By Erik Wasson and Jeremy Herb
The Hill
08/31/13 06:00 AM ET

U.S. military action in Syria could give the White House an advantage in the looming fiscal showdown with congressional Republicans, according to defense and budget experts.

They said the Syria crisis could boost calls by President Obama and defense hawks to reverse the automatic spending cuts to the Pentagon known as sequestration.

Steve Bell, a budget expert at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said if the U.S. moves forward with military action, it will underline the arguments of those who say keeping the sequester in place impairs U.S. military readiness.

“I think it has the possibility of advancing fiscal talks, I really do,” he said.

He argued that if strikes against Syria are launched, it will be “very, very difficult to insist” on the defense sequester.

“Under those circumstances, I can see a [2014 continuing resolution] that would contain full funding for defense,” he said.

The White House has been banking on defense hawks within the GOP breaking ranks with Tea Party conservatives and embracing a debt deal that includes some higher taxes and reverses cuts to domestic programs.

Their hope is that the cuts to the Pentagon will grow so painful, some defense-minded lawmakers will accept more tax revenue as part of a deal to end the defense cuts.

That effort needs a shot in the arm.

Obama faced a setback this week when secretive White House debt talks with Senate GOP centrists were suspended indefinitely over the issue of new taxes. Experts also cautioned that for the Syrian action to move the fiscal goalposts, they will need to be successful and popular with the public.
The stakes for the Pentagon are high.

In March, the defense budget was automatically cut by about $37 billion. Because Congress has been unable to agree on a budget, the Pentagon faces another $52 billion in cuts in the next fiscal year that begins in October.

The link between the sequester and Syria is already being made.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Panel, issued a press release saying the U.S. cannot afford to go to war in Syria given the ongoing effects of defense sequestration.

“I cannot support military action in Syria unless the president presents to Congress his broader strategy in the region that addresses our national security interests and the budget to support it,” Inhofe said. “[Obama] has underfunded overseas contingency operations (OCO) fund, reduced base defense budget, and put into motion sequestration. Our military has no money left.”

Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, who wants the sequester maintained, said linking military action in Syria to the sequester will backfire, in part because the public doesn’t want to be involved in a fight with that country.

“I think people will try to misuse [Syria], and it will backfire very badly,” he said.

“The country doesn’t want them to do much or anything. There is not a lot of demand for something big and expensive.”

But Michael Herson, the president of American Defense International, a defense lobbying firm, said military action in Syria could boost the arguments of Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who both want to reverse the sequester.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/319751-syria-strikes-could-help-obama-in-debt-talks#ixzz2dpk4yu00

By The Hill Staff
10/30/13 06:15 AM EDT

Among the thousands of advocates in the nation’s capital, only a select few have risen to the top of their profession to earn a slot on The Hill’s Top Lobbyists list.

Some of the Top Lobbyists are hired guns who have proven to clients that they can shape the agenda on Capitol Hill.

Others are advocates who derive power from the grassroots, turning old-fashioned organizing into potent political power.

Some work for a single business or corporation, giving them the ability to speak with authority on economic and tax policy.

Last but not least are the lobbyists and leaders for trade groups, who help industries present a united front in legislative battles.

While everyone on the list exerts influence in Washington, not all of them are registered lobbyists.

Since The Hill began publishing its Top Lobbyists list more than a decade ago, the word “lobbyist” has become a “Scarlet L” that many strive to avoid.

The industry has also expanded into new forms of advocacy that go beyond face-to-face meetings with decision makers.

The Hill uses the term “lobbyist” broadly here to encompass the people who are working day in and day out to influence federal policy.

While not every advocate on the list fits the traditional K Street mold, they all have one thing in common: a proven ability to make things happen in Washington.

CORPORATE | HIRED GUNS | ASSOCIATIONS | GRASSROOTS

CORPORATE

Cory Alexander, UnitedHealth Group Inc.
A former lobbyist for Fannie Mae, Alexander is steering UnitedHealth’s advocacy team through the new terrain of the Affordable Care Act.

Bryan Anderson, Southern Co.
Anderson has a jampacked agenda as the power company deals with the looming carbon rules and works to build nuclear reactors in the United States.

Sid Ashworth, Northrop Grumman Corp.
For the second year in a row, Ashworth’s expert team at Northrop Grumman persuaded the Pentagon to keep one of the company’s Global Hawk drone variants in service.

Meredith Baker and Melissa Maxfield, Comcast/NBCUniversal.
As a former FCC commissioner, Baker is fluent in the regulatory process; Maxfield learned how to fight in the political trenches as a Senate aide.

Bill Barloon, Sprint Corp.
Sprint’s versatile lobbying team won regulatory approval for a deal with Japan’s Softbank this year; now it’s battling AT&T and Verizon over the rules for an auction of airwave licenses.

Wayne Berman, Blackstone Group LP
A power player in Republican Party politics, Berman is one of the most sought-after fundraisers on K Street.

Abigail Blunt, Kraft Foods Group Inc.
Blunt is keeping Kraft ahead of the curve by talking with lawmakers and members of the administration about food safety and marketing to kids.

Stephen Brown, Tesoro Corp.
Brown draws on a deep well of policy knowledge when representing the independent refining company in battles over ethanol, emissions rules and more.

Jim Cicconi, Tim McKone, and Peter Jacoby, AT&T Inc.
The company’s ace lobbying team is seeking access to more airwaves to improve the quality of AT&T’s network.

Maria Cino, Hewlett-Packard Co.
Cino, a former Republican National Convention CEO, deputy Transportation secretary and Pfizer lobbyist, deals with federal, state and local government relations for the tech company.

Peter Cleveland, Intel Corp.
A former chief of staff to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Cleveland is the chief lobbyist for the computer chip giant and a man to know on the tech scene.

Ken Cole, Pfizer Inc.
The former General Motors lobbyist brings a wealth of experience to the drug giant’s lobby team as it grapples with the rollout of ObamaCare.

Colin Crowell, Twitter Inc.
Crowell, a former FCC aide and congressional staffer, blazed a trail as the first public policy hire for Twitter.

Greg Dahlberg, Lockheed Martin Corp.
The former Army undersecretary and House defense panel staffer has helped keep Lockheed’s flagship F-35 Joint Strike Fighter from falling victim to budget cuts.

Peter Davidson, Verizon Communications Inc.
The nation’s largest wireless carrier holds its own in the lobbying game with advocates like Davidson, a former general counsel to the U.S. Trade Representative.

Nancy Dorn, General Electric Co.
Lobbyists for GE balance a broad advocacy portfolio that is evolving as the company moves into the tech sector.

Theresa Fariello, Exxon Mobil Corp.
Fariello, a former Energy Department official, has kept Exxon in the win column with an expert blend of lobbying power and public advocacy.

Bob Filippone, Merck & Co. Inc.
Filippone left the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America this fall to take the reins of the drug company’s Washington office.

Tucker Foote, MasterCard Inc.
Foote and his team are showing their versatility as the industry deals with tech-centric issues such as Internet gambling, mobile payment systems and cybersecurity.

Nate Gatten, JPMorgan Chase and Co.
The former Fannie Mae lobbyist is at the pinnacle of his profession as head of federal government relations for the nation’s largest bank.

Matt Gelman and Fred Humphries, Microsoft Corp.
Gelman and Humphries bring decades of experience to the company’s well-oiled lobbying machine.

Rich Glick, Iberdrola
Business has never been better for the wind industry, but there’s no time to celebrate as a popular industry tax credit is in danger of lapsing.

Rick Graber, Honeywell International Inc.
A former ambassador to the Czech Republic, Graber knows international affairs. But his power base is in Washington, where he’s chairman of Honeywell’s political action committee, HIPAC.

Bob Helm, General Dynamics Corp.
Helm is leveraging the company’s many successes to gain a foothold in the expanding unmanned warfare and cybersecurity markets.

Guy Hicks, EADS North America
Since taking over as the company’s top defense lobbyist last January, Hicks has expanded its military aviation holdings while securing new business in logistics and support operations for foreign militaries.

Ed Hill, Bank of America Corp.
A steady hand at Bank of America for more than a decade, Hill knows how to makes the bank’s views known during debates on major financial issues.

Joel Kaplan, Facebook Inc.
Kaplan, a former policy aide in the George W. Bush White House, deals with online privacy regulations and immigration reform for the social media company’s up-and-coming D.C. team.

Tim Keating, Boeing Co.
Keating spearheaded the company’s successful effort to reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank and faces a mounting challenge in the defense cuts under sequestration.

Kent Knutson, Home Depot Inc.
A genuine K Street powerbroker, Knutson sits on the board of the Home Depot Foundation, which donated $1 million to relief organizations in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Bill Lane, Caterpillar Inc.
Lane, an in-house lobbyist for the construction equipment giant, is one of Washington’s most prominent voices for free trade.

Melissa Lavinson, PG&E Corp.
Lavinson is a seasoned lobbyist for the utilities giant, tasked with keeping tabs on the administration’s new greenhouse gas regulations.

Susan Molinari and Pablo Chavez, Google Inc.
Molinari, a former congresswoman, and Chavez, a former counsel to Arizona Sen. John McCain, have helped Google become a lobbying powerhouse.

Emmett O’Keefe, Amazon.com Inc.
A former staffer to the House and Senate commerce committees, O’Keefe is putting Amazon’s muscle behind Internet sales tax legislation.

Ziad Ojakli, Ford Motor Co.
Ford’s high-octane lobbying operation has touted its work to increase driver safety, which is a big focus of new Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

Michael Paese, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Paese served on the House Financial Services Committee when Dodd-Frank was put to paper, and he has been out front for one of Wall Street’s biggest names since 2009.

Dean Pappas, The Allstate Corp.
The insurance giant is keeping close watch over the implementation of the transportation reauthorization bill and the debate over tax reform.

Joe Seidel, Credit Suisse Group AG
Seidel is in charge of the U.S. lobbying operations for Switzerland’s second-largest bank, which has been active on both the tax and derivatives fronts.

Matthew Stanton, Beam Inc.
As the lobbyist for iconic brands like Jim Beam, Makers Mark and Courvoisier, Stanton is well-versed in everything from patent law to energy efficiency.

Sarah Thorn, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
The world’s largest retailer has a nimble advocacy team to cut through a thicket of international regulations and trade rules.

Jonathan Weisgall, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.
Weisgall can multi-task with the best of them, boasting a resume that runs from lobbyist to author to film producer.

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HIRED GUNS

Josh Ackil and Matt Tanielian, Franklin Square Group
The two Democrats have cornered the market on tech lobbying in Washington, becoming a go-to firm for Silicon Valley.

Andy Barbour, Smith-Free Group
The former Clinton administration official and Financial Services Roundtable alum will be on the front lines of the fight to renew terrorism risk insurance.

Haley Barbour, Lanny Griffith and Loren Monroe, BGR Group
Barbour returned to the bipartisan firm he helped found last year, and hit the ground running as BGR signed up several new clients.

Doyle Bartlett, Eris Group LLC
Bartlett is a skilled hand who lobbies for the movers and shakers of the financial sector.

Jeff Berman and David Russell, Bryan Cave LLP
Berman and Russell anchor the firm’s bustling, respected regulatory practice.

James Blanchard and Ilia Rodriguez, DLA Piper
Blanchard’s connections were forged during years as an ambassador, lawmaker and governor; Rodriguez is a product of the Center for American Progress, and can get under the hood of any policy problem.

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., Micah Green, Edward Newberry and Kevin O’Neill, Patton Boggs
Grit and hustle have helped Patton remain K Street’s top dog in lobbying revenue.

Dan Boston, Health Policy Source Inc.
Boston is a policy pro who is keeping a close eye on congressional efforts to overhaul Medicare’s flawed physician payment formula.

Chuck Brain, Capitol Hill Strategies LLC
A well-known name in the “downtown” community, Brain taps more than 20 years of experience in the public sector to help his clients.

John Breaux and Trent Lott, Breaux Lott Leadership Group
The ex-senators have added serious heft to Patton Boggs’s bottom line with their flourishing practice.

Dan Bryant and Holly Fechner, Covington & Burling LLP
Covington has made moves to charge up its lobbying team, with Bryant and Fechner providing the power base.

Gerald Cassidy and Gregg Hartley, Cassidy & Associates
The firm has reinvented itself for a new era without sacrificing its prestige or its earnings power.

David Castagnetti and Alex Vogel, Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc.
Castagnetti and Vogel have kept their firm thriving despite the downturn that’s sweeping K Street.

Al D’Amato, Park Strategies LLC
The former senator has built a lobby shop with strong New York connections, maintaining offices throughout the Empire State.

Linda Daschle, LHD & Associates Inc.
Daschle once headed up the Federal Aviation Administration and is reaching new heights as one of the best transportation lobbyists in town.

Licy Do Canto, The Do Canto Group
Once an aide to the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, Do Canto works with the children’s advocacy group First Focus and The Kennedy Forum, a mental health initiative.

Julie Domenick, Multiple Strategies LLC
Domenick was once a lobbyist for the Investment Company Institute and has her own successful shop now.

Ken Duberstein and Marti Thomas, The Duberstein Group Inc.
Duberstein, once a Reagan White House chief of staff, has built one of the influence industry’s great bipartisan shops with Thomas and other talent.

Steve Elmendorf and Jimmy Ryan, Elmendorf | Ryan LLC
Clients such as CitiGroup, Delta and Facebook have placed their trust in the innovative firm.

Victor Fazio, Joel Jankowsky, Scott Parven and Bill Paxon, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP
The leaders of the K Street giant have made complacency their enemy, spotting new opportunities well ahead of the competition.

Mitchell Feuer, Rich Feuer Anderson
Feuer spent years as counsel at the Senate Banking Committee and now lobbies for the titans of finance.

Elizabeth Frazee and Sharon Ringley, TwinLogic Strategies LLP
Frazee and Ringley are turning heads at their small shop with big-name clients like Amazon and Yahoo.

Sam Geduldig and Steve Clark, Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford
Geduldig, a former Republican leadership aide, and Clark, who founded the firm in 2000, set the standard for what a small lobby shop can be.

Chris Giblin and Moses Mercado, Ogilvy Government Relations
Ogilvy, long a top firm, is making a fresh start with lobbyists Giblin and Mercado leading the way.

Nick Giordano, Washington Council Ernst & Young
Giordano is a former Senate Finance Committee counsel and a trusted guide on tax reform.

Rich Gold, Kathryn Lehman and Gerry Sikorski, Holland & Knight
Success is a team effort at Holland & Knight, which last year banished corner offices in favor of a more egalitarian workspace.

Fred Graefe, Law offices of Frederick H. Graefe
Graefe is a legend among Democratic healthcare lobbyists and retains a strong stable of clients.

J. Steven Hart, Williams & Jensen PLLC
Williams & Jensen remains one of Washington’s premiere firms, and Hart is a big reason why.

Ralph Hellmann and David Lugar, Lugar Hellmann Group LLC
Hellmann and Lugar’s boutique shop has been a hit with clients from day one.

Michael Herson, American Defense International Inc.
A former Pentagon and White House official, Herson is in the trenches fighting to save the Pentagon budget from sequestration.

Mike House, Hogan Lovells
House has been in Washington for decades and helps lead the lobbying practice at one of K Street’s most profitable shops.

Mark Isakowitz, Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock
Some of corporate America’s biggest names are patrons of the GOP-leaning firm, including several tech giants.

Joel Johnson, The Glover Park Group
Johnson is the consummate Washington insider as a former senior hand to President Clinton and ex-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Thomas Jolly, Williams Mullen
Jolly, a longtime Democratic operative, has helped the firm transform into a triple-treat with law, lobbying and government relations services.

Mark Kadesh, Kadesh & Associates LLC
Kadesh brings California connections to his K Street gig after spending seven years as Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s chief of staff.

Matt Keelen, The Keelen Group LLC
Like many on K Street, Keelen likes to get out of the office and onto the trail when campaign season idles Washington.

Rick Kessler, Dow Lohnes Government Strategies PLLC
Kessler’s years working for the House Energy and Commerce Committee gives him the versatility needed to lobby for a wide range of clients.

Ken Kies, Federal Policy Group LLC
Kies is on the shortlist of Washington’s elite tax lobbyists, and his counsel will be a valuable commodity if tax reform gains momentum in Congress.

Lisa Kountoupes, Kountoupes | Denham
A former Clinton White House aide, Kountoupes and her firm represent blue-chip clients in healthcare and technology.

Bob Livingston, The Livingston Group LLC
The former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee runs an active practice that serves a client close to his heart: his alma mater, Tulane University.

Steve McBee, McBee Strategic Consulting LLC
McBee brings a tech-savvy approach to his Washington firm, which is growing by leaps and bounds.

Dan Mica, The DMA Group LLC
After serving at the head of a financial services trade group and as a Democratic congressman, Mica knows how to build bipartisan coalitions to get things done.

Al Mottur, Marc Lampkin and Manuel Ortiz, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Mottur, Lampkin and Ortiz are part of a lobbying team that is undoubtedly one of K Street’s finest.

Larry O’Brien, The OB-C Group LLC
O’Brien runs in Democratic fundraising circles, and as a veteran K Streeter, knows how Washington works at the highest levels.

Tom O’Donnell, Gephardt Group LLC
O’Donnell has built a robust lobbying practice alongside his former boss, ex-House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri.

Marty Paone, Prime Policy Group
Paone knows the Senate inside and out, having managed the upper chamber’s floor for years under Democratic leaders.

Jeff Peck, Peck Madigan Jones
Peck is a first-rate Democratic lobbyist, so it’s fitting that he’s on the roster for one of the influence industry’s highest earners.

Steve Perry, Dutko Grayling
Perry has been called a “guiding force” at Dutko, and he has more than 20 years of lobbying victories to back it up.

Jim Pitts and Chris Cox, Navigators Global LLC
Pitts is a towering figure in Republican Party politics, having served on five presidential campaigns; Cox brings his own GOP connections to the successful firm.

Heather Podesta, Heather Podesta + Partners LLC
Podesta has built up a substantial lobby shop with prime corporate clients and a reputation for results.

Tony Podesta, Podesta Group
A man-about-town and familiar face at Democratic fundraisers, Podesta has kept his firm in the industry’s upper echelons.

Jack Quinn, Quinn Gillespie & Associates LLC
Quinn became one of K Street’s all-time greats after serving as White House counsel to President Clinton.

Thomas Quinn, Venable LLP
Quinn is a rare breed, knowing his way around the worlds of both domestic and international finance.

Robert Raben, The Raben Group
Raben’s firm takes a unique approach to advocacy that puts businesses and liberal advocacy groups under the same tent.

John Raffaelli, Capitol Counsel LLC
Raffaelli has seen his firm go from startup to established player, putting him in the center of the action in politics.

Emanuel Rouvelas and Jim Walsh, K&L Gates LLP
Rouvelas and Walsh, former congressmen from New York, are among a number of accomplished advocates at the lobbying giant.

Scott Segal, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
Segal is known for his energy expertise and will be sought out during the coming battle over climate change regulations.

Rhod Shaw, The Alpine Group.
Shaw has expanded his work beyond shoe-leather lobbying, dabbling in consensus building, strategic communications and grassroots organizing.

Tom Sheridan, The Sheridan Group.
With a background in social work and the lobbying muscle to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, Sheridan established a firm that helps its clients challenge the status quo.

Tracy Spicer, Avenue Solutions.
The small, all-female lobbying firm has built an impressive roster in healthcare and added a major player this year when Yvette Fontenot came on board.

Charles Stenholm, OFW Law.
Stenholm knows his way around agricultural policy as a former farmer and ex-Democratic ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee.

Alexander Sternhell, Sternhell Group.
Sternhell is one of the finance sector’s go-to guys when reinforcements are needed on K Street.

Sandi Stuart, Stuart Murray Group.
Stuart honed her skills working with House Democrats and at the Clinton Defense Department, and now she is affiliated with Arent Fox.

Linda Tarplin, Tarplin, Downs & Young.
Tarplin has few peers when it comes to healthcare policy, bringing significant administration experience to any lobbying task.

Rich Tarplin, Tarplin Strategies.
Healthcare is Tarplin’s forte and the foundation for his wildly successful shop.

Dan Tate Jr., Forbes-Tate.
Tate, a former legislative aide to President Clinton, is thriving at the firm that bears his name.

Billy Tauzin and Mark Rayder, Alston & Bird.
The firm has a rock-solid core in Tauzin and Rayder, who have both proven they can make things happen on Capitol Hill.

Carl Thorsen, Thorsen French Advocacy.
Thorsen, a former GOP leadership aide and Justice Department official, has hit it big with his flourishing firm.

Robert Van Heuvelen, VH Strategies.
Van Heuvelen’s solid shop syncs up well with energy and healthcare clients.

Stu Van Scoyoc, Van Scoyoc Associates.
Van Scoyoc founded the shop in 1990 and has turned it into one of K Street’s super-firms, counting several local governments among its clients.

Stewart Verdery, Monument Policy Group.
Verdery, one of the first officials to work at the Department of Homeland Security, has an eclectic list of clients in sports and technology.

Vin Weber, Mercury.
Outsiders come to the former Minnesota congressman for help and insight into the inner workings of Capitol Hill.

Jonathan Yarowsky, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
Yarowsky left a plum spot at Patton Boggs to lead the lobby team at the prominent law firm.

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ASSOCIATIONS

Paul Bailey, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
Bailey’s first-rate advocacy career included stints with top trade groups and the Department of Energy.

Mitch Bainwol, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
Bainwol has Capitol Hill and lobbying experience in spades, and that’s a winning hand for the automakers he represents.

Mark Baker, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Baker is a 35-year flight veteran and took over the cockpit from longtime AOPA President Craig Fuller this year.

Richard Baker, Managed Funds Association.
A former GOP lawmaker from Louisiana, Baker has been trying to ward off new taxes on the hedge fund industry while plugging away at Dodd-Frank and JOBS Act implementation.

Dan Berger and Brad Thaler, National Association of Federal Credit Unions.
Berger, who went from the group’s top lobbyist to its leader earlier this year, is working with Thaler to ensure credit unions get a fair shake in new mortgage regulations.

Marion Blakey, Aerospace Industries Association.
The former head of the Federal Aviation Administration is leading the defense industry’s dogged campaign to reverse the cuts from sequestration.

Tom Buis, Growth Energy.
Buis, a former high-level congressional aide, has helped ward off attempts to dismantle the national biofuel mandate, but more battles await.

Nicholas Calio, Airlines for America.
Calio and the airlines harnessed the frustration of passengers to secure legislation that gave air traffic controllers relief from sequestration.

Kateri Callahan, Alliance to Save Energy.
The longtime conservation advocate has helped give energy efficiency legislation a fighting chance in the gridlocked Congress.

John Castellani, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Castellani formerly led the Business Roundtable and is now focused on encouraging innovation as head of the drug lobby.

Bill Cheney, Credit Union National Association.
Cheney and CUNA are fighting tooth and nail to keep a longstanding tax exemption for credit unions amid fierce opposition from the banking sector.

Lisa Costello, American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Costello’s group has steadily increased its Washington profile, emerging as a major player in the immigration reform debate.

Dan Danner, National Federation of Independent Business.
The NFIB chief is keeping watch to ensure that corporations don’t get a leg up on small businesses in any tax reform deal.

Richard Deem, American Medical Association.
Once a special assistant to the Health and Human Services secretary during the Reagan administration, Deem is trying to keep Congress focused on a permanent “doc fix.”

Scott DeFife, National Restaurant Association.
DeFife brings sharp political instincts to the restaurant group’s lobby team, which is pounding the pavement for immigration reform and changes to ObamaCare.

Bob Dinneen, Renewable Fuels Association.
Ethanol is facing strong political headwinds, but Dinneen has seen the group through tough times before.

Chris Dodd, Motion Picture Association of America.
The former senator from Connecticut has made a smooth transition to head of the entertainment industry group as it seeks action against online piracy.

Tom Donohue and Bruce Josten, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The business group’s top guns are touting comprehensive immigration reform and increased trade as fuel for the economic recovery.

Cal Dooley, American Chemistry Council.
The former congressman from California brings a level-headed approach to turbulent fights over greenhouse gas permitting and natural gas, a crucial fuel for Dooley’s members.

Charles Drevna, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
Drevna has led the refining industry group since 2007 and is now directing efforts to roll back the federal biofuel mandate and win approval for the Keystone oil pipeline.

Marty Durbin, America’s Natural Gas Alliance.
Independent gas producers have a capable leader in Durbin, who previously held senior roles at the American Petroleum Institute and the American Chemistry Council.

Martin Edwards, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America.
From surging gas production to turnover at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, it’s an interesting time for Edwards, the group’s longtime policy advocate.

John Engler, Business Roundtable.
Engler keeps the spotlight on the business community’s push for long-term budget solutions and major trade agreements.

Camden Fine, Independent Community Bankers of America.
Fine represents the little guys of banking, but he gives them a large voice as a critic of “too big to fail” giants.

Alex Flint, Nuclear Energy Institute.
Flint, a former top aide on the Senate’s Energy Committee, is a trusted political guide for the nuclear industry as it begins to construct plants for the first time in decades.

Geoff Freeman, American Gaming Association.
The new head of the casino lobby has promised to pursue a more aggressive gaming agenda in Washington.

David French, National Retail Federation.
French led the retail group to a major victory on swipe fees and could add another feather to his cap by securing passage of online sales tax legislation.

Lee Fuller, Independent Petroleum Association of America.
Fuller, a former Senate aide, has long made sure that when politicians take aim at “Big Oil,” they don’t hit the members of his group.

Dean Garfield and Robert Hoffman, Information Technology Industry Council.
Former entertainment industry lobbyist Garfield and tech lobbyist Hoffman are top guns at the council, which represents tech giants like Apple, Google and Facebook.

Jack Gerard, American Petroleum Institute.
Gerard leads the oil industry’s most powerful trade group, which is fighting multiple political battles against the backdrop of the U.S. energy boom.

Jerry Giovaniello, National Association of Realtors.
Giovaniello and the Realtors are looking to put their stamp on a range of big-ticket items, from an overhaul of housing finance to tax reform.

Rob Gramlich, American Wind Energy Association.
The wind energy group has a new director in Tom Kiernan, but it has kept continuity on the lobbying side with policy maven Gramlich.

Jim Greenwood, Biotechnology Industry Organization.
A former Pennsylvania congressman, Greenwood is pushing Congress to spare Medicare Parts B and D from cuts.

Judd Gregg and Ken Bentsen, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
Gregg, a former senator, and Bentsen, a former congressman, give a potent one-two punch to one of the financial sector’s biggest advocacy groups; Gregg is also a keen observer of the political scene as a columnist for The Hill.

Edward Hamberger, Association of American Railroads.
Hamberger serves as a guardian for the antitrust exemption that freight railroads have enjoyed for decades.

Jerry Howard, National Association of Home Builders.
Howard is aiming to ensure that a federal backstop remains central to any housing finance reform plan.

Richard Hunt, Consumer Bankers Association.
Hunt has been a frequent presence on the Hill and at regulatory offices as retail banks sort through Dodd-Frank.

Karen Ignagni, America’s Health Insurance Plans.
Ignagni is putting the health insurance industry’s muscle behind the new ObamaCare enrollment system.

Chip Kahn, Federation of American Hospitals.
For-profit hospitals are depending on Kahn to shield them from the arrows of sequester cuts and entitlement reform.

Frank Keating, American Bankers Association.
Keating, a former governor from Oklahoma, became the face of the banking lobby in 2011 after manning the ship for the American Council of Life Insurers for seven years.

Dirk Kempthorne and Kimberly Dorgan, American Council of Life Insurers.
The two advocates are focused on exempting insurers from Dodd-Frank capital standards and protecting annuities in tax reform.

Tom Kuhn and Brian Wolff, Edison Electric Institute.
Kuhn, who runs the trade group of for-profit power companies, was President George W. Bush’s roommate at Yale; Wolff was a battle-tested Democratic political operative before coming to EEI.

Steve Largent and Jot Carpenter, CTIA-The Wireless Association.
Carpenter and Largent, a Hall of Fame football player and former GOP congressman who’s leaving the group by the end of 2014, represent the increasingly powerful cellphone industry.

Linda Lipsen, American Association for Justice.
With Lipsen at the helm, the trial lawyer trade group has battled the efforts of House Republicans to deregulate and change tort law.

Walter McCormick, USTelecom.
McCormick has years of administration and Capitol Hill experience from which to draw on while lobbying on cybersecurity and regulations for the telecommunications industry.

Dave McCurdy and Rick Shelby, American Gas Association.
McCurdy, a former House member from Oklahoma, embodies the happy warrior; Shelby is an ace advocate who keeps the gas industry’s views front and center.

Deborah McElroy, Airports Council International-North America.
McElroy took the helm as interim president in June and jumped headfirst into the fight to stop the Federal Aviation Administration from closing small and contracted air traffic control towers.

Nancy McLernon, Organization for International Investment.
McLernon leads the charge for American subsidiaries of foreign companies, with the ultimate goal of making the U.S. more attractive to global investors.

Mark Merritt, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.
Merritt represents pharmacy benefit managers as they tout their business as a cost-saver for the federal government.

Rob Nichols, Financial Services Forum.
The financial industry has a number of Washington voices, but Nichols is the man speaking for the powerful CEOs that lead it.

Shawn Osborne, TechAmerica.
With more than 26 years of experience in the tech and telecommunications sectors, Osborne is a dynamic leader for TechAmerica.

Mark Parkinson, American Health Care Association.
The former Kansas governor recently presided over a merger that made the AHCA a powerhouse advocate for post-acute, sub-acute and long-term care facilities.

Michael Powell, National Cable & Telecommunications Association.
The former Federal Communications Commission chairman and son of former Secretary of State Colin Powell is making his presence felt as a spokesman for the cable industry.

Leigh Ann Pusey, American Insurance Association.
Pusey is an accomplished advocate who is focused on winning renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance program before it expires next year.

John Rother, National Coalition on Health Care.
Rother was a fixture at AARP for years and now pursues long-term healthcare reforms on behalf of more than 80 stakeholders.

Bob Rusbuldt, Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America.
The chief executive of “Big I” criticized the rollout of ObamaCare’s insurance exchanges and lobbies on housing and flood insurance issues.

Norb Ryan Jr., Military Officers Association of America.
Ryan is the field general for the association’s campaign to shield the pay and benefits of U.S. forces from budget cuts.

Stephen Sandherr, The Associated General Contractors of America.
The longtime association chief has pushed to highlight the dangers of sequestration — and more recently the shutdown — to the construction industry.

Gary Shapiro, Consumer Electronics Association.
Patent reform and an immigration overhaul continue to be priorities for the CEA and its sure-handed leader, Shapiro.

John Shaw, Natural Products Association.
Shaw is a leading voice for health and wellness as Washington’s chief advocate for dietary supplements and their producers.

Gordon Smith, National Association of Broadcasters.
TV broadcasters are being tested by new technologies, so it helps to have Smith, a former senator from Oregon, in their corner.

Mike Stanton, Association of Global Automakers.
Stanton has spent more than three decades in the automobile industry and knows how to handle the twists and turns of Washington.

Scott Talbott, Financial Services Roundtable.
Talbott has been a dynamo at the group for nearly two decades and has taken an expanded role under new Roundtable chief Tim Pawlenty.

Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Federation.
Thatcher, a top-notch agricultural lobbyist, is looking to neutralize Congress’s food-stamp fight in order to secure agricultural subsidies and crop insurance for the next five years.

Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers.
Timmons is forging new alliances in pursuit of an immigration reform deal that closes the skill gap for manufacturers.

Stephen Ubl, Advanced Medical Technology Association.
Ubl is working to capitalize on rising opposition to ObamaCare’s medical device tax to achieve repeal in the next fiscal debate.

Rich Umbdenstock and Rick Pollack, American Hospital Association.
Hospitals have two prime advocates in Umbdenstock and Pollack, who are fighting for clarity on Medicare’s controversial “two midnights” rule.

Dirk Van Dongen, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.
Dongen is a lobbying stalwart for the business community and a big-time GOP fundraiser.

Nathaniel Wienecke, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
Wienecke, a former lobbyist for banking power JPMorgan Chase & Co., has his sights set on securing renewal for the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

back to top

GRASSROOTS

Anna Aurilio, Environment America.
Aurilio has an environmental engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and executes a mix of inside persuasion and outside grassroots pressure at the scrappy green group.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street.
Ben-Ami and his group are front and center as Secretary of State John Kerry renews peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the raison d’être for the liberal pro-Israel group.

Matt Bennett, Third Way.
The centrist think tank isn’t giving up on a “grand bargain” on the budget, and is pushing members of the House-Senate budget conference to make the leap.

Larry Cohen, Communications Workers of America.
A vocal advocate for Senate rules reform, Cohen had something to celebrate when a full slate of nominees was confirmed to the National Labor Relations Board.

Ken Cook, Environmental Working Group.
Cook lives in California, but his influence spans the country; the Environmental Working Group is the tip of the green movement’s spear when it comes to agriculture and food policy.

Chris Cox, National Rifle Association.
Cox and other members of the NRA’s lobbying corps notched a hard-fought victory when background check legislation failed in the Senate.

Steve Ellis, Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Ellis is always on the lookout for lawmakers and staffers trying to sneak spending items into legislation.

Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers.
An outspoken advocate, Gerard hasn’t been afraid to call out the White House during negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

David Goldston and Scott Slesinger, Natural Resources Defense Council.
The two’s combined experience as aides on both sides of the Capitol makes for a dynamic pairing at the environmental group.

Bradley Gordon, American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Gordon has a lot on his plate with the turmoil in the Middle East, but AIPAC can count on support from both sides of the aisle.

Dave Hamilton and Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club.
The venerable Sierra Club has taken a more aggressive posture in recent years, and fields a lobbying team with the power to shape battles over energy and climate change.

Wade Henderson, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Henderson and his group are back at the forefront as lawmakers debate how best to revive the Voting Rights Act.

Mary Kay Henry, Service Employees International Union.
Henry and the grassroots forces at the SEIU are leading the charge for immigration reform and an increase in the minimum wage.

Craig Holman, Public Citizen.
Holman is a sage for the good-government groups that keep an eye on K Street firms and other moneyed interests.

Matt Kibbe, FreedomWorks.
The Tea Party group’s first-ever lobbying campaign on foreign policy was a resounding success, helping to solidify opposition in Congress to Syria strikes.

Bob King, United Auto Workers.
King was in the room when the White House met with unions about helping Detroit rebound from bankruptcy, and his UAW remains a political force.

Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund.
Krupp has spent nearly three decades at the helm of the defense fund, which is known for collaborating with industry and battling it out in the courts and Congress when their paths diverge.

Nancy LeaMond, AARP.
The seniors lobby is millions strong, giving LeaMond considerable power in the battle to protect Social Security from cuts.

Chuck Loveless, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
As chief lobbyist for the heavyweight public sector union, Loveless is working to keep entitlements away from the budget ax.

Elisa Massimino, Human Rights First.
A lawyer and philosophy professor by trade, Massimino is playing a central role as the administration takes another stab at closing Guantánamo Bay.

Bill McKibben, 350.org.
More than any other activist, McKibben is responsible for putting the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline at the top of the green movement’s agenda.

Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Mierzwinski has proven his mettle while fighting for health and safety protections in trade deals and the strict implementation of the Dodd-Frank law.

Eric Mitchell, Bread for the World.
The anti-hunger group registered to lobby for the first time late last year, and is on a mission to protect funding for social programs and foreign aid.

Laura Murphy, Michelle Richardson and Chris Calabrese, American Civil Liberties Union.
Thanks to the leaks by Edward Snowden, the ACLU has momentum on its side as it tries to persuade Congress to rein in the National Security Agency.

Matthew Myers, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
A founder of the Campaign, Myers is now seeking tough regulations on the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes.

Michael Needham, Heritage Action for America.
When Needham speaks, congressional Republicans listen; it took only a single Heritage Action release to kill Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt-ceiling counteroffer to President Obama.

Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform.
The father of the anti-tax pledge is a trusted counsel for Republican leaders and a master of the long game in politics.

Tony Perkins, Family Research Council.
Perkins remains the heart and soul of the family values group, which lobbied this year on budget issues and the defunding of ObamaCare.

Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity.
Phillips has built Americans for Prosperity into a grassroots force, and its pull with House Republicans remains strong.

Ron Pollack, Families USA.
Pollack is one of the staunchest advocates for the Affordable Care Act, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the law’s many moving parts.

Trevor Potter and Meredith McGehee, Campaign Legal Center.
Potter seized the spotlight as the personal lawyer to comedian Stephen Colbert; McGehee remains a star advocate for campaign finance reform.

Paul Rieckhoff, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
Rieckhoff champions legislation to help veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars deal with brain trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Andrew Roth, Club for Growth.
Key-vote alerts from the Club for Growth haven’t lost their power in the House, but the group’s influence is being tested by the business backlash over the government shutdown.

Tom Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste.
Schatz has drawn attention to wasteful spending by nominating members as “porkers,” and his influence is sure to rise if Congress returns to the regular appropriations process.

Melanie Sloan, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Sloan directs CREW’s efforts to spotlight questionable behavior by members of Congress, culminating each year in the group’s “most corrupt” list.

Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge.
The president and co-founder of the consumer advocacy group is a regular at congressional hearings and has the White House’s ear on technology and telecom issues.

Richard Trumka, Thea Lee and Bill Samuel, AFL-CIO.
Fresh off his reelection as AFL-CIO president, Trumka and trusted aides Lee and Samuel are moving to expand labor’s ranks.

Dennis Van Roekel, National Education Association.
As head of the country’s largest union, Van Roekel carries a megaphone in the nation’s capital.

Daniel Weiss, Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Weiss brings policy savvy and political toughness to the group, which has close White House ties and knows how to pressure friends and foes alike.

Fred Wertheimer, Democracy 21.
A tireless crusader for campaign finance reform, Wertheimer is hoping to avoid a setback in the pending Supreme Court case on contribution limits.

Read More at: http://thehill.com/business-lobbying/business-lobbying/188607-top-lobbyists-2013

By Kate Ackley
Roll Call Staff

If the lobbying world of K Street was as powerful as its public image, earmarks would be back in full force in Congress — or, maybe, they never would have gone away.

The modern lobbying business was built largely on helping clients secure member- directed pots of money in annual appropriations bills. And many of the firms that pioneered the practice have taken a serious hit since lawmakers banned earmarks in 2010.

But don’t expect K Street to mount a high-profile, big-dollar campaign to bring them back. Instead, in private meetings with members of Congress and their aides, lobbyists say they offer a pitch for how earmarks could help lawmakers, who are often frustrated that they can’t direct money to their districts, wrest more control of federal dollars.

And those making the case for earmarks aren’t just the ones whose paychecks depended on appropriations work.

“It’s never affected our bottom line,” said GOP lobbyist Alex Vogel, a partner with Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti. “It has very much affected the ability of the legislative branch and of government to function in a broader sense, so it’s affected everybody.”

Earmarks were at the heart of several political corruption scandals, including one that sent former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., to jail. The spending items became a target of budget-cutting lawmakers and outside groups.

But their absence, many earmark proponents argue, has contributed to the dysfunction and stalemate on Capitol Hill. Without earmarks, the argument goes, there is little leaders can do to lure votes for larger bills and enforce party discipline on measures deemed “must-pass” legislation.

The lack of earmarks, some say, was one reason House Republican leaders could not muster GOP votes for such measures as the Transportation-HUD appropriations plan that collapsed while on the House floor over the summer.

Plenty of members privately agree, and some will even say so publicly. But it’s a losing issue politically, and neither earmarks nor some creative new moniker for them will crop up before the 2014 elections.

The lobbying world, however, presses on. “When we talk to members and the subject comes up, we talk about it and they agree,” said Michael Herson, who runs American Defense International. “In conversations, we explain to them on several levels: They’re relinquishing their constitutional power of the purse. They like to read the Constitution on the floor, but they’re not listening to what it says. They need to reassert their power.”

Read the full article: http://www.rollcall.com/news/earmark_ban_hits_lobbyists_influence_on_spending_bills-229117-1.html

The Defense News 100 Most Influential People in US Defense focuses on policy, budget and strategic issues, and less on personnel and veterans issues.

Candidates were tagged according to their spheres of influence — policy, money, intelligence, Afghanistan, special operations, Congress, homeland security, military service, industry, opinion shaping, cyber, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and veterans issues — and relative values were assigned to each. For those with multiple spheres of influence, their primary spheres were weighted over lesser areas to create a composite score. Bonus points were awarded in some instances for individuals whose access to the president or other key leaders deserved special consideration.

ADI President Michael Herson made the list along with other top defense lobbyists at #39.

39 – The Lobbyists
Washington is a town full of lobbyists in every field, including defense. Some work directly for companies; others are hired guns, specialized tools in any company’s toolbox. Some open doors or help secure funding, others shape DoD requirements, media or crisis strategies. Heavyweights running the Washington operations for major contractors include Boeing’s Tim Keating, General Dynamic’s Bob Helm, Lockheed Martin’s Greg Dahlberg and Northrop Grumman’s Sid Ashworth as well as Raytheon’s Mark Esper and BAE Systems’ Frank Ruggiero. As for outside talent, Michael Herson, president and CEO of American Defense International, is close to top Republican and Democratic defense lawmakers as well as Pentagon brass, helping him shape outcomes and drum up business. The Podesta Group’s Jim Dyer is as key to helping tap Republican appropriators as Tim Hannegan of Hannegan Landau Poersch Advocacy is with Democrat appropriators. Then you’ve got the “rifleshot” guys who can deliver specific results or boost your octane, including Caleb Baker of C Baker Consulting, Jim Ervin of Ervin Hill Strategy, Menda Fife of Fife Strategies and Steve McBee of McBee Strategic Consulting and Letitia White of Innovative Federal Strategies. Then there is a Burdeshaw Associates with its unmatched roster of retired officers who can help companies shape military requirements and decisions.

See the full list here: http://special.defensenews.com/people/short-list.php

John T. Bennett
Defense News
1/16/2014

WASHINGTON — US House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon made it official Thursday morning, announcing he will not seek a 12th term.

The California Republican’s voice cracked and tears welled in his eyes as he uttered the words defense sources predicted were coming for months: “I am not a candidate for Congress this year.”

During a wide-ranging press conference, McKeon vowed to remain a vocal advocate for US troops and endorsed his vice chairman, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, to succeed him as HASC chairman. And he revealed Washington’s recent dysfunction and the tactics of his party’s tea party members influenced his decision to retire.

A Thornberry aide told Defense News on Wednesday evening that “Mr. Thornberry plans to make his case to the [House Republican] steering committee when the time comes, a case we believe is very strong.”

McKeon candidly acknowledged the changed composition of the House GOP caucus that includes around 80 tea party-affiliated conservative members less interested in cutting deals than jamming the gears of government to a halt.

“That was just one issue,” McKeon said in response to a question by Defense News. “I can’t say it was not part of it because it has been a frustrating year. Not so much for us but for our leadership.”

The veteran member said he watched with frustration too many times over the last few years as House Republican leaders presented their caucus a “plan of action” on legislation that time and again “was rejected” because the tea party faction decided “it wasn’t good enough.”

McKeon went on to challenge the tea party portion of the House GOP caucus.

“I think every member of our conference needs to look at themselves and re-evaluate what they were sent here to do,” a stern-faced McKeon said.

If tea party members cannot support House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other GOP leaders, McKeon challenged them to “run for leadership” or “accede to the will of leadership.”

McKeon’s frustration with Congress’ inability to get things done is not limited to members of his own party.

He also criticized “people trying to push the Democratic Party farther to the left” for joining tea partiers in creating a climate in which “it’s harder to get things done.”

On defense and national security issues, the retiring McKeon had tough words for the commander in chief, President Barack Obama.

“A lot of the frustration comes from down the street,” he said, referring to the White House at the opposite end of Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue. “We think we’ve worked something out with the president, but then he goes and moves the goalposts.”

He panned Obama for not talking more clearly to the American people about why it is important to keep up the fight in Afghanistan so it does not again become “a safe haven for al-Qaida.”

Another major factor in his decision are House term limits for chairmen. Had he run again and won, McKeon would have had to give up his HASC gavel, creating what he feared would have been awkward moments.

“I don’t want to be around here second-guessing a chairman,” he said. “And I don’t want people making comparisons. That was the biggest motivator.”

He also described himself as a “healthy” 75 years old, meaning he can “go out and do something else,” as well as spend more time with his family.

McKeon assured reporters “this is not a funeral, this is not a going away party — this is just ‘I am not running for Congress’.”

“There is very much that we need to do,” he said, adding the Armed Services Committee has a busy year ahead.

McKeon has tapped Thornberry with the difficult task of “looking at how the Pentagon spends its money.” He suggested the panel could look at some reforms in that area in his final defense authorization bill, which the committee will move this spring.

Another focus for his final year with the HASC gavel will be Afghanistan, particularly ongoing efforts to hand Afghan security forces more responsibility.

The departing chairman praised Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the panel’s ranking member and its staff for their “tireless efforts.” And he called “representing the troops” the “highlight of my time in Congress.”

In a statement, Smith praised a man with whom he often disagreed openly during public hearings.

“Buck set a tone on this committee that the rest of Congress should seek to emulate. As political tension continued to rise in Congress, Buck stayed committed to bipartisanship,” Smith said. “We formed a strong working relationship that allowed us to pass the National Defense Authorization Act year after year.

“Given all the tense national security issues we have faced over the years, it would have been easy to devolve into partisan fights. Buck never let that happen, he never let our disagreements get in the way of providing for our troops,” Smith said. “Buck understood the importance of continuing to make progress. While we disagreed, and disagreed on many things, we disagreed in a respectful way that allowed this committee to continue to move forward and achieve its important goals.”

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called McKeon “a true Patriot” and thanked him for his leadership on DoD budget issues.

“As Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Buck has fought hard to provide our troops serving around the world, and their families, the resources and support they need to accomplish their mission,” Hagel said in a statement. “He has been a strong advocate for ensuring that our military has the capabilities to meet the complex and challenging threats it will face in the future.”

Longtime Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has worked with McKeon for years on compromise versions of the NDAA.

On Wednesday, McCain called his GOP mate “a strong leader” who is “going out with a win” for helping secure two years of relief for the Pentagon from some across-the-board cuts.

One defense industry insider also praised McKeon.

Michael Herson, president and CEO of American Defense International, called McKeon “the strongest chairman of the Armed Services Committee since Les Aspin,” adding that he “has been a fierce advocate for the defense industry at a time when it needed it most.”

Herson also lauded McKeon for his pursuit of bipartisanship and for “engaging the House Republican leadership for additional defense funding and sequester relief during a time when many in his party were vocal supporters of defense cuts.”

Read the full article at: http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140116/DEFREG02/301160029/

JEREMY HERB

POLITICO

4/27/14 10:22 PM EDT

Defense contractors are going back to war to protect their slice of a shrinking Pentagon budget.

Gone are the days of unity when giants like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman banded together in 2012 to fight automatic defense cuts in a campaign called Second to None. Now, with another round of sequestration ahead and an uncertain post-war era looming, contractors are back to skirmishing with one another over every last scrap of the defense budget.

Lockheed backers are publicly sniping at Boeing over the Pentagon’s potential purchase of Navy EA-18G Growler aircraft, while Boeing advocates are dissing Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed also wants to save the iconic U-2 spy plane, while Boeing hopes to stop the mothballing of the A-10 attack plane — both are on the chopping block.

The latest battles among the defense giants signal a shifting landscape for contractors, in which new programs are far from guaranteed, legacy programs are no longer sacred cows and defense hawks are getting beaten by budget hawks. It’s also a sign that the most powerful government contractors in Washington — pejoratively dubbed “Beltway Bandits” back in the 1980s — are losing some of their sway in a city where they’ve practically had a license to print money in recent years.

What hasn’t changed are the market demands: Defense contractors are still under pressure to keep profits high even as sales decline, so they are slashing personnel and cutting their Washington lobbying shops. In the first quarter of this year, lobbying spending by a dozen of the largest defense contractors hit its lowest level since the first quarter of 2011.

The infighting could get worse. This is the first year that the Pentagon has proposed a budget that adheres to the spending caps of the 2011 Budget Control Act and last December’s budget deal, which gave the Pentagon $9 billion in relief from the sequester in fiscal 2015.

“There’s going to be a lot more losers this year,” said Michael Herson, a lobbyist with American Defense International who works for several defense contractors.

Congress has said it also plans to keep its defense bills under the budget caps this year, and top defense lawmakers have warned they may not be able to spare worthy programs from the budget ax.

“After a while, it becomes pretty much a zero-sum game,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) told reporters earlier this month. “You can’t come and say, ‘We gotta cut everything,’ and then, ‘Save my stuff.’ That doesn’t work.”

Read the whole article: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/defense-contractors-budget-funding-106077.html

Austin Wright
PoliticoPro
8/13/14 9:00 AM EDT

Some of the nation’s most elite universities are deep into defense lobbying, often hiring Washington-based firms to press Congress and the Pentagon to fund their science projects.

It’s all about Big Research and Big Money.

“When it comes to lobbying on the Hill, most universities have a large footprint,” said high-powered defense lobbyist Michael Herson, who runs American Defense International and now has seven university clients: Drexel University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rowan University, Temple University, University at Albany — SUNY, Clemson University and Florida Atlantic University.

Herson also represents big-name defense contractors like General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.

“In the defense space, it’s been our experience that it’s a lot of the engineering schools that lobby,” he said, noting that technology, cybersecurity and munitions were also big fields for colleges. He said his work for university clients is “almost exclusively” related to research-and-development issues.

“It raises their stature to be able to say they’re doing this kind of work for the Department of Defense,” he said.

And some colleges benefit from big-ticket defense programs.

In 2005, for instance, the director of a manufacturing institute at Pennsylvania State University wrote about a new opportunity for the school: the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship program, which was in its early stages.

Bob Cook, who then led the Institute for Manufacturing and Sustainment Technologies at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory, said in the institute’s quarterly newsletter that the school had the “talent and expertise” to help with the LCS program and urged the Navy to “take advantage of us.”

His enthusiasm for the combat ship highlights the big money that’s at stake: Universities bring in hundreds of millions of dollars each year through Defense Department contracts and grants.

And dozens of universities reported lobbying for their slice of the pie during the previous quarter.

Princeton University advocated on issues related to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which sponsors high-risk technology endeavors. New York University lobbied on Defense Department suicide prevention funding. And Indiana University lobbied on Pentagon-funded concussion research.
Penn State, it turned out, never did any work directly sponsored through the LCS program, but researchers there have worked on technologies “whose outputs were transitioned to the LCS program,” according to spokesman Reidar Jensen.

Penn State reported spending $180,000 on lobbying during the first half of the year, with an in-house team that includes a pair of former congressional staffers.

The school’s lobbyists pushed last quarter for funding for defense research, according to disclosure forms filed with the Senate. They also advocated specifically for LCS mission modules — the sensors and weapons that can be swapped on and off each ship to respond to different threats.
In all, Penn State brought in $187 million Defense Department funds last year, 14 percent through grants and the rest through contracts. The Pentagon provided 22 percent of the school’s total research funding, according to Jensen. And much of it went to the school’s Applied Research Laboratory, one of the Navy’s five affiliated research centers.

“Penn State’s expertise is in undersea technologies,” Jensen said. “Penn State works to educate members of Congress and staff about its defense research activities and capabilities, and advocates for funding in areas where university researchers can enhance U.S. national security and improve the safety of U.S. war fighters.”

Penn State, though, is far from alone in bringing in big bucks from the Pentagon.

A 2012 report by the Congressional Research Service noted that colleges and universities are the largest performers of basic research in the country — and the federal government was their top source of funding. And a report this year by the National Science Foundation found that the federal government spent $137 billion on research and development last fiscal year, with $73 billion coming from the Defense Department.

The science foundation ranks universities each year on the amount of federal funding they pull in. On the latest rankings, based on 2011 data, Johns Hopkins was No. 1, at $1.7 billion, followed by the University of Washington and the University of Michigan.

Penn State was No. 8. And the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, home to one of nine research-and-development centers funded by the Defense Department, was No. 24. MIT’s R&D center, Lincoln Laboratory, performs more than $700 million in work for the military each year. And the MIT campus does another $100 million, mostly grants.

But unlike traditional defense contractors, MIT makes no profit operating Lincoln Laboratory for the Defense Department, according to MIT Vice President for Research Maria Zuber.

“We do this as a service to the nation,” she said, explaining the school was involved in “logistics, all kinds of robotics. We have a grant looking at improvement in health care delivery to veterans. We develop devices to assist soldiers on the battlefield, to help make them safer.”
MIT reported spending $89,919 on lobbying during the first half of the year.

Zuber, though, rejected the idea that MIT employs lobbyists, explaining the school’s Washington staffers don’t have to register as lobbyists and do so only for transparency reasons.

“MIT asks them to register, even though they do not come remotely close to doing what is required to be a lobbyist,” she said. “We do not advocate for particular research grants or awards from any federal agency.”

MIT’s policy “is to support and advocate for the overall health of the research and education system in this country,” she said.

She also noted that MIT and other universities fill the vital role of performing basic research — studies done to further scientific knowledge without a practical goal.

Asked whether students or professors ever have ethical objections to working on projects funded by the Defense Department, Zuber said that “no professor has to take money from DoD.”

“We’re a bottom-up organization,” she said. “Professors make those choices.”

She also said that “if there are students who have a feeling that they don’t want to work on defense-related issues, they certainly don’t have to.” But, she added, “a whole lot seem to want to.”

Like MIT, the Association of American Universities, an alliance of 62 of the leading research institutions in the United States and Canada, advocates defense research funding but doesn’t press for specific grants or contracts.

And like traditional defense contractors, the association has been sounding the alarm about further rounds of sequestration — the federal spending cuts that could return in fiscal 2016 and would affect weapons contracts as well as basic research funding.

“We want the enterprise to grow broadly,” said association spokesman Barry Toiv.

Herson, the defense lobbyist, said universities have major sway on Capitol Hill — sometimes more than big-name defense firms. And he attributed that to three factors: the amount of physical space they take up in congressional districts across the country, plus the number of people they employ and students they enroll.

“They’re doing a lot of things that create jobs,” he said.

John Bennett
Defense News
Jan. 30, 2015

WASHINGTON — A freshman US senator is wasting no time letting his new colleagues know he plans to be aggressive on national security and foreign policy matters.

Just three weeks after being sworn in, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a message about how he views his role on issues like Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions.

“So first, I would say that I think it was a mistake to ever go down this path,” Cotton said, referring to the Obama administration’s decision to enter into talks with Iranian leaders.

The former House member minced few words in describing his view of the Iranian regime and its intentions.

“Iran is a radical Islamist theocracy whose constitution calls for jihad,” he said during a Senate Banking Committee hearing where the panel easily approved a bill that would slap new sanctions on Iranian individuals and businesses.

“Its leaders have honored that constitution for 35 years, killing Americans in 1983, killing Americans in 1996, having a nasty habit with their proxies of killing Jews all around the world in Argentina and Bulgaria and in Israel,” Cotton said.

“And most recently, controlling or exerting dominant influence over five different capitals in the Middle East — Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and now Sanaa,” he added.

Cotton struck a hawkish tone, saying he “would rather see these negotiations end because I think the administration is committed to a deal at all costs or committed to dragging out negotiations and letting Iran achieve in slow motion what they otherwise could not achieve through a deal.”

Cotton offered two strict amendments, but the panel shot down both.

One would have altered the Iran sanctions bill — crafted by Banking Committee members Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., also the Foreign Relations Commitee’s ranking member — to make all its new sanctions effective July 6. As the duo crafted those penalties, they will be phased in over a series of months.

The other Cotton amendment would have limited President Barack Obama’s ability to waive existing waivers to one more 30-day period.

In explaining the amendment, Cotton sounded like his more experienced GOP mates in hammering Obama.

“I would say that the president has overlooked or turned a blind eye to Iran’s actions over the last 14 months,” Cotton said, “and if he’s so hellbent on getting a deal that he will continue to waive the sanctions in this legislation.

“I think we, as a Congress, should only give him the power to seek another 30 days,” said Cotton, also an Armed Services Committee member. “At that point, it will have been 21 months. Surely, 21 months is enough time to reach a deal that Secretary [of State John] Kerry predicted would take only three to six months.”

He wasn’t finished, penning a Wall Street Journal op-ed that appeared Friday morning.

In it, Cotton dubbed a nuclear-armed Iran “the gravest threat facing America today.”

“The Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran, the so-called P5+1 talks, were supposed to stop Iran’s rush to a nuclear bomb,” Cotton wrote. “Regrettably, what began as an unwise gamble has descended into a dangerous series of unending concessions, which is why the time has come for Congress to act.”

The 37-year-old Cotton received plum committee assignments, especially for a young freshman.

He was placed on the Armed Services Committee — where he was welcomed with open arms by Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., who handed the first-term senator the gavel of the Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee.

Cotton also landed on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; and Joint Economic Committee.

GOP sources say the assignments appear strategic, with Republican leaders clearly tapping the Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran for bigger things.

Michael Herson, president and CEO of Washington consultancy American Defense International, said Friday that Cotton already is “a star” in Republican circles.

“His star will continue to rise, but he’s not just a rising star. He’s already there,” said Herson, a former Pentagon official who also worked for former-President Ronald Reagan and then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.

“I mean, he only did two years in the House, and he’s already a Senate subcommittee chairman,” he said. “I don’t think he has to buy his time at all and hope to get amendments passed.

“I think McCain obviously has a tremendous amount of confidence in him or McCain wouldn’t have made him chairman of the most powerful of SASC’s subcommittees,” Herson said. “He’s going to write a major part of the national defense authorization act, so he can put things into the bill. And it has to pass.”

What’s more, unlike lawmakers who hail from states with large military bases or defense industry facilities that are economic engines back home, Arkansas lacks both.

“That means Cotton doesn’t have those parochial interests,” Herson said. “He can be an honest broker and a national figure on these issues.”

By David M. Drucker
Washington Examiner
February 26, 2015

Eric Cantor is back.

After transitioning from the elaborate lifestyle of security details and ornate Capitol Hill offices afforded
senior congressional leaders to the comparatively drab, corporate existence of an investment banker,
Cantor is re­emerging as a Republican political power player.

The one­ time presumed successor to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) might have lost some of
the luster with insurgent conservatives that rocketed him into House leadership relatively early in his
14 ­year congressional career. But Cantor remains a force, influential in Establishment political and
“Reformicon” policy circles. His fans range from American Enterprise Institute’s Arthur Brooks, to the
top Republican presidential contenders, to Tea Party darlings like Tim Scott.

“He’s a brilliant man with an understanding of the political process and the policies — he’s really good
at them,” Scott, the South Carolina senator, told the Washington Examiner. “He brings with him a
wealth of knowledge that very few people have in this town.”

Cantor, 51, only ended up here because Republicans in his Richmond­ area congressional district
rejected him. Almost nine months ago, Cantor became the first sitting House majority leader since the
leadership post was created to lose in a GOP primary when he was ousted by a conservative, anti-Establishment
challenger, now ­Rep. Dave Brat.

But in an interview Wednesday in the just ­opened Washington office of boutique investment banking
firm Moelis & Company, where Cantor serves as vice chairman, the former congressman appeared
remarkably at peace with that chapter of his professional life, and excited about his private sector
career as an entrepreneurial financier. Also unmistakable was a desire to get back into the game.

Cantor exuded particular enthusiasm about Republican politics and helping the GOP in 2016, as if
liberated from having to constrict his agenda to the whims a couple hundred other Republicans and
the constituents they represent. Cantor is free to advise his favorite presidential candidates (Jeb
Bush; Chris Christie; Marco Rubio and Scott Walker), which he does regularly, and available to invest
his prolific fundraising skills and lucrative Rolodex in whomever he chooses.

Cantor did not rule out endorsing a candidate in the 2016 primary, although he said it’s still early, nor
did he shy away from throwing a few elbows at President Obama. He’s hopeful that the eventual
Republican nominee will adopt policies that address wage stagnation, promote school choice and
attack the rising cost of education as well as other middle class concerns that animated him while in
Congress, and in fact, still do.

“Clearly I still care about the direction of this country; I care about the conservative cause; I care
about the Republican Party,” Cantor said. “We need a leader of the party, and for the country, that
can say … to everyone — whatever your background — to say: ‘I believe in America, I’m confident in
our future I am not interested in dividing out country.’”

Cantor might have fallen out of favor with the conservative grassroots and the talk radio set. But in
interviews, several D.C. Republican operatives and New York GOP donors said the Virginian still has
political muscle that is valuable to the party generally and would be a boon to any Republican
presidential candidate, especially a sitting or former governor who has never worked in Washington.
The Tuesday evening soiree to celebrate the opening of Moelis’ Washington office drew the top five
elected House Republican leaders; House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R­-MI);
Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, chairman of the House select committee investigating the Sept.
11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya; Scott and Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO),
among other notables.

Over six years as a House GOP leader, including two as minority whip and four as majority leader,
Cantor raised approximately $200 million, according to figures provided by his political advisors. He
assiduously cultivated and maintained the support of financial industry political donors. But Cantor’s
fundraising prowess wasn’t limited to Wall Street.

“He can reach out to Jewish donors who have given to Republicans because of Eric,” said a
Washington­based GOP contributor in Cantor’s network with strong New York ties.

He used his position as a prominent Jewish Republican, and eventually the highest ranking elected
Jewish Republican in America, to cull contributions from traditionally Democratic donors and others
who hadn’t previously given to the GOP. Cantor donors told the Examiner that the former
congressman still commands the support of contributor network, positioning him as among the most
valuable potential GOP bundlers of the 2016 campaign.

However, Cantor’s policy expertise and nuts­and­bolts familiarity with government could be among his
most valuable assets, say Republican insiders.

Cantor continues to travel internationally as part of his duty as a vice chairman for Moelis, a publicly
traded U.S. firm but one with an international presence and overseas offices. This month, Cantor
made multiple stops in Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Dubai, helping him stay in touch with
foreign business and government leaders and satiate his longstanding interest and focus on foreign
policy and the role of the U.S. as a global leader.

Cantor could also bring to a campaign, or a Republican administration, a deep experience with the
sausage­making of producing legislation. He knows many Republican members of Congress
personally, having developed relationships as a part of helping elect them and leading them on the
Hill. And he understands the complicated politics of the Capitol, which can be so much different than
the politics of winning elections.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the next Republican administration, he wasn’t tapped for secretary of
state or chief of staff,” said Michael Herson, a Republican operative and president of American
Defense International

By Jonathan D. Salant
NJ.com
June 4, 2015

The U.S. Senate on Thursday will be debating legislation that would protect Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst from being shut down.

The Senate version of the annual defense policy bill includes a provision banning a new round of military base closings. A similar prohibition is in the House version. President Obama had proposed a new base realignment and closing process, known as BRAC, in his budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, but lawmakers disagreed.

Not only would states lose the positions on the base itself, but also jobs in related businesses that spring up around military facilities to serve the troops or provide support, defense lobbyist Michael Herson said.

“BRAC is a jobs killer,” said Herson, president of American Defense International. “They don’t want bases in their districts or states to close. At a time when the economy is still very shaky, it’s not politically tenable to support BRAC.”

Obama has threatened to veto the legislation. In a memo to Congress, the White House Office of Management and Budget cited several reasons, including congressional opposition to a new round of base closings that would allow the Pentagon “to properly align the military’s infrastructure with the needs of its evolving force” and “reduce wasteful overhead.”

New Jersey lawmakers had expressed concern that the joint base, which Obama visited last December, would be on the Pentagon’s target list. Freshman Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-3rd Dist.) sought a seat on the House Armed Services Committeeto be in a position to protect the facility.

MacArthur and another New Jersey freshman on the committee, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1st Dist.) won approval of a provision in the House version of the defense policy bill that would prevent the Pentagon from moving or retiring any of the KC-10 refueling tanker planes stationed at the joint base.

“I’m thrilled to see that the Senate agrees with us in the House — shuttering installations like Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst would cost too much, not save enough, ruin local economies, and erode our military readiness,” MacArthur said. “Both chambers will now put forward a defense bill that supports our military and prepares us to meet the changing challenges around the world — all while spending taxpayer dollars efficiently.”

By Joe Gould
Defense News
October 4, 2015

WASHINGTON — The frontrunner to succeed House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, “has the support of defense hawks” in Congress, according a key lawmaker on defense.

Tactical Air and Land Subcommittee Chairman Mike Turner, who led efforts to plus-up the defense budget earlier this year, said like-minded Republicans know McCarthy was “instrumental in enduring in the budget fight for 2016 that we fully funded defense.

“He both listens and is a leader, and because of that I think people believe he will be an effective speaker for us to deliver to our men and women in uniform what they need for our national security,” Turner, R-Ohio, told Defense News.

As Republican fiscal hawks and defense hawks clash over military spending, McCarthy, R-Calif., proved his bona fides against the budget-cutters when he voted down a proposal in March that offered $20 billion less for defense. That proposal was offered by GOP Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., now running for House majority leader.

“I think that certainly reflects his concern for defense spending,” Turner said of the vote. “I believe you can’t be a conservative or a budget hawk if you’re not also a defense hawk. The fallacy of those who think they can balance the budget on the backs of our men and women in uniform is a false victory.”

McCarthy — House majority leader since August 2014 — announced his candidacy after Boehner, of Ohio, announced Sept. 25 he would retire from Congress effective Oct. 30. The news came days before Congress passed a stopgap spending measure to fund the federal government until Dec. 11 without accomplishing a bipartisan budget deal or a resolution to budget caps seen as damaging to defense.

House Republicans, who have set leadership elections for Oct. 8, are said to be willing to elect new leadership quickly, though repeated rebellions by conservatives during Boehner’s five-year reign show how fractured the caucus has been. McCarthy’s competition is fiscal hawk Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida.

To reach a budget deal, the next Republican speaker of the House will be the man in the middle, trying to bridge the competing factions in his unruly caucus — and Democrats. Democrats, who can wield considerable leverage in the Senate and the presidential veto, want any increase in the defense budget matched on the nondefense side.

One sticking point for Democrats and President Obama is the budget plan shepherded by McCarthy and supported by defense hawks that included a plus-up funded through the wartime overseas contingency operations (OCO) account. Some Republicans too have reportedly criticized excessive use of OCO, like Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who compared it to a “slush fund.”

“There is clearly an appetite for continued fiscal discipline in the Republican party,” Guggenheim Securities analyst Roman Schweizer said. “Whatever Republican leadership will be elected on a platform that’s true to those principles and acknowledges the voice of the fiscal hawks on these matters, so I don’t think the Boehner resignation makes it any easier.”

Outside experts wonder if the change in speaker will really mean much for the ongoing fights between defense supporters and fiscal hawks.

“It’s still not clear what McCarthy really is,” Laicie Heeley, a Stimson Center fellow on defense issues, said. “He is generally seen as another John Boehner-type, looking to build consensus. He isn’t seen as unfriendly to defense … but he’s walking into the same storm.”

One senior Congressional aide said McCarthy — if elected speaker — is likely to be deferential on most defense issues to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry of Texas. In mid-September, McCarthy accompanied Thornberry to Bell Helicopter’s V-22 Osprey plant and to the Pantex nuclear weapons plant, both in Amarillo, and the two are said to have a good working relationship.

Off Capitol Hill, McCarthy has shown a willingness to listen to and build relationships with industry and policy leaders. He has held several roundtables with these audiences to both learn and discuss legislative plans, according to Mackenzie Eaglen, an American Enterprise Institute analyst and former congressional defense aide.

“I think like most members in leadership, McCarthy is a political operator first,” Eaglen said. “Recent months have shown him attempting to ramp up on policy. Even the effort of doing so sets him apart in leadership — most of whom have been indifferent at best to defense issues, budgets and policies during the Obama administration.”

In that regard, McCarthy has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, former Rep. Eric Cantor, as majority leader, and for a time was advised by an adviser of Cantor’s who has since left for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.

Eric Edelman, a former undersecretary for defense in the George W. Bush administration and a member of the John Hay Initiative, described McCarthy’s political orientation as “a kind of Reaganite conservative internationalism, which is ‘peace through strength,’ Reagan’s watchwords.”

For all the budget chaos facing McCarthy, “he’s at least given indications that there’s a very serious problems with defense from the criticisms that he’s voiced,” Edelman said.

McCarthy showcased his views in a broad foreign policy speech at an event sponsored by the conservative John Hay Initiative, just days after Boehner’s announcement. McCarthy’s remarks excoriated Obama and hit some familiar Republican tropes, but skipped the subject of defense funding.

“The America we need and deserve is strong, respected, appreciated and feared,” McCarthy said. “A country where the noble cause of freedom inspires millions of people across the world to stand up, speak out, and fight tyranny and injustice in the pursuit of individual liberty and human rights.”

In conflict zones around the world, McCarthy was for pushing the throttle down. He called for abandoning the Iran nuclear deal; providing lethal aid to Ukraine against Russia; and expanding use of Special Forces and airstrikes against the Islamic State — and a US-enforced no-fly zone over Northern Syria to protect refugees and “rebooted” Syrian rebels who would fight Islamic terrorists and the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“Strength and resolve bring peace and security,” McCarthy said. “The absence of leadership over the past six years has had horrific consequences all across the globe, and it is getting worse day by day.”

If McCarthy has reached out to the defense industry, it has donated comparatively little to McCarthy in the last year. A combined $43,000 would not even place defense in the top 20 industries contributing to the House leader, topped by “securities and investment,” according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Michael Herson, president and CEO of Washington consultancy American Defense International, said Tuesday that McCarthy has been “very accessible” to defense firms seeking to make their case to Congress. “He understands the importance of what’s going on in industry and shown a willingness to meet,” Herson said.

Herson was hopeful that McCarthy, as speaker, would be willing to work out a deal in Congress to ease sequestration budget caps that restrict federal dollars.

For Greg Lankler, managing director at the lobbying firm Mercury, and a former Hill staffer, the true test will come when its time to pass a final appropriations bill for defense — which is deserving of special consideration because service members risk their lives.

“All I ever got from this leadership team is that they understand the impact a [continuing resolution] has on our military,” Lankler said. “But I never see a sense of urgency to treat defense any different from other appropriations.”

Staff Writer Leo Shane III contributed to this report.

By Joe Gould
Defense News
October 28, 2015

WASHINGTON — The US House and Senate armed services committees are working to identify $5 billion to cut from the defense budget as part of a larger budget pact between Congress and the White House, leaving procurement programs vulnerable to reductions.

The Pentagon will get nearly everything it wanted in the budget deal — minus $5 billion — leaving defense watchers to speculate how the rewritten policy bill will play out.

Reacting to the runaway aerostat in the news Wednesday, Kingston Reif, of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, tweeted out: “To appropriators looking to find part of that $5 billion in savings to meet revised [budget caps]: FY16 request for JLENS exercise is $40.6 million.”

Key authorizers have yet to publicly name the source of the cuts. Echoing SASC Chair Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who on Tuesday could not say where the cuts would come from, HASC Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said lawmakers are still working on the answers.

“It will come out of muscle, there isn’t just fat you can chip away and say this doesn’t matter, it will matter, it will be significant,” Thornberry told reporters Wednesday. “It will be a $5 billion reduction in the spending that is authorized and that was the agreement, which I support.”

The armed services committees — which pen the National Defense Authorization Act, a policy bill — are working with their counterparts in the appropriations committees to find the cuts, Thornberry said.

This dovetails with preparations to advance the recently vetoed policy legislation, either by overriding the president’s veto or advancing a new version that simply adjusts the dollars. While the method remains to be seen, Thornberry was confident the various policy provisions would be preserved.

“Either path would reflect the $5 billion less, and that would be the only change,” Thornberry said. “If we have a veto override, we have to have separate legislation to make those adjustments, so it’s a two-step process. I don’t know for sure which path we’ll go.”

House leaders had scheduled a veto override vote for next week, but the status of that maneuver is now unclear.

Last week, Obama sent the $612 billion bill back to Congress, saying it “fails to authorize funding for our national defense in a fiscally responsible manner.”

At issue was about $38 billion that Republican lawmakers added to the Pentagon’s overseas contingency operations fund to get around mandatory spending caps enacted by Congress for fiscal 2016. Republicans had argued that the issue was better settled in the separate appropriations process, not the authorization process.

But the two-year budget deal unveiled Monday night essentially solves that problem, McCain said. Under the plan, fiscal 2016 defense spending would be raised to $607 billion, necessitating some changes in the totals of the authorization bill language.

One Senate staffer said lawmakers are likely to target the programmatic increases derived from the Pentagon’s “unfunded requirements list,” meaning the Pentagon wish list items added to the president’s budget request, or other big ticket programs.

Obvious targets, the aide said, include the DDG-51, which was plussed up $400 million, part of $1 billion above the budget request; the Army’s $128 million request for eight additional UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters for the Guard; $314 million for Stryker vehicle lethality upgrades; and the Distributed Common Ground System – Army, an intelligence system faulted in the AC-130 strike on an Afghan hospital.

“Bottom line, procurement accounts will take the brunt of the losses,” the staff member said.

Michael Herson, president of American Defense International, a Washington defense lobbying firm, said lawmakers from the House and Senate, authorizers and appropriators, will be moving quickly to reconcile the various areas where they propose to cut. Authorizers in particular want to get their bill on the floor soon.

Procurement accounts are vulnerable, Herson said, but so are operations and maintenance accounts, and research and development programs.

“It’s unlikely you’ll see an across-the-board cut where they share the pain everywhere, because frankly it looks too easy to cut like that, across many programs and services and will wreak too much havoc,” Herson said. “There’s going to be some pain, but where that pain will be is to be determined.”

On the flip side, Mackenzie Eaglen, an American Enterprise Institute analyst and former congressional defense aide, said procurement is one place where lawmakers will identify cuts for a revised and rewritten bill, and that the cuts are likely to be spread around based on input from Pentagon leaders and service chiefs.

“They’ll probably go through the plus-ups that were in the unfunded requirements list first, and then seek to spread the pain and simply lessen some of those, as well as other increases elsewhere, but not let anything take too big a hit,” Eaglen said

Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said lawmakers will likely look to acquisitions programs for reductions, potentially slowing them down. Typically the low-hanging fruit when looking for cuts is prior-year money that hasn’t already been spent, but “that can probably only yield a few billion dollars.”

Staff Writer Leo Shane contributed to this report.

There are well over 10,000 lobbyists in Washington, not to mention countless labor and business leaders, public relations specialists and advocates of all stripes vying to influence Congress and the federal government.

But when it comes to shaping federal policy, some have set themselves apart. These are the lobbyists who’ve mastered the art of working Capitol Hill’s hallways, whose Rolodexes are stocked with names of power brokers and who lead groups that simply cannot be ignored.

These are The Hill’s Top Lobbyists.

The 2015 list includes top dogs at some of Washington’s leading trade groups, and battle-tested advocates for public interest groups and grassroots organizations.

This installment features K Street’s top hired guns, the pros whom groups around the country enlist when they need to get something done.

It also includes corporate lobbyists who’ve helped firms make their mark on legislation before Congress or regulations moving through the federal rulemaking pipeline.

While everyone on this list has proven to be effective in advocating at the federal level, not all are formally registered as lobbyists. Rather, The Hill’s Top Lobbyists are a broad array of professionals who work day in and day out to shape the agenda in Washington.

Michael Herson, American Defense International Inc.
The largest defense contractors put their trust in Herson to fight for them in Washington.

The Hill
November 17, 2015
By Kristina Wong

Michael Herson may be one of Washington’s top defense lobbyists today, but in the past he’s worked at drive-ins, warehouses and kitchens.

He’s even worn a chicken suit.

It’s that strong work ethic, Herson said in a recent interview with The Hill, that’s allowed him to build a company from scratch into one of the most powerful defense firms in D.C. — American Defense International (ADI), where he is president and chief executive officer.

Herson grew up in New Jersey. His father, a World War II veteran, was very poor as a boy and credits his stay at a camp for disadvantaged youth for turning his life around. Using the GI Bill to earn a college degree, his father went to law school and on to a career in entertainment law during the golden era of Broadway.
Herson started working when he was 11, painting poles and picking up garbage at drive-in movie theaters and packing candy at warehouses. He also stood in front of a fried-chicken restaurant in a chicken suit to attract customers.

He said those skills came in handy when he first came to Washington, D.C., and started from the ground up.

As an undergrad at Georgetown University, he began interning on Capitol Hill with then-Rep. Jim Courter (R-N.J.). In an era before the Internet and personal computers, Herson did a lot of photocopying.

He was selected as an intern for the White House during the Reagan administration. There, interns rotated between different departments, including the executive office, the National Security Council, the Office of Public Affairs and the Office of the First Lady.

By the end of his internship, at 21, Herson was working in the speech writing office for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.

Herson remembers being invited to Bush’s Christmas party at the Naval Observatory. The former vice president and later president spoke to the interns, before talking to anyone else, Herson said. He also took time to mentor them.

“He was a super, super nice guy,” Herson recalled.

Herson then took a class in campaign management, went to law school in New Jersey and worked on several state campaign races.

When Bush was elected president in 1988, Herson accepted a political appointment as a special assistant to the assistant Defense secretary of force management and personnel, which Herson said introduced him to the world of defense policy.

It was there he became steeped in military recruitment, readiness, training and mobilizing. He also traveled to military bases and obtained a master’s degree in national security studies from Georgetown University.

After Bush lost reelection to then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992, Herson worked to represent the Naval Station Great Lakes as the Pentagon was going through a round of military base closures. He also worked at a think tank, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution.

In 1993, at 28, his county chairman in New Jersey contacted him to run for the state legislature. He moved to New Jersey and took a job at a healthcare company.

Herson won the Republican primary but lost the campaign to longtime New Jersey Democratic congressman Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. Nonetheless, he received national attention for the campaign. Notables, from then-House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to action movie star Chuck Norris, stumped for him.

It was then Herson decided to create his own lobbying firm. His goal was a company that would do more than lobby Congress — it would build bridges to the Pentagon and the military services, too.

He began with a meager budget. He attended auctions to snag phone systems and office furniture. He found cheap office space by subleasing temporary space.

“We moved a lot in the initial years,” Herson admitted.

His mother — a former print and broadcast journalist who at one time wrote profiles for The Hill — helped write his first press releases.

Now, the company, which has been operating since 1995, has 70 client bases in eight
countries.

ADI is different from other firms, Herson said, because “we combine the political with the military.”

ADI represents companies of all sizes, on issues as diverse as weapons systems, space launches, information technology and communications, defense health services and telemedicine — even bingo services at military bases.

Herson compared his business to the reality television series “Pawn Stars.”

“You never know what’s going to walk in that door,” he said.

Herson said he’s lucky to live in the Washington, D.C.-metro area, which gives his children exposure to an international community of all “shapes, sizes and colors.”

His daughter, who is 14 and a high school freshman, is singing the national anthem at a Wizards NBA game in a few weeks.

In his spare time, Herson’s hobby is winemaking, and he is launching a wine label early next year under the name Herson Family Vineyards. His first wine will be a cabernet sauvignon grown from grapes in Napa, Calif.

Herson is also actively involved in volunteer work, including serving the military.

He is organizing this year’s Thanksgiving dinner at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland for recovering troops. His two teenage children will be volunteering as well.

He has hosted the Little Heroes Ball for children of wounded veterans.

Herson also sits on the board of Surprise Lake Camp, which his father attended as a child. He said he hopes to carry on the legacy.

“[Dad] never forgot the people who helped him get to where he was,” Herson said.

By Joe Gould | Defense News | October 28, 2015 |

WASHINGTON — The US House and Senate armed services committees are working to identify $5 billion to cut from the defense budget as part of a larger budget pact between Congress and the White House, leaving procurement programs vulnerable to reductions.

The Pentagon will get nearly everything it wanted in the budget deal — minus $5 billion — leaving defense watchers to speculate how the rewritten policy bill will play out.

Reacting to the runaway aerostat in the news Wednesday, Kingston Reif, of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, tweeted out: “To appropriators looking to find part of that $5 billion in savings to meet revised [budget caps]: FY16 request for JLENS exercise is $40.6 million.”

Key authorizers have yet to publicly name the source of the cuts. Echoing SASC Chair Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who on Tuesday could not say where the cuts would come from, HASC Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said lawmakers are still working on the answers.

“It will come out of muscle, there isn’t just fat you can chip away and say this doesn’t matter, it will matter, it will be significant,” Thornberry told reporters Wednesday. “It will be a $5 billion reduction in the spending that is authorized and that was the agreement, which I support.”

The armed services committees — which pen the National Defense Authorization Act, a policy bill — are working with their counterparts in the appropriations committees to find the cuts, Thornberry said.

This dovetails with preparations to advance the recently vetoed policy legislation, either by overriding the president’s veto or advancing a new version that simply adjusts the dollars. While the method remains to be seen, Thornberry was confident the various policy provisions would be preserved.

“Either path would reflect the $5 billion less, and that would be the only change,” Thornberry said. “If we have a veto override, we have to have separate legislation to make those adjustments, so it’s a two-step process. I don’t know for sure which path we’ll go.”

House leaders had scheduled a veto override vote for next week, but the status of that maneuver is now unclear.

Last week, Obama sent the $612 billion bill back to Congress, saying it “fails to authorize funding for our national defense in a fiscally responsible manner.”

At issue was about $38 billion that Republican lawmakers added to the Pentagon’s overseas contingency operations fund to get around mandatory spending caps enacted by Congress for fiscal 2016. Republicans had argued that the issue was better settled in the separate appropriations process, not the authorization process.

But the two-year budget deal unveiled Monday night essentially solves that problem, McCain said. Under the plan, fiscal 2016 defense spending would be raised to $607 billion, necessitating some changes in the totals of the authorization bill language.

One Senate staffer said lawmakers are likely to target the programmatic increases derived from the Pentagon’s “unfunded requirements list,” meaning the Pentagon wish list items added to the president’s budget request, or other big ticket programs.

Obvious targets, the aide said, include the DDG-51, which was plussed up $400 million, part of $1 billion above the budget request; the Army’s $128 million request for eight additional UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters for the Guard; $314 million for Stryker vehicle lethality upgrades; and the Distributed Common Ground System – Army, an intelligence system faulted in the AC-130 strike on an Afghan hospital.

“Bottom line, procurement accounts will take the brunt of the losses,” the staff member said.

Michael Herson, president of American Defense International, a Washington defense lobbying firm, said lawmakers from the House and Senate, authorizers and appropriators, will be moving quickly to reconcile the various areas where they propose to cut. Authorizers in particular want to get their bill on the floor soon.

Procurement accounts are vulnerable, Herson said, but so are operations and maintenance accounts, and research and development programs.

“It’s unlikely you’ll see an across-the-board cut where they share the pain everywhere, because frankly it looks too easy to cut like that, across many programs and services and will wreak too much havoc,” Herson said. “There’s going to be some pain, but where that pain will be is to be determined.”

On the flip side, Mackenzie Eaglen, an American Enterprise Institute analyst and former congressional defense aide, said procurement is one place where lawmakers will identify cuts for a revised and rewritten bill, and that the cuts are likely to be spread around based on input from Pentagon leaders and service chiefs.

“They’ll probably go through the plus-ups that were in the unfunded requirements list first, and then seek to spread the pain and simply lessen some of those, as well as other increases elsewhere, but not let anything take too big a hit,” Eaglen said

Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said lawmakers will likely look to acquisitions programs for reductions, potentially slowing them down. Typically the low-hanging fruit when looking for cuts is prior-year money that hasn’t already been spent, but “that can probably only yield a few billion dollars.”

Staff Writer Leo Shane contributed to this report.

There are well over 10,000 lobbyists in Washington, not to mention countless labor and business leaders, public relations specialists and advocates of all stripes vying to influence Congress and the federal government.

But when it comes to shaping federal policy, some have set themselves apart. These are the lobbyists who’ve mastered the art of working Capitol Hill’s hallways, whose Rolodexes are stocked with names of power brokers and who lead groups that simply cannot be ignored.

These are The Hill’s Top Lobbyists.

The 2015 list includes top dogs at some of Washington’s leading trade groups, and battle-tested advocates for public interest groups and grassroots organizations.

This installment features K Street’s top hired guns, the pros whom groups around the country enlist when they need to get something done.

It also includes corporate lobbyists who’ve helped firms make their mark on legislation before Congress or regulations moving through the federal rulemaking pipeline.

While everyone on this list has proven to be effective in advocating at the federal level, not all are formally registered as lobbyists. Rather, The Hill’s Top Lobbyists are a broad array of professionals who work day in and day out to shape the agenda in Washington.

Michael Herson, American Defense International Inc.
The largest defense contractors put their trust in Herson to fight for them in Washington.

The Hill | November 17, 2015 | By Kristina Wong |

Michael Herson may be one of Washington’s top defense lobbyists today, but in the past he’s worked at drive-ins, warehouses and kitchens.

He’s even worn a chicken suit.

It’s that strong work ethic, Herson said in a recent interview with The Hill, that’s allowed him to build a company from scratch into one of the most powerful defense firms in D.C. — American Defense International (ADI), where he is president and chief executive officer.

Herson grew up in New Jersey. His father, a World War II veteran, was very poor as a boy and credits his stay at a camp for disadvantaged youth for turning his life around. Using the GI Bill to earn a college degree, his father went to law school and on to a career in entertainment law during the golden era of Broadway.
Herson started working when he was 11, painting poles and picking up garbage at drive-in movie theaters and packing candy at warehouses. He also stood in front of a fried-chicken restaurant in a chicken suit to attract customers.

He said those skills came in handy when he first came to Washington, D.C., and started from the ground up.

As an undergrad at Georgetown University, he began interning on Capitol Hill with then-Rep. Jim Courter (R-N.J.). In an era before the Internet and personal computers, Herson did a lot of photocopying.

He was selected as an intern for the White House during the Reagan administration. There, interns rotated between different departments, including the executive office, the National Security Council, the Office of Public Affairs and the Office of the First Lady.

By the end of his internship, at 21, Herson was working in the speech writing office for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.

Herson remembers being invited to Bush’s Christmas party at the Naval Observatory. The former vice president and later president spoke to the interns, before talking to anyone else, Herson said. He also took time to mentor them.

“He was a super, super nice guy,” Herson recalled.

Herson then took a class in campaign management, went to law school in New Jersey and worked on several state campaign races.

When Bush was elected president in 1988, Herson accepted a political appointment as a special assistant to the assistant Defense secretary of force management and personnel, which Herson said introduced him to the world of defense policy.

It was there he became steeped in military recruitment, readiness, training and mobilizing. He also traveled to military bases and obtained a master’s degree in national security studies from Georgetown University.

After Bush lost reelection to then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992, Herson worked to represent the Naval Station Great Lakes as the Pentagon was going through a round of military base closures. He also worked at a think tank, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution.

In 1993, at 28, his county chairman in New Jersey contacted him to run for the state legislature. He moved to New Jersey and took a job at a healthcare company.

Herson won the Republican primary but lost the campaign to longtime New Jersey Democratic congressman Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. Nonetheless, he received national attention for the campaign. Notables, from then-House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to action movie star Chuck Norris, stumped for him.

It was then Herson decided to create his own lobbying firm. His goal was a company that would do more than lobby Congress — it would build bridges to the Pentagon and the military services, too.

He began with a meager budget. He attended auctions to snag phone systems and office furniture. He found cheap office space by subleasing temporary space.

“We moved a lot in the initial years,” Herson admitted.

His mother — a former print and broadcast journalist who at one time wrote profiles for The Hill — helped write his first press releases.

Now, the company, which has been operating since 1995, has 70 client bases in eight
countries.

ADI is different from other firms, Herson said, because “we combine the political with the military.”

ADI represents companies of all sizes, on issues as diverse as weapons systems, space launches, information technology and communications, defense health services and telemedicine — even bingo services at military bases.

Herson compared his business to the reality television series “Pawn Stars.”

“You never know what’s going to walk in that door,” he said.

Herson said he’s lucky to live in the Washington, D.C.-metro area, which gives his children exposure to an international community of all “shapes, sizes and colors.”

His daughter, who is 14 and a high school freshman, is singing the national anthem at a Wizards NBA game in a few weeks.

In his spare time, Herson’s hobby is winemaking, and he is launching a wine label early next year under the name Herson Family Vineyards. His first wine will be a cabernet sauvignon grown from grapes in Napa, Calif.

Herson is also actively involved in volunteer work, including serving the military.

He is organizing this year’s Thanksgiving dinner at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland for recovering troops. His two teenage children will be volunteering as well.

He has hosted the Little Heroes Ball for children of wounded veterans.

Herson also sits on the board of Surprise Lake Camp, which his father attended as a child. He said he hopes to carry on the legacy.

“[Dad] never forgot the people who helped him get to where he was,” Herson said.

By Van Hipp
Monday 15 August 2016

Today, as in years past, U.S. military doctors are on the front line treating U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force personnel and developing breakthroughs in a wide variety of medical areas that will have long-range implications for civilian healthcare.

In recent years, it is U.S. military medicine that has led the way in wound care, brain health, telemedicine, and rehabilitative care. While other agencies and departments of the federal government are focused on basic medical research, U.S. military physicians are focused more on applied research and saving lives today.

From a taxpayer standpoint, military medicine provides real value to the American taxpayer.

This week, U.S. military doctors will come together once again for their annual Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS). The event will take place in Kissimmee, Fla. and will allow military doctors to share the latest medical breakthroughs and technologies for treating America’s finest.

What began years ago as a combat casualty care conference with a few military physicians participating, has grown into the most authoritative and respected medical conference in the world dedicated to treating the military both on and off the battlefield.

In addition to U.S. Military medical personnel, MHSRS will include NATO and other allied nation medical officials, as well as civilian medical doctors, scientists, health experts, and technology developers. By charging a fee to our allies and the civilians who are participating, America’s military doctors insure that the conference pays for itself at no cost to the American taxpayer.

The rest of the federal government could sure learn from this example.

Over the years, MHSRS and its predecessor combat casualty care conference, has led to many medical advancements. These include the inception of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) to help those who have lost limbs on the battlefield, the discovery of blood biomarkers for traumatic brain injury (TBI), hemorrhage control technologies, wound care innovations and many more.

Recently, civilian health authorities hailed a telemedicine platform that has its roots with the U.S. Army’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), as the most cost effective telemedicine platform in America today. In fact, it is TATRC that really paved the way many years ago for the use of telemedicine in the United States.

And how about the first Omega3 wound care product in the world that is now available for American citizens? It was sought out and championed early by the U.S. Navy. And how about the powerful new weapon in the fight against Cytokine Storm?

U.S. Air Force doctors helped make it happen.

Today, the Zika virus has infected well over 40 members of the U.S. Military and the state of Florida has just confirmed 3 new non-travel cases of the Zika virus, bringing the total there to 28. The Zika virus was discovered in Uganda’s Zika Forest in 1947 by the famed Scottish entomologist, Dr. Alexander Haddow. Currently, there is a well-respected researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, M.D. who has long studied Zika and warned of it as a potential widespread threat.

He has been proven right and is now sought out by others for his expertise. His name is Dr. Andrew Haddow and yes, he’s the grandson of the man who discovered the Zika virus.

We should not be surprised that U.S. military medicine is continuing to pave the way with the latest medical advancements in its chief focus on saving American lives today.

U.S. military medicine has a rich and storied history going back to Major Walter Reed’s breakthrough work on yellow fever and Army Surgeon General George Miller Sternberg’s pioneering efforts on bacteriology.

U.S. military medical doctors are not only saving military lives, they are progressing medical research that will continue to benefit all Americans. We live in a dangerous world and these are challenging times. U.S. Military medicine remains on the front line and can be counted on to lead the way to insure our men and women in uniform are cared for on and off the battlefield. We are all fortunate that the nation as a whole will continue to benefit from U.S. Military medical breakthroughs as in years past.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp alienated business lobbyists during his three House terms as he pushed for government shutdowns and an end to the Export-Import Bank. Lobbyists responded by backing the Kansas Republican’s primary opponent.

Huelskamp lost that contest last month to Roger Marshall, an obstetrician-gynecologist, who appears to be a shoo-in for the safe GOP seat.

Marshall isn’t the only primary challenger to woo K Street money this cycle, either. Of the five challengers who have knocked off incumbents so far, four received donations from lobbyists during the first half of 2016, a CQ analysis of congressional lobbying records found. One, Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., faced another incumbent, Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., in a redrawn district.

Giving political money to challengers in a primary contest can be a risky proposition for lobbyists and those from corporate and trade group political action committees. But with more primaries essentially serving as the general election in districts that are solidly in the camp of one party, K Streeters say they are sometimes willing to take on sitting lawmakers.

“As a general rule, it takes a lot of courage to give to a primary challenger. You’re throwing down the gauntlet,” said Michael Herson, who runs the firm American Defense International and donated money to Marshall. “Obviously the downside, if your guy loses, this is all very public, it’s all disclosed.”

But, he added, there can be a significant upside, beyond just helping give the boot to a nemesis.

“In some cases, you’re doing it because the member is hostile to your issues and you see no way of turning that person around,” Herson said. If the challenger wins, “you’re in on the ground floor,” if you’ve helped that person raise money.

Business groups, after facing policy and political challenges from conservative organizations, have retooled their approach to primaries.

“We think it’s important to elect men and women who are going to come to Congress and govern, and not just talk about shutting down the government,” said Scott Reed, senior political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent roughly $400,000 in independent expenditures trying to unseat Huelskamp, who was first elected in 2010 in the tea party wave. Independent expenditures — contributions that are not in coordination with the candidate — are not included in the CQ analysis of campaign donations from lobbyists and PACs.

The chamber, Reed noted, changed its internal policy after the 2012 elections to permit primary involvement. Some of those races have been in support of sitting incumbents, such as backing Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who easily survived a primary challenge last week. But in the Huelskamp vs. Marshall race, it meant taking on a member of Congress — a move that lobbyists say can carry risks of damaging an already frayed connection on the Hill.

In addition to Marshall and Holding, K Street money also went to Dwight Evans, the Pennsylvania Democrat who overtook Rep. Chaka Fattah and Scott Taylor, who beat out Virginia GOPer J. Randy Forbes in June, according to semi-annual contribution disclosures filed with Congress under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Fattah resigned in June after being convicted of criminal charges.

Lobbyists and their PACs did not report contributions to Al Lawson, who defeated Rep. Corrine Brown in Florida’s 5th District Democratic primary last week.

Several of the K Street donations are more than just minor tokens.

Checks worth more than $1,000 comprised about half of all the contributions reported to these challengers, according to a CQ analysis of the filings. Evans received the highest average donation — about $2,400 per lobbyist — even more than Holding, who was first elected to the House in 2012. Nineteen of the total 61 donations to Evans were for $5,000.

Holding, since he is already in Congress, had the most donations from lobbyists in the first half of 2016: 363 such contributions by the mid-year deadline, totaling about $622,000. Taylor received nine donations — for roughly $16,000 — including one from Jay Timmons, who runs the National Association of Manufacturers. The majority of that came before he won his primary in June.

Still, K Street insiders say that donations to primary challengers are likely to remain something of a rarity, particularly in races where incumbents are expected to stay in office.

“There’s a general assumption that contributions against an incumbent who is re-elected will cause that incumbent to be very unhappy with the contributor,” said Robert Kelner, who chairs the election and political law group at Covington and Burling.

It would likely violate House or Senate rules for a lawmaker to seek retribution in such instances. “But it would be just about impossible to prove,” Kelner said.

By Van Hipp | NEWSMAX | Friday, 09 Sep 2016 9:07 AM

As we approach the 15th anniversary of 9/11, we are reminded of our first responders who are always ready to respond to any kind of emergency, be it terrorism, natural disaster, fire, crime, or other life threatening situation. Yes, our police, firefighters, and National Guard are always there during challenging times to risk their lives to save others and keep them safe.

We Americans often take our first responders for granted and this is particularly true of our nation’s earliest first responders, the National Guard. The concept of the “citizen-soldier” goes back to the earliest days of our country, even before the American Revolutionary War. The “citizen-militia” was also something our Founding Fathers insisted upon as far as the future security of the young Republic was concerned. Today, more than 50 percent of our National Guardsmen have combat experience.

The National Guard is today’s “citizen-militia” and today they have both a federal and state mission. They help fight our nation’s wars and keep us safe, but they are also among the very first to respond to hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters.

In addition to holding down a regular job, these American patriots are always ready to respond to terrorist attacks, deploy overseas, or help restore power and basic necessities to their fellow countrymen who have endured a catastrophe on the home-front. They were there at Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, the Argonne Forest, Normandy, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Afghanistan just to name a few. And they were also there at Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew, Katrina, the California Rim Fire, and countless other domestic emergencies.

Yes, National Guardsmen do all of this while still maintaining a civilian job. Multiple deployments put a strain on National Guard families, but they are always, always ready when called. And since we can train roughly three or four Guardsmen for every one active duty troop, the American taxpayers have been the real beneficiaries of putting much of our national security capability in the National Guard.

Fortunately, members of both political parties over the years have realized the vital role the National Guard plays with our nation’s security, as well as the economic sense it makes, even when the Pentagon hasn’t. The bipartisan National Guard Caucus in the U.S. Congress has done a great job with its National Guard & Reserves Equipment Account (NGREA) of keeping the National Guard properly equipped.

This 9/11 weekend, the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS), will come together for its annual conference in Baltimore, MD. NGAUS has emerged as our nation’s premier grass-roots military organization and it has done much to ensure that our National Guard is properly trained and equipped to keep all of us safe. NGAUS also does much to help take care of National Guard families in need.

The vision of our Founding Fathers to have a “citizen-militia” always ready to keep America safe and secure is alive today in our National Guard. It’s an unique concept that has served America well and that other nations have tried to emulate. Our Founding Fathers knew what they were doing. As citizens, we must always work to ensure that the National Guard has what it needs to keep America safe and secure so that it will always be ready when called.

http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/747460/346