michael sullivan the lobbyist group michael sullivan the lobbyist group

[14] Horsley says that the ATF has a long track record of abusive behavior and Sullivan, as Acting Director, continued to defend the ATF's abusive actions without any indication of making changes. Career Associate Bolles & Pritchard, 19831990. But recent lobbying disclosures filed in the House and Senate show the commission has hired a lobbyist from Capitol Hill Consulting, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm. [15] This leverage is being wielded to impact D.C. decisionmakers on everything from privacy regulations to tax law. He faced state Representative Dan Winslow and former U.S. Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez in the April 30 primary. Yet as Big Tech converts its enormous economic and social power into political influence, our political system is hamstrung from addressing those increasingly serious issues. In March, the governor of Virginia signed a state privacy bill, which privacy advocates have deemed is too friendly to industry, and too weak for consumers. On Tuesday, after Sullivan's recording was released, Bonnen said in a statement that he had repeatedly called for the audio to be made public "because it will be immediately clear that no laws were broken." Keffer and Truitt filed the first complaints against Sullivan with the commission. Let's get. In the 2018 election cycle, candidates and PACs reported receiving about $4.7 million from the Empower Texans PAC. Open Secrets following the money in politics, OpenSecrets Following the money in politics, Armed Services Committee members received $5.8 million from defense sector during 2022 election cycle, The railroad industrys hold over Washington goes beyond Norfolk Southern, Online platforms embroiled in Supreme Court cases on content moderation spend millions lobbying on internet legislation, How U.S. arm sales fuel the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Filing Jurisdiction, Entity Type, Registered Agent, File Number, Filing Status, and Business Category. In addition, The Lobbyist Group, LLC Company Number 000-495-299 Previous Company Numbers 495-299 Status Exists Incorporation Date 29 May 2007 (over 15 years ago) Company Type Domestic Limited Liability Company Jurisdiction Alabama (US) Business Classification Text GENERAL BUSINESS/POLITICAL CONSULTING Agent Name SULLIVAN, BRIAN J Agent Address ", Sullivan declined to make predictions about Bonnen's political fate but said he hopes the Republican caucus "understands they need to a better job of finding men and women of integrity" to serve in such a high-ranking position. Big Tech corporations exert influence not just through formal lobbying or campaign contributions, but also through advertisements. Prior to joining the firm, he was Vice President of State Government Affairs for Porter Gordon Silver Communications. [25] Ashley Gold, Facebook Seeks a New Head of U.S. Public Policy, Axios (January 29, 2021), https://www.axios.com/facebook-seeks-a-new-head-of-us-public-policy-bc772251-c013-402d-8959-83ab0dd1f2c6.html. [5], Sullivan was appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts by President George W. Bush on September 14, 2001, in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Sullivan is known for his brass-knuckles approach to reshaping the Republican establishment. 02/27/2023 04:30 AM EST. The U.S. government should work for the public, not corporations or industry. For years, he and the group operated below the radar. Sign up for our newsletter to track moneys influence on U.S. elections and public policy. Bonnen and Burrows pushed back against those allegations, though the speaker later apologized for saying "terrible things" during the meeting and Burrows resigned as chair of the House GOP Caucus. Chief Sales Officer (CSO) & President of Commercial Markets. [42] Hayley Tsukayama, Virginias Weak Privacy Bill Is Just What Big Tech Wants, EFFs Deeplinks Blog (February 25, 2021), https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/02/virginias-weak-privacy-bill-just-what-big-tech-wants. We work every day to defend against these threats and advance bold reforms. 2 min read. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Ill put your guys on the floor next session.. This is an update of that report, based on data provided by theCenter for Responsive Politics. Introduction Blitz Ahead of Zuckerberg Testimony, Tech Transparency Project (March 9, 2021), https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/facebook-launches-pr-blitz-ahead-of-zuckerberg-testimony. A report given to top officials at the Society of . As Washington prepares to pump $39 billion in federal subsidies into new microchip plants, the chip lobby is pressuring the Biden administration to . Speaker Dennis Bonnen during the Texas Fallen Heroes ceremony on May 25, 2019. Not that you need our permission., Roughly five minutes later, the speaker said, Let me tell you what I can do for you. The registration fee during those . Carney previously served as White House press secretary under President Obama and communications director for then-Vice President Biden. Massachusetts House Representatives from District 7, District Massachusetts United States Department Justice. Empower Texans, a longtime critic of House leadership, has sought to gain media credentials to the floor of the lower chamber, where members of the press can roam to speak with staffers and legislators. While not even in the top eight spenders in 2017, Facebook and Amazon are now the two largest individual lobbying spenders in Washington (see Table 1). Mr. Sullivan was also president of his own government affairs firm, Knight Government Affairs, and a partner in Paladin Advertising, a southern Nevada political consulting agency. The Semiconductor Industry Association the chip industrys main voice in Washington is pressing the Commerce Department to grant new manufacturing projects a categorical exclusion from a key environmental law. Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the chip lobbys fears feel like unnecessary paranoia thats mostly stemming from an unfamiliarity with how NEPA works. He said the law is frequently trotted out by industry as an umbrella scapegoat for all types of delays in approvals of projects. While Hartl could not say theres a zero chance that taking federal chip subsidies would by itself prompt a NEPA review, he called it a relatively unlikely thing that would trigger it., But the chip lobby is still spooked. She also later worked for then-Vice President Biden as counsel. Most other corporations that make the top eight list are legacy spenders in Washington. Although all four companies pushed staggering amounts of money into D.C., Amazon increased its spending the fastest. Times(May 16, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/16/technology/zuckerberg-facebook-coronavirus.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes. [41], In recent years, Big Tech has also taken its privacy and antitrust battles from the Capitol all the way to state houses. [10], Sullivan presented charges, in Boston, on November 23, 2005, against Abdullah Khadr, an Egyptian from Canada who is alleged to have sold arms to the Taliban. Member Massachusetts House Representatives from District 7, 19911995.District attorney Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 19952001. United States attorney District Massachusetts United States Department Justice, Boston, 20012009, acting director Bureau Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) Washington, 20062009. Republican lawmakers were blunt with the Chamber's lobbyist, Tom Sullivan, . Mr. Sullivan will oversee local government public affairs for The Ferraro Group. Raised in Southern Nevada, Mr. Sullivan attended the University of Nevada, Reno and graduated with a degree in journalism. Who is available? Cash and Hunt both said his politics never clouded his reporting. Geren is engaging in viewpoint discrimination, Empower Texans attorney Tony McDonald wrote in pleadings, adding that their group was being denied equal access to the hall of the House in order to report on its proceedings while making those facilities available to hundreds of other journalists. McDonald declined comment for this story. Big Tech now outspends, by a large margin, the insidious industries on the decline, Big Oil and Big Tobacco. The Texas Rangers are investigating the matter at the request of the House General Investigating Committee. Big Techs lobbying spending has only increased since then. [34] Edward Ongweso Jr, Why Amazon Is Flooding the Country With $15 Minimum Wage Ads, Vice (February 25, 2021), https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3gj87/why-amazon-is-flooding-the-country-with-dollar15-minimum-wage-ads. Before Bonnen made his offer, he also disparaged a number of House Democrats. He currently oversees a number of high profile clients on local government issues in a variety of industries, including transportation, banking, the public sector and telecommunications to name a few. Bush. Because of his experience in the journalism and political worlds, Mr. Sullivan knows through years of experience how best to frame a clients issue so it has the best chance of being successful. In 2010, while Facebook was spending next to nothing on lobbying and Amazon was spending just over $2 million, Exxon and Philip Morris were shelling out over $10 million each in lobbying contracts. OpenSecrets is tracking political donations from Biden's ambassador nominees, Cabinet and other appointees, and bundlers. [17] Carney donated close to $3,000 to President Biden during his 2020 presidential campaign. [8] American tech giants are making life tough for startups, Economist (June 2, 2018), https://www.economist.com/business/2018/06/02/american-tech-giants-are-making-life-tough-for-startups. Lisheron declined to comment for this story. But in court filings, he said that media credentials are reserved for employees of editorially independent entities, and Empower Texans, by contrast, is generally known as a political advocacy organization., Sullivan made inroads in the Senate this year when Texas Scorecard was granted press credentials for the upper chamber. Increased investments in Washington have allowed these monopolists to harm consumers, workers, and other businesses alike, with relatively little accountability to date. Most recently he served as a senior advisor to Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak and Clark County Commission Chair Marilyn Kirkpatrick. [24] Mike Isaac et al., Now More Than Ever, Facebook Is a Mark Zuckerberg Production, N. Y. If journalists are to be taken seriously by the public, they need to put away their bleeding hearts and toughen their skin, he said in a 1994 column. [15] Cecilia Kang & Kenneth P. Vogel, Tech Giants Amass a Lobbying Army for an Epic Washington Battle, N. Y. Steve Bresnen, a lobbyist and attorney who is leading the charge against Sullivan, said the integrity of elections may be at stake. Well, his wifes gonna be really pissed when she learns hes gay.. Sullivan was born October 3, 1954, the second of seven children, and grew up in Holbrook, Massachusetts. Learn More about the distinction between these two components of Public Citizen. He noted that other media organizations have rankings of lawmakers, similar to the Scorecard. It literally will disappear.. Huseman is a former Federal Trade Commission official. [3] Among his initiatives was a budget amendment to have the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority charge municipalities for sewage management by volume instead of population, which moved much of the cost burden away from outlying towns and toward Boston. Since Public Citizen published the 2018 report, the four Big Tech corporations have faced greater legal and regulatory challenges than ever before. The group is perhaps best known for playing heavily in Republican primary elections, targeting Republicans it considers "squishy" and backing more hardline conservatives. In a recent internal all staff meeting at Facebook, one employee asked about how Facebook is different from Big Tobacco, when it funds research about the societal problems it is causing. Amazon, Apple, and Facebook collectively hired 40 more lobbyists to grow their lobbying corps from 293 in 2018 to 333 in 2020 (Figure 5). [28] Reviving Competition, Part 1: Proposals to Address Gatekeeper Power and Lower Barriers to Entry Online, House Committee on the Judiciary (February 25, 2021), https://judiciary.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=4382 (see video recording starting at 1:37:48). Its spun off a number of affiliates with the same goals: Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Truth in Politics and the Texas Scorecard, which has been fashioning itself into a conservative news website since 2015. "My colleagues have always deserved the facts and context this recording provides, and with clear evidence now disproving allegations of criminal wrongdoing, the House can finally move on., Burrows in his own statement later Tuesday said he was happy the recording had been released and that he now planned to focus "on what is important: passing conservative legislation for future generations and the needs of West Texans.". Michael Sullivan net worth: Michael Sullivan is an American lobbyist and reality television personality who has a net worth of $2 million dollars. From the years of 2018-2020, Amazon, The four Big Tech companies recruited more lobbyists into their army, increasing its ranks by, Big Tech PACs, lobbyists, and employees contributed. Keffer would like nothing more than to shame, harass and intimidate Empower Texans and its subscribers, Sullivan said in court. Not only do they stand at the top of the list, Facebook and Amazon lead the pack of corporate lobbying spenders by a significant margin. Figure 2 illustrates that both an increase in lobbying spending as well as campaign contributions are behind this boost. Basically Everything, PC Mag (April 8, 2020), https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-does-big-tech-know-about-you-basically-everything. A 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, charitable organization, 1100 13th Street, NW, Suite 800 In his meeting with Bonnen that was recorded, Sullivan alleges the speaker dangled the coveted media credentials as an incentive to do his bidding going easy on some Republicans in the next election and targeting others. After the Herald, Sullivan moved on to the The Facts which happens to be Bonnen's hometown newspaper. Big Techs increasingly dominant role in our economy and everyday lives is worsening social problems that need a political response. Oct. 15, 2019 But in recent years, Sullivan has fought to shed his reputation as a legislative lobbyist and gain recognition as legitimate media. State Rep. Chris Turner, a Grand Prairie Democrat who serves as chair of the caucus, had perhaps the most notable statement, saying that, for him personally, the revelations are incompatible with Mr. Bonnen serving another term as Speaker., State Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, who Bonnen discussed recruiting a GOP challenger against, said the Speaker has lost his way and that Texas deserves leaders who will put people over politics.. Burrows otherwise sounds OK with the list and asks Sullivan to add one more member: state Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound. Cash said shes disappointed today to see Sullivan blanket media with what she considers unfair and mean-spirited attacks. View the profiles of professionals named "Michael Sullivan" on LinkedIn. While Apple and Google reduced lobbying spending from the 2018 to 2020 cycle, total spending among the four Big Tech corporations still increased. [3], Representing the town of Abington, he was elected as a Republican state representative in 1990. He has also refused all requests from news organizations for interviews and opportunities to listen to the audio. 2023 Celebrity Net Worth / All Rights Reserved. In Road to Perdition, Stanley Tucci portrays real-life gangster Frank Nitti, who succeeded Capone as the head of "The Outfit" in 1932. The foundation of the Big Tech companies influence are their lobbying teams, which use campaign contributions, existing relationships, and past experience to swing policy in their favor. [4] Facebook and Google have wielded unprecedented influenceover our democratic process. The report was produced with assistance from the Joyce Foundation's Communications Director and with contributions from gun control advocates such as Kristen Rand and Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center. Michael P. O'Leary, an executive who has straddled the worlds of government, lobbying and media, has been named as president and CEO of the National . Sullivan boasts that he's a watchdog, shedding light on politicians behaving badly. 602.626.5462, Copyright 2022 | Web Design by Mabble Media | All Rights Reserved, Contact The Ferraro Group - Washington DC. View Michael Sullivan's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. The term revolving door refers to when corporations, lobby shops and law firms hire government officials and/or have employees go into government (the reverse revolving door). At the same time, there is no doubt companies direct their campaign funds in order to gain access and influence. Sullivan first disclosed in late July that the June meeting happened, saying that Bonnen offered his advocacy group, Empower Texans, media credentials on the House floor if the group targeted 10 Republican members of the Texas House. He was so articulate and always beautifully groomed. In just eight years, their spending grew to $118 million. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, Stand with us in our mission to discover and uncover the story of North Texas, Michael Quinn Sullivan's secret audio of Texas House speaker blurs line between journalism, activism, (Erich Schlegel/Special Contribut / The Dallas Morning News), partially motivated by concern that the contents would damage, according to evidence collected by the Texas Ethics Commission, What we know after 3 children killed, 2 wounded at Ellis County home, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones defers comment on revival of sexual harassment lawsuit. [30] @RMac18, Twitter (March 11, 2021, 2:59 PM), https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/1370101942978969600.