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•BUSINESS. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr signed three new clients: Apple, Silicon Valley-based tech advocacy group CALinnovates and Caspian Group Holdings. For Apple and CALinnovates, lobbyists — including former Clinton White House aide Jonathan Yarowsky — will be working on “technology issues,” such as intellectual property policy. Lobbyists for Caspian Group Holdings, which operates in many different industries including the energy sector, will be working on “renewable energy development” issues.
• TECHNOLOGY. American Tower Corporation is registering its first in-house lobbyist, Becca Gould. Gould runs the government affairs shop and came to the company in May after running her own lobby shop. She also spent 12 years lobbying for Dell. American Tower develops, owns and operates cellphone tower infrastructure and rents out tower space to wireless providers. The firm will be lobbying on trade and tech, according to forms. But will also tackle advocacy on tax reform — specifically mentioning a financial maneuver used to cut corporate tax bills, known as a real estate investment trust.
{mosads}• HEALTHCARE. Lindsay Punzenberger, a former legislative assistant to Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.), officially filed paperwork to lobby for the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin — an independent healthcare system in the state. Punzenberger became the director of federal affairs for the hospital last month and will work on issues related to ObamaCare implementation, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and funding for pediatric healthcare research, among other issues. Prior to joining the organization, Punzenberger worked for public affairs firm Venn Strategies.
• AVIATION. The City of Bensenville, Ill., registered with law firm Lockridge Grindal Nauen to lobby on issues related to “federal aviation, regulation,” according to lobbying disclosure forms. Bensenville is located close to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and is part of a coalition of nearby communities concerned with noise coming from air traffic at the busy hub. The city’s website mentions an effort to “lobby Congress to direct the City of Chicago to amend the ‘Fly Quiet Program’ to include incentives to follow and penalties when violated.” The program is voluntary and “encourages pilots and air traffic controllers to use designated nighttime preferential runways and flight tracks.”
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