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Boston Globe

It's not just Harvard: Ballard Partners, lobbying firm with Trump ties, lines up Mass. clients

In D.C., it's another story entirely: Politico reported that Ballard raked in $14 million in lobbying fees in the first quarter, or roughly triple what it generated the same time a year ago, making it one of the busiest lobbying firms in Washington this year. A search of the federal government's lobbying database shows more than 90 new clients hired Ballard in the first four months of the year. (A spokesman for Ballard declined to comment.) Advertisement Among them were Teradyne, a North Reading manufacturer in the semiconductor industry, and Alkermes, a biopharma company that's technically based in Ireland but has its biggest corporate-and-lab facility in Waltham. Neither returned requests for comment about Ballard's hiring. In its filings, Alkermes said it tapped Ballard to 'provide guidance and advice regarding mental health, public health and regulatory reform,' while Teradyne cited 'export control regulation interpretation.' Advertisement Sublime Systems, a Somerville startup, depends heavily on federal funding for a factory it's building in Holyoke to make low-carbon cement. Spokeswoman Erin Glabets declined to comment about Ballard's hiring, although the stated purpose in Sublime's federal filing is 'advocacy and guidance related to energy grants.' The company recently secured a federal tax credit worth nearly $50 million, along with up to $87 million that the US Department of Energy awarded Sublime last year for the project. Glabets said those awards remain unchanged, and the company is moving ahead with engineering and permitting, with a goal of opening the Holyoke plant in 2027. The Mass. hospital association also offered a statement about why it hired Ballard that didn't mention Trump: 'Ballard has a strong history of representing safety net hospitals, and our engagement comes during a critical moment when our safety net infrastructure is faltering and decisions around the future of Medicaid funding are being made. In addition to our national consultants at [law firm] Alston & Bird, they are an important component of MHA's mission to protect healthcare organizations, patients, and caregivers here in Massachusetts.' Advertisement Jon Chesto can be reached at