Cogent signs its first clients

With David Beavers and Aubree Eliza Weaver

COGENT SIGNS ITS FIRST CLIENTS: Cogent Strategies, the new lobbying shop started last month by Kimberley Fritts, the longtime chief executive of the Podesta Group, has signed its first clients. All of them are former clients of the Podesta Group, which imploded last month after Tony Podesta and Fritts were unable to strike a deal to transfer control of the firm after Podesta stepped down as chairman. The new clients include the Business Roundtable, Enterprise Holdings, Gramercy Funds Management, the Independent Film & Television Alliance, One Concern, Pearl Mobile DTV Company LLC, Shaw Industries Group, the South Carolina Ports Authority, SPIE and the Optical Society.

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— Cogent has signed roughly 10 public relations and digital clients as well, according to someone familiar with the firm’s client list, with more on the way. (Unlike lobbying clients, public relations work doesn’t have to be disclosed.) Still, the firm’s current client list is a fraction of the roughly 80 lobbying clients that the Podesta Group boasted in the third quarter. Twenty former Podesta Group staffers, including 15 of the old firm’s principals, have joined Fritts at the new firm.

MADDOX JOINS HOLLAND & KNIGHT: Lauren Maddox, a former principal at the Podesta Group, has joined Holland & Knight as a senior policy adviser, according to the firm. Maddox had planned to join Cogent Strategies but apparently changed her mind. She led Podesta’s education sector group and before that worked as the assistant secretary of communications and outreach in the Education Department during President George W. Bush’s administration.

— Maddox’s clients at the Podesta Group included Ceannate, Enterprise Holdings, the Optical Society and Oracle. “Her in-depth knowledge of education policy issues will be incredibly valuable to our clients in the industry given the current administration’s intent to reshape many of the federal laws and regulations governing the nation’s education system,” Rich Gold, the head of Holland & Knight’s public policy and regulation practice group, said in a statement.

Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Tips: tmeyer@politico.com. Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.

BGR SIGNS AMAZON, CENTENE: BGR Group has landed two big clients: Amazon and Centene. Erskine Wells, Jonathan Mantz, Jennifer Lukawski and Bill Viney will lobby for Amazon on transportation policy. Bob Wood, Haley Barbour and Ryan Long will give Centene, a major health care company, strategic guidance and counsel on Obamacare “reform” and Medicaid.

HOLLAND & KNIGHT SIGNS: Tesla has added Holland & Knight to its roster of Washington lobbyists. Former Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.) and three of his colleagues have been lobbying for Tesla on the GOP tax bill, H.R. 1 (115), and “solar tariffs” since Nov. 1, according to a disclosure.

TAX LOBBYING WON’T STOP: Republicans are on the brink of passing their tax overhaul, but the bill is likely to keep lobbyists and lawmakers busy for years after President Donald Trump signs it into law, The Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubin reports. “Congress will need to make substantive and technical corrections as problems arise, said Martin Sullivan, chief economist at Tax Analysts, a nonprofit publisher of tax notes. ‘It’s just the beginning. It’s a whole new chapter,’ he said. ‘It’s built on unstable financial foundations and on unstable political foundations. And it was built in great haste.’” Full story.

MNUCHIN SAYS LOBBYISTS WERE DEFEATED ON TAX BILL: CBS News’ John Dickerson asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on “Face the Nation” on Sunday whether lobbyists working to shape the GOP tax bill had been “defeated.” “Absolutely,” Mnuchin replied. “And if you look at the massive changes to this, we fixed a broken tax system. That's what this was all about.”

— Tax lobbyists: Do you feel defeated? Or is Mnuchin downplaying lobbyists’ influence on the bill? Let me know: tmeyer@politico.com. If I get enough responses, I’ll feature them in PI later this week.

IF YOU MISSED IT THIS WEEKEND: Tom Quinn of Venable answered a few questions from Playbook for its birthday interview feature on Sunday. “I am starting a new project called ‘Save the Swamp,’” Quinn said. “I think the system works pretty well with the almost unlimited number of special interests having their say. It will always be a bit messy, which is the nature of a democracy in a very diverse country. Most people would agree that lobbying isn’t as much fun after the 2007 Gift Ban and the restrictions on the use of corporate aircraft changed the game — I am not sure this is for the better as some of the prior interactions led to better legislation.” Here’s the full interview.

JOBS REPORT:

— Michael Heifetz is joining Michael Best Strategies, where he’ll head up the firm’s state and federal health care team. He’ll split his time between Madison, Wis., and Washington. He was previously the Medicaid director of Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services and before that worked as the state budget director.

— Celero Strategies has added Marty Glantz as an executive management consultant. He was previously SJ Technologies’ chief operating officer.

NEW JOINT FUNDRAISERS:

None

NEW PACs:

Engaging Leaders of the Future PAC (PAC)
The Outer Heaven CryptoPAC (PAC)

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS:

Ardent Strategies: Playmaker Strategies, on behalf of Owensboro Grain
BGR Government Affairs: Amazon Corporate LLC
BGR Government Affairs: Centene Corporation
BGR Government Affairs: Chemonics International
Black Diamond Strategies LLC: Cintra US
Black Diamond Strategies LLC: Eagle Procurement & Industrial Contractor LLC
Black Diamond Strategies LLC: Leidos, Inc.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Delaware North Companies Inc.
Capitol Counsel, LLC: Mercaris
Cassidy & Associates, Inc. (formerly known as Cassidy & Associates): Forcepoint
Cassidy & Associates, Inc. (formerly known as Cassidy & Associates): Innovative Communication & Strategies, LLC (InCoStrat)
Cassidy & Associates, Inc. (formerly known as Cassidy & Associates): LV Stadium Events Co
Cassidy & Associates, Inc. (formerly known as Cassidy & Associates): Squaw Valley
Cogent Strategies LLC: Business Roundtable
Cogent Strategies LLC: Enterprise Holdings
Cogent Strategies LLC: Gramercy Funds Management
Cogent Strategies LLC: Independent Film and Television Alliance
Cogent Strategies LLC: One Concern, Inc.
Cogent Strategies LLC: Pearl Mobile DTV Company LLC
Cogent Strategies LLC: Shaw Industries Group
Cogent Strategies LLC: South Carolina Ports Authority
Cogent Strategies LLC: SPIE - the international society for optics and photonics
Cogent Strategies LLC: The Optical Society
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: The Interstate 11 Coalition
Dentons US LLP: National Seafood Marketing Coalition
DGSR LLC: Committee for a Responsible Foreign Policy
Ernst & Young LLP (Washington Council Ernst & Young): Monarch Private Capital LLC
Holland & Knight LLP: Tesla, Inc.
K&L Gates LLP: Hydro One Limited
Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton LLP: Tejon Indian Tribe
Lincoln Policy Group: Maverick Capital
McGuireWoods Consulting (A Subsidiary of McGuireWoods LLP): Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands

NEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS:

Mercury: BYD
Podesta Group, Inc.: China-US Exchange Foundation
Resource Efficiency, Inc.: International District Energy Association
The Velasquez Group, L.L.C.: Electronic Payments Coalition
The Wonderful Company (FKA Roll Global): Wonderful Company (FKA Roll Global)