| | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by Wells Fargo | With David Lim, Daniel Lippman WHO’S LOBBYING ON BIRD FLU: Alveo Technologies, a diagnostics company working to create avian influenza tests for birds and rapid bird flu tests for humans, has hired health lobbyist Darren Willcox of W Strategies to help educate policymakers about issues related to testing for the virus, which the CDC says has resulted in the deaths of more than 100 million domestic and commercial birds and spilled over into dairy cattle and even some humans as part of an outbreak dating back to 2022. — Officials looking to contain the outbreak have stressed that the risk to the general public remains low, though the CDC, which makes the only FDA-approved test for humans, said earlier this summer it was working to ramp up its capacity to do so in case of a surge in human infections. The regulatory status of Alveo’s tests is unclear. — Alveo isn’t the only company lobbying to shape the federal response to the outbreak, which has already included emergency assistance to offset some of the financial toll on dairy farmers and efforts to incentivize safety precautions and testing of cattle or milk for the virus. Animal health companies including Medgene Labs and Zoetis, which are working on bird flu vaccines, and Elanco, which is developing other therapeutics, have all engaged Washington on the issue in recent months, according to disclosure filings. — Testing company Quest Diagnostics also reported lobbying the executive branch this summer on issues related to the virus, as did trade groups representing the diagnostics industry and biotech industries, the American Clinical Laboratory Association and Biotechnology Innovation Organization, respectively. — In Colorado, which has seen an especially severe outbreak among dairy farms and several of the roughly dozen cases of infection in humans, Gov. Jared Polis’ office dispatched its lobbyist at Squire Patton Boggs to engage with HHS and the Agriculture Department on the outbreak. — Plenty of agriculture groups, which have bristled at some of the Biden administration’s containment efforts, are also lobbying on the outbreak, disclosures show. That includes the Idaho Dairymen's Association, the Southeast Dairy Farmers Association, National All-Jersey, the Texas Farm Bureau, the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation, Dairy Farmers of America, the National Turkey Federation, the Association of California Egg Farmers and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. The groups’ lobbying priorities naturally varied, but included restrictions on animal transport, Emergency Livestock Assistance Program payments for farmers, and legislation to expand a compensation program for poultry growers. — The Pet Food Institute reported lobbying on general efforts to prevent diseases like bird flu, as well as related legislation that would provide additional resources for monitoring the health of dogs imported to the U.S. Happy Monday and welcome to PI. Are you at the DNC this week? While your host isn’t on the ground in Chicago, PI still wants to hear all the hot gossip from the convention floor to the party circuit and everywhere in between. Send tips, event reviews, spotteds or anything else — we’ll keep you anonymous! — to coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | A message from Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo is proud of the role we play for our customers, communities and the U.S. economy. We serve more than 10% of small businesses nationwide and are a leading middle-market banking provider. We serve 2 of 5customers digitally and in-person, with 4,000 locations across the country, operating in 24 of the 30 largest markets. We cover more rural markets than many large banks, and nearly 30% of our branches are in low- or moderate-income census tracts. See how. | | | THE BATTLE TO SAVE ELECTION BETTING: “The U.S. government has embarked on a broad crackdown against election betting, relying on a mix of newly proposed rules and ongoing court cases to try to stamp out a nascent industry that critics call a potential threat to democracy,” The Washington Post’s Tony Romm writes. — “To Democrats, these wagers on the outcome of a particular campaign invite more money into an electoral system that’s already rife with it. But the staunchest backers of political prediction marketplaces insist that the fears of election interference are overstated — and that the insights gleaned from their data serve a greater purpose.” — “The regulatory push is the work of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), whose chairman, Rostin Behnam, has pursued rules that would ban election-related betting on commercial exchanges under its watch. Citing a lack of staff and resources, the agency has argued it is not equipped to serve as an election watchdog and monitor political markets for fraud or manipulation.” — In recent years the CTFC has moved to shut down political betting on PredictIt and rejected a proposal from another exchange, Kalshi, to allow wagers on which party would control Congress — both of which have brought legal challenges. And new rules proposed by the CFTC earlier this year to explicitly bar similar kinds of event contracts have drawn “widespread opposition from users who enjoy placing wagers, academics who have used the data for research and firms that could someday profit if large institutional investors bet massive sums of money on U.S. elections.” ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Something funny happened when the Washington Free Beacon contacted the campaign of Trump whistleblower turned congressional candidate Eugene Vindman last week” about a discrepancy over his combat service, according to Jessica Costescu. — “Vindman's campaign manager, Jeremy Levinson, responded by introducing a third party, the employee of a political action committee. ‘All future questions,’ he said, could be directed to him.” — “‘Him’ is Travis Tazelaar, the political director of VoteVets PAC, a left-wing group that has endorsed Vindman, contributed $10,000 to his campaign, and spent more than $400,000 on outside ads supporting his candidacy, according to Federal Election Commission filings, and lawyers and ethics experts say the campaign's decision to defer communications inquiries to him is a violation of the law.” — “Shortly thereafter, Tazelaar, identifying himself as ‘Political Director, VoteVets,’ responded with a statement lauding Vindman's 2011 deployment to Iraq as an operational law attorney. The statement was unremarkable, but the campaign's decision to use Tazelaar to handle its communications is a big deal. It baffled ethics experts, who say it is almost certainly a violation of campaign finance laws.” FARA MONDAY: “The Israeli government sought legal advice on a U.S. federal law requiring the disclosure of foreign-backed lobbying campaigns, out of concern that mounting enforcement of the law could ensnare American groups working in coordination with the Israeli government, leaked documents reviewed by the Guardian suggest,” according to Lee Fang and Jack Poulson. — “Emails and legal memos originating from a hack of the Israeli justice ministry show that officials feared that the country’s advocacy efforts in the US could trigger the US law governing foreign agents. The documents show that officials proposed creating a new American nonprofit in order to continue Israel’s activities in the US while avoiding scrutiny under the law.” — “A legal strategy memo dated July 2018 noted that compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (Fara) would damage the reputation of several American groups that receive funding and direction from Israel, and force them to meet onerous transparency requirements. A separate memo noted that donors would not want to fund groups registered under Fara.” — “To prevent Fara registration, and the stigma and scrutiny associated with it, the legal advisers suggested channeling funds through a third-party American nonprofit. … The group, a private-public partnership, was originally known as ‘Kela Shlomo’ (which translates to ‘Solomon’s Sling’) before being rebranded as ‘Concert’ in 2018 and ‘Voices of Israel’ in 2021. Its initial mission was to undermine the BDS movement targeting Israel with boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns in protest of its policies towards Palestinians.” — “Over the course of its history, the group has supported American nonprofits advocating for anti-BDS laws and coordinated campaigns to push back against pro-Palestinian activities on US campuses.”
| | | | A message from Wells Fargo:   | | | | | — Bill Stepien has launched Stepien Strategic Partners, a boutique political and public affairs consulting firm. Stepien previously was campaign manager for Trump in 2020 and was a founding partner at National Public Affairs. — Jonay Holkins is now founder at Trendline Strategies. She previously was senior director of policy and corporate initiatives at the Business Roundtable. — George (Chip) Cannon is joining Hogan Lovells’ global regulatory and IP practice as a partner. He previously was a partner at A&O Shearman. — Tom Healy is joining Honigman as senior counsel in the government relations and regulatory practice group. He previously was a senior attorney with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. — Swing Left is announcing two 2024 cycle hires: Tomás Kloosterman is joining as national political director. He previously was senior adviser at the State Department Office of Global Partnerships and is an SBA and Latino Victory Project alum. Adin Lenchner will serve as head of program and strategy. He previously was a strategic consultant and is an Obama reelect and NextGen America alum. — Andrew Mills is joining the American Conservation Coalition Action to lead political and government affairs efforts. He is president of Lone Tree Strategies and was previously the executive director at the Audubon Action Fund. — Rebecca Brubaker is joining the Harris campaign as battleground digital director in North Carolina. She previously was associate director of partnerships at the Center for American Progress. — Andrew Patterson is launching Wide Shot Events. He previously was director of advance for Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign and is a Trump administration and Mehmet Oz Senate campaign alum. — Alya Sulaiman is now chief compliance and privacy officer and senior vice president of regulatory affairs at Datavant. She was previously a partner at McDermott Will & Emery. — Dana Perrino is now chief member services officer at the American Health Information Management Association. She was previously vice president of membership at the organization. — Former congresswoman and current USDA senior adviser Cindy Axne is joining Dream for America as a senior adviser on the advisory board, in her personal capacity. — Giulia McPherson is now executive director of the Global Campaign for Education-US. She previously was vice president of advocacy and operations at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA.
| | Amish Shah Victory Fund (Amish for Arizona, Arizona Democratic Party) Jerrod Sessler Victory Fund (Jerrod Sessler for Congress, Catapult PAC, Washington State Republican Party)
| | | | Advancing America First (Super PAC) African Diaspora Committee (Hybrid PAC) Cancel Project 2025 (PAC) Chinese Republic Party (Super PAC) Young Illinoisans For Harris (Super PAC) PAKISTANI AMERICAN POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (Super PAC) Pump The Vote (Super PAC) YOUR COMMUNITY PAC (Super PAC)
| | New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS | | Alb Solutions: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Arentfox Schiff LLP: Association Of The German Confectionery Industry Axadvocacy Government Relations: Rajant Corporation Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Partners For Rural Impact Hogan Lovells US LLP: Arrendadora Y Factor Banorte, S.A. De C.V., Sofom, E.R.,Grupo Financiero Banorte Keller Partners & Company: Edward M. Kennedy Institute For The US Senate Oxford Strategies LLC-Md: Bl Partners Group, LLC On Behalf Of Hanwha Qcells America Inc (Fka Hanawa) Schoening Strategies: Forest Landowners Association Six Continents Hotels, Inc.: Six Continents Hotels, Inc. Synchronicity Strategies LLC: National Tribal Telecommunications Association The Nickles Group, LLC: Advanced Medical Technology Association (Advamed) W Strategies, LLC: Alveo Technologies
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Care In Action, Inc.: Care In Action, Inc. Duquesne Light Holdings, Inc. (Fka Duquesne Light Company): Duquesne Light Holdings, Inc. (Fka Duquesne Light Company) Forbes-Tate: Sorare Sas National Domestic Workers Alliance: National Domestic Workers Alliance The Mathis Harple Group: Constellation Energy Generation, LLC
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