The lobbyist who rejected Harvard

Politico

4 days ago

FIRST IN PI — MILLER DECLINED TO HELP HARVARD: Top GOP fundraiser Jeff Miller turned down an offer to represent Harvard University in February as the institution took on heavy fire from the Trump administration, two people familiar with the matter told your PI host and Daniel. Miller's decision deprived the Ivy League school of a second lobbyist with strong connections to the White House ahead of its rapidly escalating standoff with President Donald Trump.
— A month earlier, in January, another Trump-connected firm, Ballard Partners, signed up Harvard for a retainer of $90,000 per quarter to provide 'advocacy supporting education and educational research.' The firm's founder, Brian Ballard, found himself in the crosshairs of Trump White House officials in recent weeks before scoring an Oval Office sitdown with Trump.
— Altogether, Harvard dropped $230,000 on federal lobbying during the first quarter of this year, up from $170,000 during the last three months of 2024 and $130,000 during the same time a year ago. The university also retains O'Neill, Athy & Casey. A spokesperson for Harvard didn't respond to a request for comment.
— Ballard signed Harvard in early January, weeks before Trump's new administration began its broader crackdown on college campuses. Ballard also represents the University of Michigan and Vanderbilt University.
— In this administration, lobbyists and lawyers need to pay attention to how potential or existing clients are viewed by the president. Trump wasn't pleased, for example, when he learned that Quinn Emanuel lawyer Bill Burck was representing Harvard as a client at the same time he was working for the Trump Organization.
— In short order, Burck was fired by the Trump Organization. An attorney whom the Trump Org had hailed months earlier as 'one of the nation's finest and most respected lawyers' was dismissed by Trump in April as 'not that good, anyway.'
— Ballard dropped POLITICO parent company Axel Springer earlier this month, but the firm still represents PBS, for which Trump has moved to revoke federal funds. And both Ballard and Miller represent Big Law firms that cut deals with the president earlier this year in order to avoid being targeted by executive orders. Miller also represents several other universities punished by Trump, including Cornell, Northwestern and Johns Hopkins.
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NEW BUSINESS: AHIP, which represents major health insurers, has brought on its sixth outside lobbying firm — and its second new outside firm so far this year.
— According to a disclosure filing, the insurance lobby retained Whitmer & Worrall last week to lobby on prescription drug prices, following the passage of House Republicans' reconciliation bill, which included a number of provisions aimed at reining in pharmacy benefit managers — the biggest of which are owned by insurance companies that are members of AHIP.
— Last month, AHIP hired Scott Raab, longtime top aide to former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell.
— Newly filed disclosures also show that a top manufacturer of treatments for rare diseases and a major trade group representing the sector brought on new lobbying help ahead of a major win for so-called orphan drugs in the reconciliation bill. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical hired veteran health care lobbyist Max Bronstein of MGB Consulting, while the Rare Disease Company Coalition, which counts Ultragenyx as a member, retained Ferox Strategies.
— The Inflation Reduction Act included an exclusion from its drug pricing provisions for products approved to treat a single rare disease. Orphan drugmakers, who argued the exemption would disincentivize development of drugs that could treat more than one condition, successfully pushed for an expansion in the House-passed measure.
WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU LEMONS: 'The head of the world's largest aircraft leasing company has called on U.S. President Donald Trump to renegotiate and expand a duty-free trade agreement for the aircraft industry to include newcomers like China in a new lobbying twist to the trade war,' Reuters' Tim Hepher and David Shepardson report.
— 'The aerospace industry has for weeks been pushing for exemptions to tariffs introduced by Trump, or to any foreign retaliation, and wants a return to the status quo represented by a 1979 deal between some 30 nations to ban tariffs on jetliners. But Aengus Kelly, chief executive of AerCap, said the current trade crisis also represented a chance to expand and improve the decades-old pact to ensure a level playing field under what he termed a 'Trump trade accord' for aviation.'
— 'The call for a Trump-led renegotiation marks a shift of emphasis by the aviation industry, which has so far focused mainly on restoring the existing tariff-free regime. … The call for an expanded pact comes as China is increasing production of a home-grown competitor to Boeing and Airbus' and as Boeing appears poised to become collateral in an extended trade war.
TALES FROM THE CRYPTO: 'Washington's most powerful cryptocurrency champion is starting to become a headache for the industry,' POLITICO's Declan Harty writes. Trump's web of family businesses 'is quickly establishing itself as a new crypto empire,' triggering alarm from Democrats, ethics hawks and, increasingly, industry itself.
— 'With critical legislation advancing on Capitol Hill, several lobbyists and executives say they are worried that the president could undermine their policy agenda and even jeopardize his own efforts to establish the U.S. as the world's crypto capital.'
— 'The industry's brewing concerns present a new front in the pushback in Washington over Trump's increasing footprint within the industry, which critics have warned could become a new means for corporate actors and foreign entities to influence the administration.'
WATCHING THE WATCHDOGS: 'After firing inspectors general at 19 agencies in an unprecedented purge, Trump has named six replacements in recent weeks, including three with clearly partisan backgrounds. Two of those have controversial histories and two have ties to the agency they would be responsible for investigating,' per the Washington Post's Meryl Kornfield and Lisa Rein.
— They include Labor IG pick Anthony D'Esposito, the former Republican congressman 'who lost his New York seat after he was accused of putting his mistress and his fiancée's daughter on his payroll.'
— There's also HHS IG nominee Thomas March Bell, who 'resigned from a government job over an allegation of mishandling taxpayers' money and has pursued cases against abortion clinics as a GOP attorney,' and Cheryl Mason, who said in paperwork related to her nomination as the IG at the Department of Veterans Affairs that she continued advising VA Secretary Doug Collins even after her nomination to oversee his agency.
Jobs report
— The Blockchain Association has promoted Allie Page to chief operating officer, Curtis Kincaid to chief marketing and communications officer, Dan Spuller to executive vice president of industry affairs and Sarah Milby to chief policy officer.
— James Allan has joined APCO's financial advisory and communications practice as a senior director in the New York office. He was most recently a senior vice president at Rubenstein and is a Mercer Wealth, Brunswick Group and Edelman alum.
— 314 Action has added Bri Gillis as a campaign adviser for federal and statewide candidates, Eden Giagnorio as comms director and Tara Saye as deputy development director.
— Cheyenne Hunt is now executive director of Gen-Z for Change. She previously was a big tech accountability advocate at Public Citizen and is an Amy Klobuchar alum.
— Chris Crawford will be senior director of civil strategies at Interfaith America. He currently is a policy strategist of free and fair elections at Protect Democracy.
— Emma Mears is now head of membership development at Ned's Club. She previously was membership and community manager. And Jenna Groesch is now head of membership at Ned's Club. She previously was membership executive at the club's New York location.
— The Heritage Foundation has promoted EJ Antoni to chief economist. Antoni was previously a research fellow and the Richard Aster fellow at the think tank's Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget.
— Emily Domenech has been tapped to lead the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. She most recently was a senior vice president at Boundary Stone Partners, and is a Mike Johnson and Kevin McCarthy alum.
— Matthew Christiansen is now a partner in Wilson Sonsini's energy and climate solutions practice. He previously was general counsel at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
— Alex Rosenwald is now a director at DCI Group. He previously was senior director of comms at The Hill.
— Laura Akowuah is now special counsel at Cooley. She previously was acting director of the office of enforcement in the FDA's Human Foods Program.
— Stephen Gallagher is now an associate at Watchtower Strategy. He previously was staff assistant/press assistant for Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.).
New Joint Fundraisers
TEAM KLACIK (Kim Klacik for Congress, Red Renaissance, Inc.)
New PACs
Congressional Republican Organization of Illinois PAC (PAC)
Protect Their Future PAC (Super PAC)
New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Georgia Hospital Association, Inc.
Elevate Government Affairs, LLC: Atomic Machines, Inc.
Elevate Government Affairs, LLC: Cirrus Design Corporation
Elevate Government Affairs, LLC: Spokane Airport Board
First Day Pr: Blue State Action, Inc.
S2R, LLC: Stillwater Mining Co. (D/B/A Sibanye-Stillwater)
Turbovets, Inc.: Turbovets, Inc.
Whitmer & Worrall, LLC: Ahip
Williamson Law + Policy Pllc: Coalition For The Use Of Safe And Efficient Refrigerants
New Lobbying Terminations
None.