LUETKEMEYER LANDS DOWNTOWN: Former Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), who was a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee before his retirement earlier this year, will be the new chief executive of American Consumer & Investor Institute, an advocacy group that represents consumer voices on issues related to the regulation of fintechs and cryptocurrency.
— The group was launched in 2023 by Luetkemeyer’s fellow former House GOP colleague Barbara Comstock to improve financial literacy and push back on the Biden administration’s “paternalistic” efforts to introduce guardrails on the use of tech by financial platforms — overregulation the group said would undercut the democratization of personal finance tools thanks to technological advances like artificial intelligence.
— Comstock, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, has stepped down as part of what a spokesperson said was a planned change in leadership this year for the group, which Luetkemeyer said in a statement will be “committed to fighting alongside the Trump Administration to advance policies that actually help real consumers and investors.” Asked whether Comstock’s departure had anything to do with her Trump criticism, the spokesperson told PI that ACII is “grateful” for Comstock’s help in launching it.
— “For too long, Washington advocacy groups have blown with the political winds,” Luetkemeyer argued, praising Trump’s picks for key financial regulatory posts and some early “pro-innovation” moves and adding in a few shots at the Biden administration and “their establishment allies in Washington.”
FIRST IN PI — RETAIL LEADERS NUDGE BESSENT, LUTNICK TO HEM IN TARIFFS: A top trade group representing retail executives wants Trump’s Commerce and Treasury secretaries to focus on extending the president’s 2017 tax cuts — not that other “T” word related to trade policy that Trump loves to wield as a cudgel against other governments.
— In a letter today to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s top lobbyist Michael Hanson lauded the 2017 tax law for slashing the corporate tax rate and pledged to help Republicans usher through their bill to “to give businesses the certainty they need to hire and invest.”
— “Retailers are urging this administration to stick with the playbook they wrote in the first term, which will continue to make America the best place to invest and innovate,” Hanson wrote. That theme should extend to trade policy as well, Hanson argued, via a focus on trade agreements like the USMCA that “set clear rules of the road” and a long-term solution to the so-called de minimis loophole — as opposed to Trump’s barrages of tariff proclamations.
— While the industry “recognizes the administration views national security and protecting American innovation as a top priority,” Hanson added, “we strongly believe the President and his team can accomplish those goals and minimize disruption to the U.S. economy while protecting household goods by utilizing smart and targeted tariffs – accomplishing the President’s goal of bringing down prices for American families.”
MUSK’S STATEHOUSE DOGEHOUSE: “Elon Musk is taking Washington by storm, but in statehouses controlled by Democrats on both coasts, his lobbyists are facing a frigid welcome,” POLITICO’s Marie French reports.
— “Tesla’s ability to sell electric vehicles directly to consumers remains restricted in several states where the deeply entrenched franchise dealership model prevails. Musk’s company has lobbied to be allowed to set up its own sales locations in those states over the last few years — with only limited success.”
— “In the past, blue state Democrats and environmental groups pushed for allowing Tesla and other electric vehicle makers to set up shop rather than requiring customers to buy online. … But Musk’s growing political clout and alignment with Republican President Donald Trump is making that a harder sell.”
BARRASSO AIDE JOINING CGCN: John Tanner has left the Hill, where he most recently served as deputy staff director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee under new Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), to join CGCN Group as a partner.
— Tanner previously worked in the Interior Department for almost all of Trump’s first term and before that spent 14 years on the Hill working for former Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and the late Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
FROM ‘BOZO’ TO BESTIES: “Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos last summer privately urged Donald Trump to pick Doug Burgum as Trump’s vice president, saying he’d be an ‘excellent’ choice,” per Axios’ Alex Isenstadt, who details how “Bezos was engaging with Trump on political issues months earlier than previously reported.”
— “It wasn’t until late October — three months later — that Bezos spiked the Post editorial page’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, and his outreach to Trump came into focus,” but “the seeds of the Bezos-Trump alliance were planted in the July phone call” following the assassination attempt against Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
— The relationship has only progressed since then. Bezos dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the election and donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, which Bezos attended, all of which appears to have culminated in Bezos’ announcement yesterday that the Post’s “progressive-leaning opinion page would shift its mission to promote ‘personal liberties and free markets.’ The move was praised by Trump allies such as Elon Musk but created an uproar at the Post, where David Shipley, the opinion editor, resigned.”
— It’s all a far cry from Trump’s first term, Isenstadt notes, during which Bezos criticized Trump during the campaign, prompting the president’s ridicule and even an attempt by Trump to hike USPS shipping rates for Amazon packages.
HOLLAND & KNIGHT ADDS DEFENSE LOBBYISTS: Holland & Knight has added Mike Wakefield as a partner and Joseph Sopcisak as a senior policy adviser in the public policy and regulation group and the firm’s newly launched national security and defense industry group.
— Wakefield was most recently senior counsel and a professional staff member on the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and Sopcisak was a technical director in the Pentagon’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.
— Scott Frame will join the Bank Policy Institute as senior vice president and deputy head of research. Scott is currently chief economist and head of policy at the Structured Finance Association.
— Owen Caine has joined the National Apartment Association as associate vice president of legislative affairs. He was most recently vice president of government affairs at the Toy Association.
— The Economic Security Project is adding Mike Konczal and Adriane Brown, both from the Biden White House. Konczal will be a senior director of policy and research and previously was special assistant to the president for economic policy and chief economist for the NEC. Brown will be senior comms director and previously was director of public affairs at the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
— Jeremy Kreisberg is now of counsel at Munger, Tolles and Olson. He previously was special assistant to the president and senior associate counsel in Biden’s White House Counsel’s Office.
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Bracewell LLP: Electricity Canada
Continental Strategy, LLC: American Beverage Association
Continental Strategy, LLC: Florida International University
G S Proctor And Associates, Inc: Town Of Indian Head
Jucundus Business Services LLC: Tether Operations, S.A. De C.V.
Lne Group: Functional Foundations Pediatric Services
Mo Strategies, Inc.: Direct Supply Senior Living Advocacy, Inc.
Mo Strategies, Inc.: Lytton Rancheria Of California
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Van Scoyoc Associates: Ohc
Venable LLP: National Association Of School Nurses
