Lobbying World

• Michael E. Toner will join Wiley Rein as co-chairman of the election law and government ethics practice. Coming from the law firm of Bryan Cave, Toner is a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission. Beginning his legal career as an associate at Wiley Rein, he was first nominated to the FEC in 2002 and became chairman in 2006, remaining a commissioner until 2007. Having been chief counsel and deputy counsel to the Republican National Committee, Toner also was general counsel to the Bush-Cheney Transition Team and the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign and was counsel to the Dole-Kemp 1996 presidential campaign. 

{mosads}• Joseph Gibson has opened up his own lobby firm, the Gibson Group. Gibson is the former chief minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee and former chief of staff to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), now the panel’s chairman. Having worked as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department, Gibson also was the committee’s chief legislative counsel and parliamentarian under Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) and its chief antitrust counsel under former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.). 

• Christopher C. Brown will join the Air Transport Association of America as vice president of legislative and regulatory policy. Brown comes to the trade group from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where he was senior counsel of the government and regulatory affairs practice group. Before coming to the firm, Brown was assistant administrator and deputy assistant administrator at the Federal Aviation Administration for government and industry affairs. He also has been majority counsel to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. 

• Alex Cooper has joined the TCH Group. Cooper has been a Republican professional staff member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He has worked under several prominent members of the panel, including Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) as well as former Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.).

• Rawson Hart has joined Ogilvy Government Relations as its new chief administrative officer. Hart comes to the firm from Yellowstone Associates, a McLean, Va., consulting firm. She has also been director of business operations at Navigators Global and operations manager in the Office of the Vice President. In addition, Amy Allman Dean will be the firm’s new vice president of marketing. She held various positions in the Bush White House, such as director of the White House Visitors Office and staff assistant for Lynn Cheney. She has also worked at the Homeland Security Department and the Treasury Department.