LOBBYING

From the K Street Corridor

Sat. Apr. 19, 2008


After Tax Season, Now This?

One lobbyist’s pain is another’s gain.

So it goes for newly launched Capitol Filings and Ward & Lawless, two firms that prepare lobbying compliance forms for their clients. The two are doing a booming business as April 21 approaches. That is the deadline set by Congress for K Street shops and lobbyists to file their first quarterly disclosure reports as mandated by last year’s Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. Under the new law, the filing of various disclosure reports jumped threefold, to six times a year—one type of report every three months and another type every six months.

“Some of our clients were grumpy and said, ‘Twice a year we didn’t have time for, but six times a year is horrendous,’ ” says Mark Ward. He and Bridget Lawless founded their company after leaving the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Roseanna Haley launched Capitol Filings after handling the lobbying filings for Van Scoyoc Associates for a number of years. --Bara Vaida

Oil Patch Changes

The oil industry’s K Street lineup is changing. After 33 years at ConocoPhillips (and its predecessor), Don Duncan, vice president of federal and international affairs, retired on April 15. Duncan moved to a biofuel start-up that he will chair. That company, which hasn’t been named, has backing from Wall Street hedge funds. “It’s going to be interesting going from a company with an asset value of $160 billion to one where value must be created from day one,” Duncan says. At BP, which is going through some belt-tightening and corporate restructuring, Peggy Hudson, the firm’s top Washington lobbyist for the past six years, is moving on and will be exploring other opportunities. And at Halliburton, veteran lobbyist Don Deline is poised to step down next month after 11 years in the Washington office. He will remain in D.C. as a special assistant to Halliburton’s general counsel. --Peter H. Stone

Pitching America

How to persuade Capitol Hill to pass a program to benefit your industry?

The Travel Industry Association, which wants Congress to approve a $200 million effort to promote the United States as a vacation destination, has an answer. The group is launching a website, PowerofTravel.org, where it will give away research and reports on the financial impact of travel that used to cost between $35 and $500. The TIA, which represents multiple sectors of the U.S. travel business, will post data on how travel affects all 435 congressional districts in terms of taxes, jobs, and tourist spending.

“We have reams of research, but it has been difficult for people to get through and say, ‘What does this mean to me?’ ” says TIA President and CEO Roger Dow. “We put together an easy-to-read site to show [lawmakers] and opinion leaders what the travel industry means to the economy.”

The number of international travelers to the U.S. remains below pre-9/11 levels, the TIA says, and the government needs to do more to market the country. The association has been pushing a bill that would raise $100 million through a new $10 fee for foreign visitors who don’t need a visa to visit the U.S. The travel industry would put up the rest of the money to run the promotion program.

The TIA on April 15 also called on the three remaining presidential candidates to issue detailed plans on how they would improve air travel if they are elected in November. --B.V.