With help from Daniel Lippman

NEW BUSINESS: The nonprofit group tasked with preserving D.C.’s historic Union Station is turning to K Street for help securing federal funding for the station’s upcoming renovation project.

— The Union Station Redevelopment Corporation is spearheading the 13-year, $8.8 billion expansion and redevelopment brought on Peter Peyser of Peyser Associates back in January to work on fiscal 2025 transportation appropriations, according to a newly filed disclosure. The firm is also working on implementing the 2021 infrastructure law — which The Washington Post notes included around $66 billion in funding for rail improvements.

— And former SIFMA lobbyist Jennifer Jacoby, who joined Invariant earlier this year, has brought a member of the trade group over to her new firm. Charles Schwab & Co. retained Jacoby in March to work on issues related to predictive data analytics, electronic delivery, equity market structure and the fiduciary rule, according to a disclosure.

— Also, Comcast has hired Ballard Partners to work on broadband issues for the telecom giant. Michael LaRosa, a former Biden transition official and press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, will work on the account — restricted to lobbying Congress only — along with Brian Ballard, according to a disclosure filing.

TGIF and welcome to PI. Send K Street tips: [email protected]. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
FIRST IN PI — DIRECT PERSUASION EXECS BUY OUT COBY: Gary Coby, the founder of the Republican digital marketing firm Direct Persuasion, has sold the company to a group of current executives who have rebranded the firm as Direct Persuasion Group, Daniel reports. The new firm will be led by a team of six digital marketing veterans: Daria Grastara, Emily Myers, Jack Puetz, Daniella Propati, John Donovan and Molly Georgia. Grastara is now CEO.

— “In an age where the digital-consultant class is consolidating through mergers and acquisitions, Gary Coby made an unprecedented move in turning over the company to the people who helped him build it,” Grastara said in a statement to PI. Coby, who was the digital advertising director for the 2016 Trump campaign, founded the firm in 2017. He has not announced his next step.

— Major clients have included the 2020 Trump campaign, Trump PAC Save America, the RNC, the NRSC and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). The firm told PI it has managed $450 million in digital ad spending since it started and has helped raise $1.3 billion online.

WILD STORY: The Washington Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman and Eliana Johnson report that “The right-wing group that leads a recruitment effort for Capitol Hill offices and allied nonprofits, the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), has for months left exposed the sensitive personal information of applicants to its online ‘jobs bank’ … including members of the U.S. intelligence community, congressional aides, former Trump administration officials, and campaign operatives.”

— “Led by former Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint and one of his former aides, Ed Corrigan, as well as by former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, who the New York Times reported is paid $847,000 to serve as the organization’s ‘senior partner,’ the Conservative Partnership Institute has exposed the social security numbers, home addresses, private client names, and other personal details of over 1,500 job applicants, including several who hold the highest level security clearance … in a public online storage system on an Amazon cloud.”

— “With basic web-scraping software, the records can be viewed by anyone, including America’s foreign adversaries. The discovery comes days after news reports revealed that foreign actors are setting their sights on key aspects of the right-wing infrastructure in Washington, D.C.,” with the Heritage Foundation being targeted by a cyberattack last week.

— “As recently as Tuesday, the Free Beacon was able to access and view hundreds of the resumes, including many containing sensitive national security and personal details, through the Conservative Partnership Institute’s unrestricted online storage system.”

COLLEGES CONVERGE ON D.C.: “The past few years have seen a fraternity-style rush of American universities planting their flags or significantly boosting their landholdings in Washington, including five in 2023 alone,” our Michael Schaffer writes.

— “The newest newcomers join a roster of satellite campuses that has quietly grown to at least 50, according to data from the Washington, D.C., Economic Partnership. Americans may view the nation’s capital as a vaguely foreign cesspool. But the nation’s universities seem eager to help their students study abroad there — a phenomenon that has almost as much to do with status and money as it does with education.”

— “It’s a pricey academic trend that spans from large public schools like the University of California to small private ones like Middlebury College, from secular schools like New York University to conservative religious ones like Hillsdale College, and from venerable elites like the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin) to relatively young establishments like Florida International University (founded in 1965 by the Florida legislature).”

— “And if D.C.’s mayor gets her way, there will be more where that came from: Luring still more university outposts is a key part of the city’s plan to revive a downtown that is still struggling from Covid-era abandonment. … For a university, the goals are a little more varied — a mixture of prestige, fundraising, lobbying, networking and internship opportunities. In its own way, it’s a metaphor for Washington, with some actual classroom education thrown in, too.”

ANNALS OF DARK MONEY: Puck’s Tara Palmeri wrote last night about the flood of 501(c)4 groups “popping up all over Washington as Senate Republicans prepare to find themselves back in the majority next year.”

— “This quiet reversal, driven in part by the much-anticipated expiration of Trump’s tax reform bill in 2025, presages a flood of undisclosed money as every corporate interest in America looks to make friends with the Republicans who will be deciding their fate.”

— “These black-box instruments have long been employed by leadership, of course,” but “now, everyone’s getting into the game. With Republicans poised to take back the Senate, those with leadership ambitions … already have them,” as are newer senators in the party’s populist wing.

— One consultant promoting the dark money groups described 501(c)4s as the new leadership PAC. But while the nonprofit groups provide a benefit to companies, executives and other donors who might be more wary of publicly donating to some Republicans — and the people who operate dark money groups stand to cash in on the shift, which is isolated to the GOP for now — not everyone is thrilled.

— While “hard dollars go further on advertising … how is a lobbyist who’s donated the maximum $6,600 per cycle supposed to get points on this new scoreboard? ‘Does our money matter anymore, when you have these large corporations or individuals giving six, seven figures?’ said one lobbyist.”

SPOTTED this week at Invariant founder Heather Podesta’s for a dinner discussion on how artificial intelligence, geopolitics, and inflation are affecting U.S. businesses, per a tipster: Reps. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.), Sens. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Scott Nathan of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Jay Timmons of the National Association of Manufacturers, Rebecca Glover, Rich Lesser and Sharon Marcil of Boston Consulting Group, Josh Eastright of Bloomberg Industry Group, Steve Clemons of Semafor and Stuart Holiday of Meridian International Center.

Jobs Report

— Michael Abramowitz will be director of Voice of America. He currently is president of Freedom House. Nicole Bibbins Sedaca will serve as interim president of Freedom House starting May 11. She previously was executive vice president.

— Rebecca Ma is now regional campaign strategist at the ACLU. She most recently was manager of immigration advocacy at Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

— Lynne Weil is now managing director of the government relations and public affairs practice of Perceptual Advisors. She continues as the principal and founder of Citrus Strategies and is an Obama administration and Capitol Hill alum.

— Rubí Martínez is now deputy managing director of the Climate Power En Acción project at Climate Power. She previously was communications manager of energy transition at Climate Nexus.

— Haydé Adams is now the director of media and editorial services at The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. She previously was an international broadcaster and multimedia producer at Voice of America.

— The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has added Alejandra Montoya-Boyer as senior director for the Center for Civil Rights and Technology and Mariah Wildgen as senior manager for strategic comms. Montoya-Boyer previously was director of policy at Prosperity Now. Wildgen previously was an account director at Fenton.

New Joint Fundraisers

Andy Kim — Sue Altman Victory Fund (Rep. Andy Kim, Altman for Congress)

Tran Victory Fund (Derek Tran for Congress, California Democratic Party)

New PACs

America United Foundation (AUF-PAC) (Hybrid PAC)

Leadership for Oregon Values Fund (Super PAC)

Retire Career Politicians (Super PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Actum I, LLC: Butterflys Haven

Actum I, LLC: Clorox Services Company

Actum I, LLC: Downtown Womens Center

Adams And Reese, LLP: Second Harvest Food Bank

Bice Policy Group, LLC: True Story Foods

Boundary Stone Partners: Harbinger Motors Inc.

Bracewell LLP: Moldex-Metric, Inc

Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Norsk Hydro USa, LLC

Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: United States Manufacturing Innovation Council

Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies: Association Of American Railroads

Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies: Book Hill Partners LLC On Behalf Of National Structured Settlements Trade Assoc

Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies: Evolution Metals & Mining Technologies

Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies: F. H. Paschen

Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies: Rush University System For Health

Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies: Springfield Clinic LLP

Eastport Strategies LLC: Solintel

Fti Government Affairs: Mnc Capital Partners, L.P.

G2G Consulting: Airdex, Inc. Dba Ata Aviation

G2G Consulting: Celmatix

G2G Consulting: Jennings Center For Older Adults

G2G Consulting: Neurowave Systems Inc

G2G Consulting: United Way Of Central Ohio

Glaukos Corporation: Glaukos Corporation

Icebreaker Strategies, LLC: Havocai Inc.

Invariant LLC: Air Space Intelligence

Invariant LLC: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

Liberty Partners Group, LLC: Bd Peripheral Intervention (Cardiovascular Coalition)

Lne Group: Union Township (Ross County)

Manatt, Phelps, And Phillips: Bertrand Chaffee Hospital

Manatt, Phelps, And Phillips: Crouse Health

Mindset Advocacy, LLC: Factset Research Systems Inc.

Peyser Associates LLC: Union Station Redevelopment Corporation

Respectability: Respectability

Rokala Public Affairs: Innerplant

Sidley Austin LLP: Iheart Media

Smith Dawson & Andrews: Southland Water Agency

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Archem LLC

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Asm Materials Education

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Calca Solutions LLC

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Canton Drop Forge, Inc.

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Ellwood Quality Steels

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Mettallus

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Ny Creates

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Pedmas Technologies & Innovations

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Prevent Biometrics

Strategic Marketing Innovations: South 8 Technologies Inc.

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Technology Applications Group, Inc.

Strategic Marketing Innovations: University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley Foundation

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Velo3D Inc.

Strategic Marketing Innovations: Vrc Metal Systems

Townsend Public Affairs, Inc: City Of Walnut Creek

Wake Forest University: Wake Forest University

Zeroavia, Inc.: Zeroavia, Inc.

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization

Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: Mno-Bmadsen

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Costar

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Pc: Clear Street Holdings LLC

Burrell International Group LLC: Obrien Gentry & Scott LLC (On Behalf Of Elta N.A.)

Burrell International Group LLC: O’Brien Gentry & Scott LLC (On Behalf Of Q30 Innovations LLC)

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP: Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc.

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP: The University Of Akron

Capitol Point Group, LLC: Team Hallahan LLC (On Behalf Of Juniper Networks Inc)

Capitol Strategies US, LLC: Naval Solutions LLC

Capitol Transportation Consulting: Crestview Strategies US LLC On Behalf Of Carnival North America LLC

Capitol Transportation Consulting: Optibus

Dykema Gossett Pllc: Homeownership Preservation Foundation

Dykema Gossett Pllc: Little Caesar Enterprises Inc.

G2G Consulting: Breast Cancer Ruckus

Hance Scarborough: Holly Poultry Inc.

Health Policy Source, Inc.: Privia Medical Group - North Texas

High Street Strategies LLC: Penn Station Partners On Behalf Of Beatty Development And Cross Street Partners

Invariant LLC: Petco Animal Supplies Stores, Inc.

Invariant LLC: Skyryse, Inc.

Jeffrey J. Kimbell And Associates: Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. (Formerly Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)

Jeffrey J. Kimbell And Associates: Tek84

Kyle House Group: Malaria No More

Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC: Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation

Lot Sixteen LLC: National Park Foundation

Mclarty Inbound LLC: Lg Chem, Ltd.

Mclarty Inbound LLC: Nitron Group LLC

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough: Scholarship America

O’Brien, Gentry & Scott, LLC: Elta N.A.

O’Brien, Gentry & Scott, LLC: Q30 Innovations, LLC

Prewitt Group, P.A.: Hush Aerospace

Prism Group: Allkem Limited

Public Strategies Washington, Inc.: Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Rokala Public Affairs: City Of Duluth, Minnesota

Team Hallahan LLC: Juniper Networks

The Kpm Group Dc LLC: Pharmaessentia Corporation

The Livingston Group, LLC: St Engineering North America, Inc

The Raben Group: Reform Alliance

The Raben Group: Unite-La

The Smith-Free Group, LLC: East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Inc.

The Vectre Corporation: Virginians For Effective And Efficient (Wetlands) Permit Processing

The Vogel Group: Chart Industries, Inc.

The Vogel Group: Jewelry Television

The Vogel Group: The Alliance For Commercial Technology In Government

Ulman Public Policy & Federal Relations: Partnership For Transportation Innovation And Opportunity

Van Scoyoc Associates: Leebcor Services

Van Scoyoc Associates: Sagam International

Williams And Jensen, Pllc: Ipi Action Fund

Williams And Jensen, Pllc: Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association

Williams And Jensen, Pllc: Ripple Labs, Inc.

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale And Dorr LLP: Twin Metals Minnesota LLC

Zscaler, Inc. And Affiliates: Zscaler, Inc. And Affiliates

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