By Caitlin Oprysko

With help from Daniel Lippman

DOJ DROPS RAFIEKIAN CASE: “The Justice Department has quietly abandoned one of the last prosecutions stemming from investigations into alleged foreign influence over Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign,” our Josh Gerstein reports, adding one more blemish to the department’s record of prosecuting alleged illegal foreign influence campaigns.

— “In a court filing Monday, prosecutors indicated they’re giving up their long-running quest to convict Bijan Rafiekian, a California businessman and former business partner of Trump ally Michael Flynn, on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Turkey amid Trump’s successful White House bid seven years ago.”

— “It’s a bitter pill for prosecutors who convinced a jury in Alexandria, Va., to return two felony guilty verdicts against Rafiekian — better known as Kian — following a week-long trial in 2019 and only about four hours of deliberations,” only to have U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Trenga — who presided over the trial — toss the convictions months later.

— That set off three more years of additional litigation that seemed likely to culminate in a new trial that was set to begin next month prior to prosecutors’ move today.

MERCURY RACKS UP PLANT-BASED CLIENTS: Major food companies are rushing to hire Mercury Public Affairs this summer to lobby on plant-based food policy, a surge of new business that coincides with the hiring of a top lobbyist specializing in the issue and a growing Midwest practice in the firm led by a top former Democratic lawmaker ahead of the next farm bill.

— Lawmakers are still hammering out legislative text for the massive package, which sets policy and funding levels for everything from commodities to conservation, forestry, nutrition and food stamps — with less than three weeks to go until the current one expires.

— Plant-based food advocates had a relatively small lobbying footprint during negotiations over the 2018 farm bill and found the final version “lacking” in support for the industry. This time around, household names angling to bolster their investments in the plant-based market have joined the fight, and one lobbyist appears to have become their go-to.

— Shannon Campagna, who joined Mercury earlier this summer, has registered to lobby on plant-based food issues for seven new clients since July, according to disclosure filings. The clients include some of the biggest brands in food: Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz and Nestlé USA. Campagna’s client roster also includes Conagra Brands, whose labels include Duncan Hines, Hebrew National and Duke’s; Upfield Foods, the plant-based food company; and the food processing giant ADM.

— The brands followed Campagna to Mercury from her previous lobbying firm, Van Scoyoc Associates, where she represented most of them under the umbrella of a coalition called the Alliance for Plant Based Inclusion. Campagna, a former in-house lobbyist for the grocery chain Safeway and Mars Inc., was also the first federal lobbyist for the main industry trade group Plant Based Foods Association back in 2017.

— In addition to Campagna’s experience representing the plant-based industry in Washington, Mercury has another major draw for agriculture clients: Former Rep. Cheri Bustos, a longtime member of the Agriculture Committee, joined Mercury earlier this year to stand up the firm’s presence in the Midwest, and grow its food and agriculture practice with Campagna.

— Bustos is a former member of Democratic leadership as well as the 2018 farm bill conference committee and Appropriations Committee, though she’s still under the federally mandated “cooling off” period barring her from lobbying her former colleagues on the Hill.

Happy Monday and welcome back to PI. What’s going on out there? Drop me a line: [email protected]. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

A message from Children's Hospital Association:

What makes children’s hospitals different? Designed to meet children's needs, with care provided by specially trained experts, children's hospitals are the primary facilities for specialized care for children and teens – no matter their financial situation. Across the country, children’s hospitals are making it possible for children and their families to experience life’s important moments – from the everyday to the extraordinary. To find out more about the work children’s hospitals are doing, visit madepossible.org.

FIRST IN PI — VENABLE ADDS UTILITIES LOBBYIST: Rich Ward has jumped to Venable, where he’ll be a senior policy adviser, after 11 years with the Edison Electric Institute. Ward was most recently senior director for government relations at the trade group, which represents investor-owned utilities, helping develop the group’s lobbying strategy on issues from cybersecurity to grid resiliency. Prior to joining EEI, Ward served as communications adviser for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and was a press aide for former President George W. Bush.

LESSONS LEARNED: “Lobbyists for the tech industry are hedging their bets as Washington gears up to consider new AI laws this fall — not just pressuring Congress, but also fanning out to state capitals to stave off more serious restrictions nationwide,” prompting concerns from consumer advocates, POLITICO’s Brendan Bordelon reports.

— “The new lobbying campaigns are driven by concern that states often act faster than Washington on tech issues, and can sometimes impose far tougher rules on companies. If they’re successful, tech lobbyists could nip tough AI regulations in the bud and neutralize the threat of new rules from state capitols — regardless of where Washington ends up.”

— “Lobbyists are quick to note that their early focus on the states shouldn’t be seen as a preference for state-level AI rules over a single federal law. As with privacy, tech companies fear a possible ‘patchwork’ of contradictory state AI laws, which they claim would slow innovation and cause an avalanche of compliance costs. In their ideal world, Congress would act quickly to set nationwide rules on automated systems.”

— “But Capitol Hill’s historic paralysis on tech issues has inspired the industry to look beyond Washington, and lobbyists believe the states will move on AI with or without Congress,” and tech lobbyists are comparing the playbook to Silicon Valley’s successful playbook for state data privacy fights.

— “As we’ve seen with privacy, I don’t think it’s a question of whether [states] act,” Chandler Morse, vice president of corporate affairs at the software giant Workday told Brendan. “I think it’s a question of what’s the timing on their action.”

GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE.

LOCAL OFFICIALS PRESS LAWMAKERS ON TRUCK SIZE: More than 1,500 local government leaders are warning Congress not to greenlight any policy changes that would allow for any increases in length or weight of freight trucks due to already fragile transportation infrastructure.

— “Much of our transportation infrastructure that connects people to jobs, schools and leisure is in disrepair, in part because local and rural roads and bridges are older and not built to the same standards as Interstates,” the officials told lawmakers in a letter organized by the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks.

— The officials complain that “many of us are unable to keep up with our current maintenance schedules and replacement costs because of underfunded budgets.” According to the signatories, which include mayors, state legislators, city councilmembers, county commissioners and engineers, transportation leaders and public works officials, “longer and heavier trucks would cause significantly more damage to our transportation infrastructure, costing us billions of dollars that local government budgets simply cannot afford.”

HOWARD HANGS A SHINGLE: Paul Howard is striking out on his own after 11 years at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, most recently as managing director. Howard has launched Howard Law & Policy Group PLLC, which will focus on financial services and insurance clients, Howard said in an email. He’s already signed up Lloyd’s of London, with plans to add to the list and hire another staffer in the next six months.

— Howard told PI that his decision to hang a shingle stems from a desire for greater flexibility after having spent the past two decades working at larger lobbying firms. “There’s a fair amount of change going on right now in the legal industry, to say nothing of the ever-changing dynamics on Capitol Hill, and I believe my new venture will allow me to be nimble enough in my practice to keep client service front and center,” he said.

SPOTTED at Del Frisco’s on Friday night for a birthday dinner for Kenny Hodge of Jeffrey J. Kimbell & Associates and Jakob Johnsen of Rep. Hal Rogers’ (R-Ky.) office, per a PI tipster: Tim Daniels of Tyson Foods, Jett Thompson of Rep. Stephanie Bice’s (R-Okla.) office, Warner Allison of Rep. Warren Davidson’s (R-Ohio) office, Jonathan Day of Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-S.C.) office, Alex Pinson of DLA Piper, Jordan Evich of Monument Advocacy, and Sterling McHale of Shield AI.

— The Climate Leadership Council has hired Scott Nystrom as director of policy and research. He most recently co-led FTI Consulting’s North American economic impact group.

— COEFFICIENT has hired Erica Thomas as vice president and Jenna Peth as director of policy and advocacy. Thomas was most recently director of the Information Technology Industry Council’s Green Grid Association and Peth was most recently a director of governmental issues at Van Ness Feldman.

— Eric Bergren has joined the Todd Strategy Group. Bergren has nearly three decades of experience on the Hill, including spending 13 years as chief of staff to Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), who now chairs the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. Before that, he spent 14 years working for former Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.).

— Kea Sherman has joined Van Ness Feldman as policy counsel based in the New Orleans office. She was previously a principal at Sherman Strategic Affairs.

— Udochi Onwubiko is joining Demos as director of economic justice. She was most recently a labor policy adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris and a senior policy adviser in the Wage and Hour Division at DOL.

— Adam Jorde is now a senior government affairs adviser at Wilkinson Barker Knauer. He previously was head of government affairs at Twilio and is a Kevin Cramer and John Thune alum.

— Michelle Baker is joining Forbes Tate Partners as a public affairs partner. She previously was executive vice president and managing director of corporate strategic initiatives at Ketchum.

— Career Education Colleges and Universities hired Jed Brinton as senior vice president and general counsel and Corey Perry as director of state relations. Brinton was most recently a partner at Zobrist Law Group and is a Trump Education Department alum, and Perry was previously director of government affairs at The Learning Experience.

— Kent Robertson is now managing partner at DrivePath Advisors. He most recently was general manager for public affairs at Chevron, where he spent almost 17 years.

— Tom Bonier is CEO of TARA Group. He was previously CEO of TargetSmart, the progressive data company and subsidiary of TARA Group, and will continue to serve as senior adviser there. Lindsey Schuh Cortés, previously of Statara Solutions, is succeeding Bonier.

— Robyn Shapiro has joined the antitrust division at the Department of Justice as deputy chief of staff, Morning Tech reports. Shapiro was most recently director of communications at the American Economic Liberties Project.

— Nicole Isaac is now vice president of global public policy at Cisco. She most recently was at Google, and is a Meta, LinkedIn and Obama White House alum.

— BCom is adding Tanner Holcomb as a digital strategy director, Nijeria Boone as a digital strategist and Rochelle Drouin to the paid media practice. Holcomb and Boone are both DCCC alums.

— Connor Vargo is joining the Transportation Communications Union as legislative representative. He previously was senior legislative assistant for Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.).

— Tony Ficarrotta is rejoining the Network Advertising Initiative as vice president and general counsel. He most recently was assistant general counsel at the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

— Maxwell Young has joined Pfizer, leading its executive, digital and policy communications. He was previously communications director for New York Mayor Eric Adams.

— Bruce Haynes is now senior vice president for corporate and external affairs at Charles River Laboratories. He most recently was partner and global co-chair of crisis communications and issues management at FGS Global.

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Dentons Global Advisors Government Relations LLC: Psa Systems

Hanka Advisor LLC: P3 Mobility On Behalf Of Nw 33 Innovation Corridor Council Of Governments

Holland & Knight LLP: Relativity Space

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A message from Children's Hospital Association:

Children’s hospitals play a central role in advancing the health of all children – from prevention to critical care. Of the 6,000 hospitals across the country, only 200 are children’s hospitals and these specialized hospitals and health systems educate and train the majority of pediatricians and pediatric specialists.

Children’s hospitals are where the most complex pediatric care happens and are often the only location in an entire state or region of the country where the sickest children can receive the lifesaving care they need.

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