaus Dowling, herself a Democratic donor and the founder of TBD Research, which raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the 2022 election cycle for research and strategic consulting, has appeared on these people's doorsteps—presenting herself, at various points, as a ‘fact-checker,’ according to one; as a researcher, according to another; and as a reporter, according to a third.” — “Bridgewater, the world's largest hedge fund, makes headlines on a daily basis. It is not unusual for the firm's employees to receive media inquiries, and at least one of the people contacted was left with the impression that Klaus Dowling was working on a story or book about the firm. More unusual, however, is for a researcher or reporter to materialize unannounced on employees' doorsteps.” IF YOU MISSED IT WEDNESDAY: UNICEF USA “hired a new lobbying firm this week for the first time in over two decades, retaining a new team that includes the former chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” The Hill’s Taylor Giorno reports. — “Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld registered to lobby on child welfare initiatives, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and federal appropriations on behalf of UNICEF USA, which advances UNICEF’s goal to help vulnerable children around the world.” — “The lobbying team includes former Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who led the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 2011-13,” and who helped stand up PEPFAR during the Bush administration in 2003. — “The new registration marks the first time since 1999 that UNICEF USA has retained new outside federal lobbying firepower, and it comes amid a notable downturn in the organization’s federal lobbying spending.” — “Edington, Peel & Associates registered to lobby on behalf of UNICEF USA at the turn of the millennium to lobby on issues related to federal appropriations, and the firm has lobbied on funding for issues ranging from maternal and child health to iodine deficiency disorder in the years since.” — “The firm reported receiving $20,000 from UNICEF USA during each of the first and second quarters of 2023, the same amount it received each quarter in 2022 and up from the $15,000 per quarter it reported receiving the previous year. UNICEF USA’s direct federal lobbying expenditures, on the other hand, dropped precipitously during the first six months of 2023.”
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