With Daniel Lippman

MILLER STRATEGIES ADDS 3: One of the lobbying shops that perhaps stands to gain most from Kevin McCarthy’s ascension to House speaker is growing its ranks ahead of a potential surge in business. Miller Strategies, which is run by longtime McCarthy confidant and fundraiser Jeff Miller, hired Stephen Ruppel, most recently McCarthy’s political director, as an associate principal.

— Annie Buckner, who served as a field coordinator and political aide at the RNC, has joined the firm as an operations associate while Chloe Judge, who’s worked for former Republican Senate candidates Blake Masters and Morgan Ortagus as well as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump, will be a client relations associate at the firm.

— “We pride ourselves on punching above our weight for a small firm,” Miller said in a statement. “That’s a direct result of hiring folks who not only have the right experiences, but who are willing to outwork anyone in town on behalf of clients. Our new personnel fit that mold, and Miller Strategies is going to do GREAT things with Republicans in the 118th Congress as a result.”

— Though voters gave the GOP a smaller House majority than anticipated in November’s midterms — which at points last week appeared to threaten McCarthy’s leadership ambitions — Miller’s firm appears to be readying for a McCarthy bump that may have already begun. As PI reported last year, Miller Strategies signed eight new clients in the back half of 2022, including the Federation of American Hospitals, the embattled PGA Tour, cloud software giant Oracle, and an AI developer of facial recognition software for use in schools.

— The firm was on track to earn around $8 million in lobbying revenues in 2022 from clients such as Apple, PhRMA, Altria, Dow Chemical, SpaceX and Southern Company.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send K Street intel: [email protected]. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

HOW SANTOS ‘DUPED’ DONORS: “Wealthy donors received calls and emails from a man who said he was Dan Meyer, McCarthy’s chief of staff, during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles,” people familiar with the matter told CNBC’s Brian Schwartz. In reality, the emails came from Sam Miele, a fundraiser working for scandal-ridden Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), “according to one GOP donor who contributed to Santos’ campaign.”

— “The impersonation of the top House Republican’s chief of staff adds to an emerging picture of a winning congressional campaign propelled by fabrications and questionable tactics. Santos now finds himself in the sights of investigators and in danger of losing his political career even after he’s been sworn into office. In raising money for his campaign, Santos fed donors the same falsehoods he gave voters, campaign fundraisers and others say.”

— “At private events with GOP donors and political leaders, Santos would flaunt or hint at key parts of his resume that have turned out to be false, according to records and people familiar with the matter. The Republican would also tout his business record that’s now in question, including claims that he worked on Wall Street, as a way to encourage donors to contribute to his campaign, according to financiers and party operatives familiar with the matter.”

— “‘We were duped,’ said a Republican political strategist close to GOP donors and the leadership of the Republican Jewish Coalition. The group banned Santos from future events after the revelation that the congressman falsely claimed to be Jewish.”

— “The lies and embellishments helped Santos and his allies raise nearly $3 million for his winning 2022 campaign to represent New York’s 3rd District. The donations were spread between Santos’ campaign, a pro-Santos leadership PAC and two joint fundraising committees that were created to bring in money for his campaign, his leadership PAC and the Nassau County Republican Committee, according to Federal Election Commission filings.”

MAKE IT RAIN: Santos is facing a flurry of ethics and campaign finance complaints stemming from his falsehoods, per Insider’s Bryan Metzger. The liberal money-in-politics advocacy group End Citizens United will lodge complaints with the FEC, Justice Department and Office of Congressional Ethics, urging investigators with each body to “immediately begin investigations and hold him accountable for his shady and unlawful actions.”

— “The group’s complaint with the Department of Justice argues that Santos violated the Ethics in Government Act by not only filing a required financial disclosure almost a year late, but likely making several omissions related to various purported assets he holds. The complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics … argues that the Republican congressman violated federal law by soliciting campaign contributions in exchange for attending a swearing-in event on Capitol grounds.”

— “And the group’s complaint with the Federal Election Commission focuses on a purported $700,000 personal loan that he made to his campaign that the group says either came from a ‘shell company’ or was a prohibited corporate contribution. It also argues that nearly 40 payments of $199.99 made by his campaign represented an effort to skirt federal laws that require campaigns to keep receipts of purchases for $200 or more,” and echoes an FEC complaint filed today by the Campaign Legal Center.

— The Democratic super PAC American Bridge also filed a complaint with OCE that accuses Santos of falsifying his financial disclosures.

NEW YEAR, NEW FIRMS: Education lobbyist Lindsay Fryer has left Penn Hill Group after half a decade to launch her own firm, Lodestone DC. Fryer was previously a senior education adviser to former Senate HELP Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), where she was a top negotiator on the Every Student Succeeds Act. The new firm will offer strategic consulting, lobbying, and government relations focusing primarily on education and workforce policy.

— Scrivner Leon Group’s Pete Leon is also striking out on his own, launching his solo consultancy Leon Consultants this month following the retirement of his longtime business partner Mike Scrivner. So far two clients — Comcast Corp. and Iroquois Gas Transmission System — have re-signed with the new firm.

TIK TOKIN’ ON BIDEN’S DOOR: “TikTok and ByteDance lobbyists have visited the White House at least eight times between July 2021 and August 2022, White House visitor logs show, providing a window into how the Chinese government-linked social media operation has gained influence in Washington,” amid discussions about banning the app or requiring parent company ByteDance to spin off its U.S. operations, the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky reports.

— It’s not clear “whether the lobbyists went to the White House on TikTok business or for another client, the visits are ‘unequivocally’ worrisome, according to Kara Frederick,” a tech expert at the Heritage Foundation and a former Facebook security official.

— ByteDance lobbyists who visited the White House included Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas’ Paul Thornell and Rosemary Gutierrez as well as a pair of former members of Congress, K&L Gates’ Bart Gordon and Crossroads Strategies’ John Breaux and TikTok federal government affairs manager Jason Samuels.

Jobs Report

— Paul Milotte has joined McCarthy Advanced Consulting as an associate. He was most recently an account manager at Mercedes-Benz USA and is a Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) alum.

— Blockchain Association has promoted Dan Spuller to senior director of industry affairs and Lindsey Kelleher to senior government relations associate.

— Henry Connelly is joining Precision Strategies as a senior vice president in the communications practice. He most recently was communications director for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for whom he worked for nine years.

— Megan Hannigan is now legislative director for Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), handling his financial services portfolio. She previously was lead Democrat on PayPal’s federal government relations team.

— Arc Initiatives has promoted Jonae Wartel to partner and Julia Alschuler to managing director.

— Grace Rubinger has joined Rocket Lab as manager of government operations. She most recently served as a senior legislative assistant in Rep. Don Beyer’s (D-Va.) office.

— Thorn Run Partners has promoted Shea McCarthy to partner in their Washington office. McCarthy previously was a senior vice president at the firm.

— Anna Blue has been named president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association Foundation, and Jacqueline Policastro has been appointed executive vice president of marketing and communications. Blue was previously head of global marketing and communications at the Tech Coalition, and Policastro was most recently Washington bureau chief at Gray Television.

— Chris Sweet is now vice president of government affairs at Atlas Crossing. He most recently was deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).

— Dylan Lefler and Evan Albertson have joined FP1 Strategies as managing director and senior director, respectively. Lefler most recently managed Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) successful reelection campaign, and Albertson most recently managed Rep. Tony Gonzales’ (R-Texas) successful reelection campaign.

— IMGE has promoted Courtney Weaver to executive vice president and Conner Downard to vice president of marketing.

— Arkadi Gerney has left The Hub Project where he was executive director and founder.

— Joel Payne will be chief communications officer at MoveOn. He most recently was managing director of communications and research for The Hub Project.

— Helen Kalla is now a senior director in the communications practice at Lot Sixteen. She most recently was deputy communications director at the DCCC.

— Madison White is now press secretary for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. She previously was press secretary for Democracy for America.

— Alane Dent is joining CUNA Mutual Group as vice president of corporate and legislative affairs. She previously was founder and president for Dent Strategies, and is an American Council of Life Insurers alum.

— Jessica Giroux is joining the American Securities Association as general counsel and head of fixed income policy. She previously was director of government and public affairs at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

New Joint Fundraisers

Whitehouse Victory Fund 2024 (Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, OCEANS PAC, Rhode Island Democratic State Committee)

New PACs

Defend the House 2024 (Super PAC)
Flagstar Bank N.A. PAC (PAC)
Grit & Heart PAC (Leadership PAC: Melanie Stansbury)
Guard the House 2024 (Super PAC)
Hold the House 2024 (Super PAC)
Ignite Fueling Innovation, Inc. Federal Political Action Committee (Ignite PAC) (PAC)
Maintain the House 2024 (Super PAC)
Protect the House 2024 (Super PAC)
Take Back the Senate 2024 (Super PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Adams And Reese, LLP: Audubon Nature Institute
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: American Water Works Association
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: National Rural Water Association
Capitol Counsel LLC: Ilham Zikri
Capitol Tax Partners, LLP: Avis Budget Group, Inc.
Capitol Tax Partners, LLP: The Anschutz Corporation
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners Inc.: Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners Inc.
K&L Gates, LLP: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association And Foundation, Inc.

New Lobbying Terminations

Anne Mervenne: Children’S Hospital Of Michigan
Anne Mervenne: United Way For Southeastern Michigan
Gorman Strategy Group: Gorman Strategy Group, Too On Behalf Of Conq
Gorman Strategy Group: Gorman Strategy Group, Too On Behalf Of Pathguard, Inc.
Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: Asset Protection & Security Services, Lp
Healy Consulting Group: Northeastern Minnesotans For Wilderness
Holland & Knight LLP: America Movil, S.A.B. De C.V.
Holland & Knight LLP: International Materials, Inc.
Invariant LLC: Northern Pacific Airways, Inc.
Law Offices Of Bernard Wunder (Fka Wunder & Lilley): At&T Services, Inc (Formerly Sbc Communications, Inc.)
Ms. Brenda Viehe-Naess: Allianz Global Corporate And Specialty
Ms. Brenda Viehe-Naess: Allianz Life Insurance Company Of North America
O’Neill And Associates: Alaska Airlines
O’Neill And Associates: David Radlo
O’Neill And Associates: Hlc Group Enterprise, LLC
O’Neill And Associates: North Atlantic Rail, Inc.
O’Neill And Associates: Wellesley College
Owen Evans Ingols: Cox Automotive, Inc.
Peter Tompa Law: Global Heritage Alliance
Storm King Strategies, LLC: Coalition Of Ignition Interlock Manufacturers
The Joe Davis Company LLC: Genworth Financial Inc (Mortgage Insurance)
Tollhouse Enterprize LLC: Cic Sa Ii LLC
Tollhouse Enterprize LLC: Cic Sa Ii LLC

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