Joe Biden has four big-name Republican speakers taking the virtual stage on his behalf on the first night of the Democratic National Convention. Fittingly for the K Street-heavy Biden, three of the four are lobbyists.
Former congresswoman Susan Molinari cashed out of Congress in the middle of her term in 1997, and after a brief stint at CBS, she launched her own lobbying firm, where her clients included Freddie Mac, Delta Airlines, and Sanofi Aventis. After a decade, she signed onto the K Street firm Bracewell Giuliani, where her clients included Russia. In 2012, she took over the lobbying office of Google, which she ran until 2018.
Former congressman and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has started down the same path. He left elected office last year and launched his own public affairs shop, the Kasich Company, which hasn’t registered to lobby yet, but which hires lobbyists for its clients. What does his company do? “Craft strategies for public and private sector change management … overcoming regulatory obstacles and crisis communications,” and “offers its clients the expertise of public-sector leaders with private-sector capabilities who work to develop results-oriented, common-sense and unifying approaches to solving problems at the federal, state and local level.”
In short, Kasich and his staff may not make lobbying contacts, but they leverage their public service to help companies lobby.
Former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator and New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman runs a consulting/lobbying firm where she monetizes her experience at the EPA. The Whitman Strategy Group has had lobbying clients, including Chevron, but the firm deregistered as lobbyists when President Barack Obama came into office. She also used to co-chair a nuclear energy lobby group called CASEnergy.
Lobbyists for Biden could be the theme of DNC Day One.
