04-30-2005

From the K Street Corridor

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Abramoff Probes Keep Lawyers Busy
The white-collar legal community in Washington is getting a boost from the congressional and federal investigations of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, a former spokesman for Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, an old friend of Abramoff's, has retained Neil Eggleston of Debevoise & Plimpton. Scanlon paid Reed more than $4 million for organizing social conservative opposition to Indian casinos that posed threats to Abramoff's clients. Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, which reportedly raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from Abramoff's tribal clients and has recently had records subpoenaed by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, is using its longtime lawyer, Cleta Mitchell of Foley & Lardner. Tony Rudy is retaining Laurie Miller of Nixon Peabody; Rudy, a former top aide to DeLay, used to work closely with Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig and is now with Alexander Strategy Group. Separately, DeLay, who faces new ethics controversies because of a lavish golf and educational trip in May 2000 to England and Scotland that was paid for partly by Abramoff -- an apparent violation of ethics rules -- is being represented by Bobby Burchfield of McDermott Will & Emery. Burchfield pointed out that the sponsor of the trip, the National Center for Public Policy Research, on whose board Abramoff sat, ultimately reimbursed him for his payments.

-- Peter H. Stone

SpencerStuart Promotes Former Rival
Leslie Hortum, after just a year and a half in the Washington office of executive search firm SpencerStuart, will be taking over the reins as managing director from Mike Kirkman, who will return to doing search work. The change is effective on May 1. Hortum said that assuming the top job was "always an option" when SpencerStuart lured her away from running the D.C. office of rival Korn/Ferry International. In her new post, Hortum will continue her own search work in the firm's education, nonprofit, and public policy practice, where she has specialized in recruiting heads of trade associations and policy experts. Hortum was the one who landed Dan Glickman to replace Jack Valenti as president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America and placed Anthony Principi as head of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's Washington office.

-- Lisa Caruso

AT&T Lobbyists Still in the Game
When AT&T announced in January that it was merging with SBC Communications, many on K Street expected drastic cuts at AT&T's powerhouse lobbying shop. So far, that hasn't happened. Peter Jacoby, AT&T's vice president of congressional affairs, dismissed rumors that AT&T's lobbyists have had little to do while awaiting the merger. He said that his staff of 11 lobbyists (down from last year's 12) are busy promoting the merger agreement and are working the Hill as Congress considers a rewrite of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. "AT&T hasn't ever been a somnolent shop," Jacoby said. "It would be difficult for us to sit by and watch the telecom bill get written without us." 

Last year, AT&T spent $8.85 million on lobbying, according to its Lobbying Disclosure Act filings, and it may be on the way to matching that spending in 2005. The long-distance giant continues to retain 26 outside lobbying firms, down about four firms from 2004. AT&T recently hired Denny Miller Associates and David Turetsky to lobby. Jacoby, asked whether it was hard to lobby Congress for backing in a merger with a former rival, responded, "Our board decided this is where our company should go and that is who we will work for." SBC Communications has a powerhouse lobbying shop of its own. The firm, which employs some 14 lobbyists, spent $8 million on lobbying in 2004, according to lobbying disclosures. What might happen to AT&T's lobbying shop after the merger, which is expected to be completed within a year, "hasn't been discussed," Jacoby said.

-- Bara Vaida

Association Can't Overcome Bickering
The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association has decided to jettison its lobbying and public-relations operations and focus on providing educational programs and training, as well as on the certification of satellite installers. At least seven or eight of SBCA's 14 staffers are being laid off as a result of the April 21 decision by its board of directors. The move came because the association's two primary members, DirecTV and EchoStar, are fierce competitors in the pay-TV marketplace and sometimes in the policy arena as well. This competition has hamstrung SBCA's ability to speak for the larger satellite-services industry. DirecTV and EchoStart will work together when needed on common policy goals, they said in a joint statement.

One industry expert blasted the change as "a colossally stupid move on the part of the industry, in terms of how it empowers cable and broadcasters," particularly as Congress prepares to reauthorize the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act. "You need to have an association that is perceived on the Hill and at [the Federal Communications Commission] as speaking for the industry."

-- L.C.

Oil Industry Pushes for MTBE Waiver
With big oil companies lobbying hard for liability protection for the manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE, the American Petroleum Institute is trying to find an outside shop to mount a lobbying, communications, and grassroots drive on the issue. Sources say that the institute may spend close to $2 million on a multifaceted blitz to secure a liability waiver in this year's energy bill for MTBE, which has been linked to groundwater pollution. Lobbyists say that the institute is considering proposals from several K Street giants, including Quinn Gillespie & Associates, which boasts former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie.

-- P.H.S.

 

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