WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris has forsworn direct donations from lobbyists, but they are welcoming her candidacy and finding other ways to support it.
In the days since President Joe Biden dropped his reelection campaign and Harris moved swiftly to lock up the Democratic Party’s nomination, Washington’s influence industry has quietly jockeyed to position itself with her team.
Officials at some of the biggest law and lobbying firms have endorsed her presidential campaign and are raising money for it, using loopholes to get around the campaign’s policy of not accepting donations from lobbyists. They have briefed clients about her policy positions, the composition of her inner circle and the pool of possible running mates. Some lobbying firms have highlighted their connections to Harris, drawing the ire of allies seeking to avoid the perception that she is beholden to special interests.
“Human nature is such that anybody that ever walked past somebody on the street would try to capitalize,” said former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., who is close to Harris. “Especially in a campaign for president, there is always going to be those folks.”
“That’s Washington, isn’t it?” he added.
Jones — a government relations adviser, but not a registered lobbyist, at the law and lobbying firm ArentFox Schiff — said he was planning a Washington fundraising event for Harris’ campaign featuring lawyers from a host of firms.
The dramatic reset of the presidential race has intensified a Washington tradition, as lobbyists and other government affairs professionals rush to signal connections to the candidates. Executed deftly, this can create demand among prospective clients looking for access to the would-be president and their team. If it is done clumsily, it can backfire, creating the specter of a craven effort to cash in and burning bridges with the campaign.
There was less open positioning just a week ago, when the race appeared to be headed toward a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump. Both men were known commodities in Washington, with their own complicated relationships with the city’s influence industry.
The industry includes law and lobbying firms, as well as consultancies that advise clients how to navigate the federal government, but that do not technically lobby. Taken together, the sprawling constellation of shops is known as K Street, for the District of Columbia boulevard where many traditionally had offices.
When Trump first ran for president in 2016, he campaigned on a promise to “drain the swamp” of Washington special interests and bureaucracy. He had few ties to traditional Republican power brokers. From the ranks of his supporters emerged a new set of lobbyists who profited handsomely during his presidency and remained influential during his subsequent campaigns.
Over his half-century in Washington, Biden surrounded himself with confidants who cycled back and forth between government and the private sector. That continued during his presidential campaign and administration, even as he enacted policies to slow the revolving door.
Harris, by contrast, arrived in Washington as a senator only in 2017 and has a smaller alumni network on K Street.
A letter endorsing her signed by more than 300 former employees from her various government offices and campaigns — including in her runs for San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, U.S. Senate and vice president — includes some names from the government affairs industry.
“We have worked alongside her as she has tackled the toughest challenges and the most intractable issues,” the letter reads.
It was spearheaded by Rachel E. Palermo, a lawyer who left Harris’ vice-presidential press shop last year and joined a team at the law firm Jenner &Block that helps clients navigate government regulations and congressional investigations.
Another lawyer on that team, Josh Hsu, had worked as Harris’ chief legal adviser in the White House.
Neither Hsu nor Palermo are among their firm’s registered lobbyists. Hsu did not respond to a request for comment. Palermo declined to comment.
Michael Fuchs, who served as deputy chief of staff for Harris, is an adviser to the consulting firm WestExec Advisors, which helps companies navigate Washington and has deep ties to the Biden administration. Separately, Fuchs works for the Open Society Foundations, the philanthropy started by billionaire George Soros, a Democratic megadonor.
Other former Harris staff members in the influence industry include Clint Odom, who was the legislative director in Harris’ Senate office and is now an executive in charge of public policy at T-Mobile; Deanne Millison, who worked for Harris in the Senate and the White House and is now a lobbyist for Ford Motor Co.; and Christopher M. Keosian, who worked on Harris’ 2020 campaign and is now a lobbyist representing municipal governments and utilities.
Other lawyers and lobbyists who did not work for Harris have developed ties to her or her team over the years.
Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, formerly a partner at the law and lobbying firm DLA Piper, has connections in the legal community in Washington and Los Angeles.
Yasmin R. Nelson, a lobbyist with the firm Holland &Knight who signed the alumni endorsement letter, said Harris and her team had “a pretty open door” to lobbyists, depending on the topic.
“On the issues that are important to her, she is definitely going to want to hear from people, and if they happen to be downtown, on K Street, and you’re best positioned to help her through that, then I think she will,” said Nelson, who had worked as a policy adviser for Harris’ Senate office.
Nelson’s clients have included the tech company Intel, a Canadian real estate company and nonprofit groups. She said her team arranged a meeting last month with Harris for two nonprofit clients dedicated to helping mothers.
Nelson said she was raising money for the Harris Victory Fund, a joint committee comprising Harris’ campaign committee, the Democratic National Committee and various state party committees.
During her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, Harris had pledged not to accept donations from corporate political action committees or lobbyists. Biden issued a similar pledge. The policy had continued during his reelection campaign, which Harris has inherited.
But the policy did not extend to the DNC, creating a back door for lobbyist funds to help the party’s presidential ticket.
Asked if the policies on lobbyist donations had changed, a spokesperson for Harris’ campaign declined to comment. The DNC did not respond to questions about its policy on donations raised or given by lobbyists.
David H. Reid, of the lobbying giant Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, sent a fundraising email to his network in the hours after Biden stepped aside.
“As a reminder, the DNC accepts contributions from lobbyists,” wrote Reid, who was a top fundraiser for Democrats, including Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016. He added, “All dollars go toward electing the Democratic nominee for president.”
Reid — whose clients include defense contractors, drugmakers, casino companies and the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba — did not respond to a request for comment.
Brownstein Hyatt, Holland &Knight, Arent Fox and other firms with large lobbying operations maintain bipartisan rosters of lobbyists that allow them to maintain access regardless of which party controls the White House and Congress.
Rich Gold, the leader of Holland &Knight’s public policy and regulation group, said the firm had relationships that would leave it well-positioned regardless of who won the presidency.
But he said the firm was fielding “a lot of questions from corporate clients and our nonprofit clients and cities about ‘OK, tell me what this looks like in a Harris administration.’”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times
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