ANNALS OF FUNDRAISING: Last night’s Maryland Democratic Senate primary ended up being a bit more of a snooze than anticipated, as Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks easily overcame Rep. David Trone’s $62 million spending spree to face off against former Gov. Larry Hogan in November. Alsobrooks was boosted in the race by a tidal wave of Democratic establishment support — and along with that, checks from dozens and dozens of K Street types, according to PI’s analysis of FEC filings. — Alsobrooks’ donors in the race included Mindset Advocacy’s Langston Emerson, who FEC filings show gave $6,800 — $200 more than the legal maximum for individuals. Antoinette Bush, News Corp.’s executive vice president and global head of government affairs, maxed out to Alsobrooks, along with Mike McKay of Empire Consulting Group and chief Comcast lobbyist Broderick Johnson. Vickee Jordan Adams of FGS Global kicked in $6,000. — A slew of other members of the influence industry wrote checks for the per-election maximum of $3,300, including David Cohen of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Lacy Johnson and Tom McDonald of Taft, Melissa McKnight of Lincoln Square Group, Jennifer Stewart of Stewart Strategies & Solutions, Michael Williams of the Williams Group, Nancy Zirkin, Art Collins of TheGROUP, Larry Duncan of Monument Advocacy, Abigail Ross Hopper of the Solar Energy Industries Association, Oscar Ramirez of Fulcrum Public Affairs, Fred Humphries of Microsoft, Jameel Aalim-Johnson of Nasdaq and more. — And still others who contributed were Meta’s Chris Randle and Christina Weaver Jackson, who gave $3,800 and $1,000, respectively; David Thomas of Mehlman Consulting, who gave $3,000; Angela Riemer of Pfizer, who gave $1,500; Al Wynn of Greenberg Traurig, who gave $2,500; and Claudia Larson of the National Milk Producers Federation, who gave $1,500. — By contrast, PI spotted significantly fewer downtown folks in Trone’s filings — not a major surprise given his self-funding. Those we did spot included Quadrant Strategies’ Scott Siff, who gave $6,300; Rhonda Lees of the American Bankers Association, who gave $500; Brownstein’s Mimi Burke, who also gave $500; and Vision 360Partners’ Robert Chlopak, who also gave $500. Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. PI COUNTRY CLUB CORNER: The global co-chair of Squire Patton Boggs’ litigation practice in Washington is at the center of a controversy as the country club he heads up battles some of its own members, who are accusing it of gender discrimination for fighting to maintain a “Men’s Grill,” Daniel reports. — John Burlingame, a longtime partner at Squire, is the president of Washington Golf and Country Club in Arlington, Virginia, where members have rebelled against a renovation plan to spend millions of dollars on a project that keeps one of their restaurants male-only. — “[W]e have serious concerns about investing $5 million (at an increased monthly cost to members) in a project that maintains a separate Men’s Grill, limits co-ed space available for the Tap Room expansion, and unnecessarily duplicates bar/dining features that will remain inaccessible to women,” said a recent letter to the club’s board signed by more than 100 members and obtained by PI. Signatories include former Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), now at ArentFox Schiff, U.S. Travel Association CEO Geoff Freeman and FGS Global’s Susan Brophy. — “One of the things about a bubble of privilege is that people sometimes get away with things that would never be tolerated in their professional lives,” said one member who was granted anonymity to avoid losing their (expensive) club membership. “John Burlingame is a respected man in his profession, and it’s hard to square that with this grossly misogynistic and outdated agenda he is leading in his personal life.” Another member defended Burlingame amid the “unenviable position” they said he’s in but added that he is “missing the opportunity to lead our club in a critical discussion about this anachronistic tradition.” — A few weeks after the letter was sent, the club emailed out an update to members saying it was “actively assessing opportunities to adjust and refine the Capital Plan presented in February.” The FAQs flatly answered “no” on questions about whether the board would end gender-specific lounges and requests in the letter to hold an open discussion and debate about the issue. The women’s lounge is much smaller than the men’s space and has many fewer amenities, members say. — PI also obtained 17 other individual letters written to the board opposing its proposal. “I share the embarrassment of these members when trying to explain to my mother, sister, wife, daughters, colleagues and friends why a modern-day gathering place holds on to this vestige of the past,” Freeman wrote. — The club said in a statement that the proposals have been in development for a number of years because of member feedback and that no formal proposals have been presented to members, who will have the opportunity to vote on the financing associated with the plans. — "With respect to these proposals, members have the opportunity through the club’s governance structure, including standing committees, to propose changes to the club’s facilities and operations," it added. "The board also sought feedback on the plans from members which generated a variety of viewpoints." ANNALS OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE: “U.S. officials threatened to sanction Georgian politicians due to the ‘foreign agent’ bill approved on Tuesday, which they say would undermine democracy,” our Matt Berg reports, with some experts pinning blame for the unrest on Congress’ delay in passing Ukraine aid. — “Over the past week, tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets and tried to block lawmakers from passing the legislation, which will brand hundreds of NGOs and media outlets as foreign agents. Brawls have broken out in the assembly chamber over the matter, and a senior lawmaker was assaulted.” — “The bill, dubbed a ‘Russia-style’ foreign agent law by critics, gained majority support from the governing Georgian Dream party. The president’s veto is expected to be overridden by a simple majority, paving the way for the legislation to go into effect in the coming weeks.” — “While in Georgia on Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien spoke with the prime minister, opposition leaders and others. No policy changes have been made yet, he said in a readout. But if the bill is passed, ‘we will see restrictions coming from the United States’ that affect the finances or travel of individuals responsible, O’Brien added.” — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered no specifics Tuesday but said that the foreign agent law’s enactment would “compel us to fundamentally reassess our relationship with Georgia,” while a bipartisan group of senators threatened consequences for Georgian politicians. TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’: “Four years ago, tech adviser Jacob Helberg was raising money within his elite circle for the losing presidential campaign of Democrat Pete Buttigieg. But the pandemic, an artificial intelligence arms race against China, and taking up a crusade to ban TikTok in the United States began to shift his views and party allegiances,” he told The Washington Post’s Elizabeth Dwoskin and Maeve Reston. — Now, Helberg is donating $1 million to former President Donald Trump’s campaign, launching the Palantir adviser “into the upper echelon of the former president’s donors at a time when Donald Trump’s campaign trails President Biden’s in the money chase. Helberg is part of a small but influential cohort of tech leaders that have decided to back the former president — despite their own waffling and the industry’s broader hostility toward Trump.” CATCHING UP ON PAPERWORK: Daniel also reports that days after the release of a new book that put a critical spotlight on his lobbying work, Jim Courtovich has filed a series of long-delayed federal disclosure reports on his foreign advocacy activities. — He stopped filing the mandatory reports under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in 2022 while continuing to work to advance the interests of Qatar in the years since, Brody and Luke Mullins reported last week in a POLITICO Magazine excerpt of their new book, “The Wolves of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government.” — Three days after the story, Courtovich and his firm SGR LLC Government Relations and Lobbying filed a supplemental statement detailing their work for Qatar for the six months ending March 31, 2023, for which they were paid $255,000, and on Sunday, the firm filed a similar report for the six months ending last Sept. 30. — In late February, SGR filed one report for the six months ending Sept. 30, 2022, and Courtovich said a report for the six months ending this past March 31 is in the process of being filed, but he attributed the tardiness to a technical issue.
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