Friday's news dump for Minnesota politics--coming just before Thanksgiving week, is a classic.
Stateside Associates, an Arlington Virginia based public affairs firm, posted a press release, Kurt Daudt Joins Stateside Associates as Director of Public Affairs, on its website, a document which went out on PR Newswire under just after 1:00 p.m. under the same title, then morphed into a Bring Me The News story by Adam Uren, Rep. Kurt Daudt joins lobbying firm, will still serve as lawmaker.
From the updated version of the third link:
Minnesota's House Minority Leader, Rep. Kurt Daudt, has been appointed the Director of Public Affairs for a lobbying firm, but says he will continue to serve as a lawmaker.
Daudt, the former House Speaker and the Republican representative for House District 31A, has joined Virginia-based Stateside Associates, which carries out state and local government lobbying efforts across all 50 states.
The announcement on Friday says that Daudt's role "does not involve lobbying," and it's a part-time position that allows him to continue to serve in the Minnesota Legislature.
"In his role, Daudt will support Stateside's clients with a wide range of public affairs solutions, availing them of his deep knowledge of the legislative process, public policy experience and access to elected and appointed leaders and officials in all 50 states gained from his nine (9) years in the legislature and in national leadership positions," the announcement states.
"Kurt brings a wealth of political and government experience to Stateside and he is respected by leaders across the country on both sides of the political aisle — he will be a tremendous addition to our team," said Michael Behm, Co-CEO of Stateside. "Kurt is a leader, a reformer and coalition builder in Minnesota, and will bring those capabilities and strategic vision to his new position at Stateside."
Daudt has been one of the most prominent GOP voices in the Minnesota Legislature since his election in 2010, and he served as House Speaker between 2015 and 2019, when the Republicans relinquished control of the house to the DFL.
Minnesota does have a law in place with regards to lawmakers and lobbying, preventing former state legislators from registering as lobbyists within a year of leaving office.
Bring Me The News has reached out to Rep. Daudt for comment.
Daudt sorta boldly goes where a couple of DFLers sorta went
That law is honored in the breach, as the November 2016 retirement of another House member demonstrates. We wrote in Who is served by the lobbying? Clients of Ann Lenczewski's new government relations team:
It's been broadly reported today that the powerhouse lobbying and law firm Lockridge Grindal Nauen has welcomed Ann Lenczewski to its government relations team:
Lockridge Grindal Nauen (LGN) announced a major addition to its government relations team today, as Ann Lenczewski plans to join the firm. A highly-regarded leader in Minnesota politics for more than twenty years, Ms. Lenczewski will assist LGN clients on a broad range of issues, including tax policy, local government matters, and political strategy. . . .
KSTP reports in State Legislator Ann Lenczewski to Resign, Takes New Job:
A power player at Minnesota's Capitol is resigning her House seat to take a job at a lobbying firm, where she'll keep a focus on tax and local government policy.
Democratic Rep. Ann Lenczewski of Bloomington says she'll leave next month and join the Lockridge, Grindal, Nauen firm. Her decision will result in a special election for a suburban seat she held for nine terms. . . .It's much the same at the Pioneer Press, where Bill Salisbury writes in DFL Rep. Ann Lenczewski retires to join lobbying firm...
. . .Rules, apparently, are for chumps. And forget about those prudes at the Center For Public Integrity, who gave Minnesota government a low grade, in part because of our revolving door from the legislature to the lobbies. Check out the report in Minnesota gets D- grade in 2015 State Integrity Investigation.
At least Lenczewski had the decency to resign, while Daudt will have to abstain from registering as a lobbyist with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
The hire also recalls the 2015 uproar when Chisholm DFL state senator David Tomassoni took the position of Executive Director of the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools (RAMS), as Ranger blogger Aaron Brown reported in Iron Range senator plans to hold office while leading public sector lobbying group.
That didn't end well (or maybe it did) as Brown later reported in Tomassoni resigns from RAMS. Go to the Strib and check out the column. Brown concluded with "To quote Bob Dylan, "You Gotta Serve Somebody." Let's all serve the goal of a stronger Iron Range."
All of Minnesota may be the Range with Minority Leader Daudt's slide into the private side of public affairs.
Update November 22: A political operative and devoted reader sent us this January 2012 press release, Lindquist & Vennum Welcomes New Partner Paul C. Thissen to Health Law Group:
Lindquist & Vennum PLLP is pleased to announce that Paul Thissen has joined the firm's Minneapolis office as a partner beginning January 9, 2012. Thissen joins the firm's health law practice where his experience in health care policy and reform, business strategy, and commercial dispute resolution will benefit the group's fast-growing portfolio of health care clients. A member of the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2002 and current House Minority Leader, Thissen has played a critical role in health care policy and reform—including advocating for children's access to health care and leading the successful passage of the 2008 Minnesota Health Reform Act. He was recognized as one of the 100 most influential Minnesotans in Health Care by Physician Magazine. Prior to joining Lindquist & Vennum, he practiced law with the firm of Briggs and Morgan. . . .
The law firm is now Ballard Spahr, though Thissen no longer practices law as he is a justice in the Minnesota Supreme Court.
We offer this not as a "whataboutism" rebuttal. Moreover, it's not clear from the press release whether Thissen's role was to change policy/maintain the status quo or help clients understand it. [end update].
Stateside client list
As for Stateside Associates, we took a screenshot of some of the clients whose logos scroll atop this post. We tweeted about the page where this is found:
Some of Kurt Daudt's new employer's clients scrolled here: https://t.co/zx7vGsqoaf BP, Delta, ebay, FedEx, GlaxoSmithKline, GM, McDonalds, paypal, Verizon, TMobile...nothing to see here #mnleg
— Sally Jo Sorensen (@sallyjos) November 22, 2019
Stateside's roots In ALEC
Other intriguing factoids about the firm? In Stink Tanks: Historical Records Reveal State Policy Network Was Created by ALEC, DeSmog Blog's Steve Horn reported in 2013:
. . . Further, Constance “Connie” Campanella — former ALEC executive director and the first president of the Madison Group — left ALEC in 1988 to create a lobbying firm called Stateside Associates. Stateside uses ALEC meetings (and the meetings of other groups) as lobbying opportunities for its corporate clients.
“Stateside Associates is the largest state and local government affairs firm,” according to its website. “Since 1988, the Stateside team has worked across the 50 states and in many local governments on behalf of dozens of companies, trade associations and government and non-profit clients.”
Named Constance Heckman while heading ALEC, Campenella also formerly served on the Board of Directors of Washington Area State Relations Group, a state-level lobbyist networking group.
Sourcewatch's dated 2011 post, Stateside associates, makes similar connections:
ALEC Ties
Constance Campanella, the CEO and President of Stateside Associates, was formerly the executive director of ALEC from 1985-1988. [1]
Connections to Corporate Interests
In October 2011, Stateside Associates announced that it would be forming a partnership with the Business Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC). The two organizations will use a "Member Portal" where they can share information relevant to their respective clients. [2]
Campenella has since left Stateside Associates, so maybe the premises have been fumigated. We'll look more to see if the BIPAC connection endured. According to its website, BIPAC's partner in Minnesota is:
Minnesota – www.mnbusiness.com
Minnesota Business Partnership
Of course, given Kurt Daudt's stout heart and flawless integrity, none of these sorts of alliances--open or concealed--will make any difference at all. Right?
Screenshot: Some of Stateside's clients. Our fav is the Edison Electric Institute.
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It looks like Kurt might just be a dog killer. Despite bipartisan support for bills that would protect our dogs from needlessly dying in body grip traps the House never hears the bill.
Posted by: John Reynolds | Nov 22, 2019 at 04:22 PM