Fast start for new K Street shop

A new K Street firm is rising from the ashes of the disbanded lobby shop Denny Miller Associates.

{mosads}Capitol Strategies Partners, a new venture built by former Denny Miller Associates (DMA) lobbyists, announced on Monday that it has registered 18 clients. Among the firm’s accounts are Boeing, Northrop Grumman, the Port of Tacoma, Wash., and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

“When we decided to form Capitol Strategies, we wanted to create a new model for government relations that adapts to the changing culture in our nation’s capital,” said Shay Hancock, the firm’s managing partner, in a statement. “The Capitol Strategies model brings the expertise of our entire team to service every client, allowing for out-of-the-box thinking and a relentless effort to achieve our clients’ goals.”

Hancock, a former legislative assistant to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), founded the firm with Wally Burnett, once staff director for the Senate Appropriations Transportation subcommittee, where he worked with Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).The two worked together at DMA before creating Capitol Strategies.

Also joining Hancock and Burnett are Tim Lovain and Chris Miller, who both worked at the Denny Miller shop. Another former DMA lobbyist, Sandy Mathiesen, will be a senior adviser to Capitol Strategies.

“Everyone at Capitol Strategies comes with different strengths, from both sides of the aisle and from the various wings of each party, from appropriations to tax and select areas of expertise in between. Our team aggressively attacks our clients’ challenges from the range of perspectives that comes from growing up in different decades and different political experiences,” Burnett said.

The Hill reported last December that Denny Miller Associates was to disband. 

The firm first opened its doors in 1984 and was known for its expertise in the appropriations process, securing earmarks for its many clients. It was also part of a thriving subsection of the influence industry that is centered around Washington State.

Denny Miller, the firm’s president, and his wife, Sandra Burgess Miller, who was executive vice president at DMA, decided to close the firm after 30 years in business. They said that they wanted to retire and head out West to spend more time with family.

“After 45 years in D.C., 15 as a staffer in the Senate and another 30 with DMA, and at age 74, it is time to retire,” Denny Miller told The Hill at the time.