Bottom Line

• CIVIL RIGHTS. The Leadership Conference of Civil and Human Rights has hired Watts Partners to lobby on “crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity,” according to lobbying disclosure records. Former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) is lobbying for the advocacy group. 

• DEFENSE. BGR Government Affairs has registered to lobby for W Industries, a metal products manufacturing company, to help find procurement opportunities. Walker Roberts, a deputy chief of staff to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is lobbying for the company.

• ENERGY. Bracewell & Giuliani has been hired by Helix Energy Solution, an offshore pipeline construction company, to lobby on “work related to offshore drilling, the Gulf of Mexico, containment policy and the drilling moratorium,” according to lobbying disclosure records. Michael Olsen, a former deputy assistant secretary at the Interior Department, is lobbying for the company.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has registered to lobby for the Solar Trust of America, a solar energy developer, on “royalty rates for solar projects on public lands,” according to lobbying disclosure records. Former Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Calif.) is lobbying for the company.

• ENVIRONMENT. The Pew Environment Group has hired K&L Gates to lobby on the Global Conservation Act of 2010. Former Rep. Jim Walsh (R-N.Y.) is lobbying for the group.

• FINANCIAL SERVICES. The National Association of Investment Companies, a trade group for minority-owned private equity firms, has hired the Raben Group to lobby on “a wide range of campaign finance reform measures, including a constitutional amendment to give Congress the power to regulate corporate political expenditures” as well as the carried interest tax provision in the financial services reform bill, according to lobbying disclosure records.

• HOMELAND SECURITY. Monument Policy Group has been hired by TASC, a government contractor, to lobby on “homeland security and government contracting issues; science and technology,” according to lobbying disclosure records. C. Stewart Verdery, a former assistant secretary at the Homeland Security Department, is lobbying for the company.

• TAX. Honeywell International Inc. has hired Van Ness Feldman to lobby on “tax incentives for industrial efficiency investments,” according to lobbying disclosure records.
Patton Boggs has been hired by the Beer Institute to lobby on antitrust issues. Jonathan Yarowksy, a former special associate counsel to President Bill Clinton, is lobbying for the trade group.

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