Bottom Line

• FOREIGN AFFAIRS. The Government of Moldova, a strategically important European country located between Romania and Ukraine, has hired the Podesta Group to advise it on “strengthening the principal›s ties to the United States government and institutions,” which includes setting up meetings with members of Congress, executive branch officials and members of the media. The 12-month contract is worth $600,000.

• FOOD. Former Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) and other lobbyists at FaegreBD Consulting are lobbying for Sargento Foods, which sells various cheese products. It is the Wisconsin-based company’s first lobbying hire in Washington. Disclosure forms don’t offer much detail, except to say that advocates will be addressing “food related issues” with policymakers.

{mosads}• ENVIRONMENT. The National Environmental Health Association registered its first lobbyist: Joanne Zurcher, the group’s director of government affairs. Funding bills are at the top of the organization’s priority list, including appropriations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and additional spending to deal with the Zika virus and the Flint water crisis.

• ZIKA. The biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific wants federal officials to know all about the diagnostic products the company can provide to detect the Zika virus. It has hired well-connected healthcare lobbyists at Sidley Austin to provide advice on how to reach out to federal agencies and Capitol Hill, disclosure forms say. Patricia DeLoatche, a former health policy director for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Dora Hughes, who has worked at the Department of Health and Human Services and for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), are on the account.

• ENERGY. Former Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) is lobbying for both an electric car manufacturer and a coal company. Atieva, a Silicon Valley-based electric car start-up, and White Stallion Coal are the two newest clients for Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Ventures, a firm Quayle helps run. The former congressman and other lobbyists at the firm are trying to resolve issues related to “electric vehicle financing,” disclosure forms say. For White Stallion Coal, which the firm is representing through the holding company American Patriot Holdings, the lobbyists are working on coal permitting issues and energy, environment and infrastructure issues generally.