Education
K&L Gates registered to lobby on issues related to education funding and Department of Education grants on behalf of Duquesne University, a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh. One of the lobbyists on the account is former Rep. Mike Doyle, a Democrat who retired at the end of the last Congress after 14 terms representing the Keystone State and joined K&L Gates’s Pittsburgh office as a government affairs counselor.
As a former member of Congress, Doyle can lobby the executive branch and craft congressional lobbying strategies. But the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 imposed a one-year “cooling-off period” that bars members from communicating with members of Congress or their staff “with the intent to influence them.”
Internet safety
Google tapped Crossroads Strategies to lobby on online competition and privacy issues, including the Kids Online Safety Act. The bill aims to hold social media companies accountable for preventing harm to minors and requires an annual public report by independent, third-party auditors on platform risks including mental health disorders and sexual abuse and exploitation. Jason Gleason, former chief of staff and legislative director to Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), will work on the account.
Energy
Clark Street Associates hired Holland & Knight to work on federal funding for hydrogen fuel technology on behalf of Nel ASA, a Norwegian hydrogen fuel company. Elizabeth Craddock, former staff director of the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee, will work on the account.
Teneo Strategy registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act for public relations work on behalf of the Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company, which is 80 percent owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. Teneo is tasked with developing a communications strategy including “narrative development and tailored messaging” to engage members of the media and business community, but not directly advocate with U.S. government officials, according to disclosures on file with the Justice Department.
Electric vehicles
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld registered to lobby on behalf of Ride Group LLC, an electric bus and vehicle manufacturer, on legislation including the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act that could “limit use of federal funds to acquire certain electric buses.” The lobbyist on the account is Hal Shapiro, a former senior adviser for international economic affairs to the director of the National Economic Council in the Clinton White House.