REVOLVING DOOR KEEPS SPINNING: Another pair of lawmakers — one Democrat and one Republican — from this year’s class of new alumni have landed post-Congress lobbying gigs.
— First up is former Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who’s joined Liberty Partners Group, the firm co-founded by former Sen. Connie Mack. Stabenow left Congress earlier this month after almost three decades in office, including 24 years in the Senate. She’ll be a senior policy adviser at LPG.
— Stabenow was the No. 3 Democrat in the chamber as chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and she also served as chair of the powerful Senate Agriculture Committee over the final years of her tenure in Congress. While Stabenow is subject to a two-year cooling off period before being able to lobby her former colleagues on the Hill, she could lobby the Trump administration right away if she so pleases.
— Former Indiana GOP Rep. Larry Bucshon, meanwhile, has joined the lobbying practice at Holland & Knight as a senior policy adviser. Bucshon, a former cardiothoracic surgeon, served seven terms in the House, including as chair of the influential Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. Bucshon will work with Holland & Knight’s many health care clients, as well as the firm’s wealth of energy clients, he said in an interview.
— Though he’s barred by ethics restrictions from lobbying on the Hill for a year, Bucshon will be able to lobby the Trump administration right away, and he told PI he expects to register to do just that.
— “They're going to have a lot of ongoing issues related to energy, health care and other things,” he said of the incoming administration, and “I want to be able to advocate for the things that I support, and that the clients that I have [support].”
— Bucshon’s former panel is huddling this week to plot its strategy on both health care and energy provisions in an upcoming reconciliation package, which could include bipartisan priorities like so-called site-neutral Medicare payment policy but could also take aim at green tax credits supported by clean energy stakeholders, including some Holland & Knight clients.
— Stabenow and Bucshon are the latest members of the 118th Congress to take the well-trodden path from Capitol Hill to K Street. Former Georgia Rep. Drew Ferguson, a member of GOP leadership, joined Alston & Birdearlier this month, while former Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah), who resigned just nine months into his new term in 2023, started his own lobbying shop, Skyline Capitol, days later.
FIRST IN PI — REDL’S FIRM ACQUIRES HEALTH LOBBYING SHOP: Salt Point Strategies, the lobbying firm founded by former NTIA Administrator David Redl, is expanding into health care policy with the acquisition of veteran Hill health policy aide Adam Buckalew’s alb solutions.
— Redl launched his firm after leaving the Trump administration in 2019 and racked up a litany of tech and telecom clients such as Amazon, Meta, Apple, Charter Communications, Comcast and the NCTA.
— Buckalew, meanwhile, started alb solutions in 2021 after more than a decade on the Hill working as a top health staffer for the Senate HELP Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee.
— Buckalew’s clients include Humana, CVS Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the American Heart Association. “Buck’s expertise in health policy, coupled with his ability to build meaningful relationships, makes him an invaluable addition to our team,” Redl said in a statement.
— With some Democrats retreating from the issue in the aftermath of the election, a number of their colleagues are digging in, backing a new advocacy group aimed explicitly at building and exercising transgender rights advocates’ political power.
— The Christopher Street Project is a 501(c)4 group and hybrid PAC that launched this week and will work to make sure “Democrats are united in opposition” to bills that would restrict transgender rights, in addition to supporting candidates who openly support the issue and, potentially, funding primary challengers “to candidates who are scapegoating the trans community and voting in a way that doesn't align with what we view as Democratic values,” said Tyler Hack, the group’s founder and executive director.
— “Democrats need a coordinated response to the attacks on trans rights that are to come from MAGA Republicans and the Trump administration,” Hack told PI, alluding to the lack of air cover Democrats got on the issue last year and the party’s subsequent splintering on trans rights. (Two House Democrats — Texas’ Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez — joined all Republicans in voting for today’s measure.)
— The group has the backing of Democratic Sen. Andy Kim (N.J.) along with Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Jasmine Crockett (Texas), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Judy Chu (Calif.) and Al Green (Texas). Its status as a hybrid PAC means Christopher Street Project will be able to directly support their campaigns in addition to funding independent expenditures.
LOCKHEED’S TOP LOBBYIST OUT:Shelly O’Neill Stoneman, a former Pentagon and White House aide who served in both the Biden and Obama administrations, has resigned as senior vice president of government affairs at defense contractor Lockheed Martin after coming under attack for expressing left-leaning political views online, Breitbart’s Wendell Husebo scooped.
— Stoneman deleted her account on X late last week after the site highlighted past social media posts expressing her support for allowing transgender people to serve in the military and diverse hiring practices, and referred to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as an insurrection. On Monday night, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson told Breitbart that Stoneman had resigned from the company “for personal reasons.”
— Robert Head, Lockheed’s vice president for political affairs, state government and global program support, will take over as acting SVP. “As we did in his first term, we look forward to a strong working relationship with President Trump, his team, and the new Congress to strengthen our national defense,” the spokesperson added.
IF YOU MISSED IT YESTERDAY: “More than $1 million is going into the campaign to convince senators to block the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services,” per our Daniel Payne.
— “The efforts of the Stop RFK War Room — helmed by the group Protect Our Care — have included lobbying, grassroots advocacy urging Americans to contact their senators, paid advertising in Washington and in the states of key senators and a report on Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric that was hand delivered to Senate offices.”
— Protect Our Care is a project of liberal dark money behemoth Sixteen Thirty Fund, which brought in more than $180 million in revenue in 2023. The nonprofit, which was founded to defend Obamacare, is led by former Obama HHS official Leslie Dach and Democratic strategist Brad Woodhouse and the group’s advisory board “includes other top Obama administration officials, including former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Acting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Andy Slavitt.”
— “Other progressive groups are joining the campaign to stop Kennedy. 314 Action, a group that supports Democratic scientists running for office, convened Democrats in Congress who are doctors or nurses last week to urge senators to block Kennedy — and has spent six figures on advertising with the same message, according to a spokesperson.”
SHUMAKER GOES TO WASHINGTON:Shumaker Advisors is officially setting up shop in D.C. as the Ohio and Florida-centric public affairs and lobbying shop expands and looks to capitalize on its ties to the home states of the Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, respectively. Though the firm’s had employees based out of Washington for several years now, Shumaker is preparing to open its first permanent office here just steps from the Capitol.
— The move was part necessity, said Jason Ouimet, the firm’s senior vice president of federal affairs. “There’s three of us now,” he told PI, noting that the firm could add another D.C. staffer sometime this year. It’s also part convenience, allowing the firm to more comfortably receive clients holding fly-ins, he added.
POLITICO is helping kick off the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting with a Happy Hour on January 16th. Mingle with U.S. mayors, Washington insiders, and business executives over cocktails and light bites at the award-winning Cranes restaurant. RSVP here to join us!
Jobs report
— Seth Waugh has joined Dentons as a senior policy director. He most recently served as director of workforce policy for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
— Philip Luck has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as Scholl chair in international business and director of the economics program. He previously was deputy chief economist at the State Department.
— Ryan Majerus is now a partner on King & Spalding’s international trade team. He most recently was acting assistant secretary for enforcement and compliance at the Commerce Department.
— Javon Knight is joining the Pittman Law Group as assistant director of federal affairs. He previously was a principal at Husch Blackwell Strategies.
— Samah Shaiq has joined Signal Group to support its renewable energy work under its outdoor practice group. She most recently was deputy press secretary at the Department of Energy, and is a Nancy Pelosi alum.
— Michelle Schwartz has launched Takeoff Advisors LLC, an aviation-focused strategic consulting firm. She most recently was chief external affairs officer at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games and is an FAA, Los Angeles World Airports and Senate (Frank Lautenberg and Chuck Schumer) alum.
— Liz Forro is now policy director at the Commercial Drone Alliance, Morning Transportation reports. She’s an FAA alum and has also served as an aviation subject matter expert to T&I.
— Taria Barron is the American Public Transportation Association’s new general counsel, per Morning Transpo. She was previously with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
— Former FERC Commissioner Allison Clements is joining advisory firm ASG as a partner, Morning Energy reports. Clements has also launched her own consultancy, 804 advisory, focused on policy and strategy guidance to players across the energy industry.
— Tim Puko is now director of commodities at Eurasia Group, focused on minerals and mining. He previously was an energy and climate reporter at the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
— Alex Howard is now leading public affairs in D.C. for Washington Gas. He previously was assistant press secretary and spokesperson at DHS.
— Mary Frances Repko is now head of government relations at Breakthrough Energy, per ME. A longtime Hill veteran, Repko was most recently White House deputy national climate adviser.
— Kate Bedingfield is joining Brunswick Group as a partner. She is a former Biden White House communications director and CNN political commentator.
— Jim Fellinger is now the director of communications at the International Center for Law and Economics. He was previously director of industry communications with the Consumer Technology Association.
— Ryan Long is joining the Paragon Health Institute as director of congressional relations. He was previously a principal at BGR Group and is a Kevin McCarthy alum.
— Cameron Seward has joined ACG as a partner. He was most recently of counsel at the Compass Legal Group and is a Heritage Foundation, Conservative Partnership Institute and Trump USTR alum.
— Kyle Martinsen is launching K24 Creative, a media production firm making digital and TV ads for GOP candidates and groups. He most recently was creative director for Dave McCormick’s Pennsylvania Senate campaign, producing its digital ads, and is an RNC and Trump 2020 alum.
— Alex Hobson is joining Google as senior program manager for strategic energy communications and engagement. She previously was senior vice president for communications at ACORE.
— Allie Brandenburger is now head of government relations, public affairs and communications at defense tech startup Deterrence. She is co-founder and CEO of TheBridge.
— Alyssa Pettus is joining the House China select committee as communications director. She previously led media and external communications at Leidos and is a Richard Shelby alum.
— The Plastics Industry Association is adding Chris Rager as vice president of government affairs. Rager previously was head of state government affairs at the American Petroleum Institute.
