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Gibson Guitar hires lobby firm for fight against regulation
Gibson Guitar is looking inside the Beltway for lobbying help after drumming up grassroots opposition to a federal raid on the company.
The company has hired the law firm Crowell & Moring to lobby on the Lacey Act, according to Senate disclosure records released this week.
The corporation, best known for its iconic Les Paul guitar, has been in the headlines ever since federal agents raided Gibson factories in Tennessee and seized several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars.
Agents were investigating whether Gibson Guitar was using illegal wood from India in its products in violation of The Lacey Act, which “combats trafficking in ‘illegal’ wildlife, fish, and plants,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The company pushed back on social networking sites, tapping into anti-government anger with the Twitter hashstag “ThisWillNotStand.” In the process, Gibson became the poster child for the Republican Party’s campaign against burdensome regulations.
Gibson Guitar has called the raid bullying and is still fighting to get wood back from a similar raid that occurred in 2009.
In an interview with The Hill last month, Juskiewicz said he was meeting with lawyers about crafting legislation that would allow companies to recover seized goods.
“We have the public’s attention, and we want to take advantage of that,” he said.
Environmental groups argue the Lacey Act is an important protective measure for forests and species, saying it saves jobs by protecting American timber companies from illegal competition.
Patrick Donnelly, a former Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forest staffer, and Stephanie Daigle, a former associate administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, are among the Crowell & Moring lobbyists who will be working for Gibson.
The filing does not disclose how much Gibson will be paying Crowell & Moring for lobbying services. Those fees are not typically disclosed on registration forms.
Phone calls by The Hill to Gibson Guitar Corp. and Crowell & Moring were not immediately returned.
— Brendan Sasso contributed to this report.
