The K Street mergers and acquisition scene may not be as vigorous as it was a decade ago, but it’s definitely not over.
British conglomerate WPP, which already owns several D.C. lobbying and consulting firms including Quinn Gillespie & Associates and Burson-Marsteller, announced Tuesday it is scooping up the Glover Park Group.
“We felt like they are the smartest people in the business,” Glover’s Joel Johnson said.
For the past five years, the private equity firm Svoboda Collins has been the majority partner in Glover Park, Johnson said. “Over the years, we’ve always been interested in how we take the company to the next level,” he said.
But such acquisitions don’t always work out. The culture of the bigger firm can usurp the scrappy vibe of a boutique, and in some cases — such as Barbour Griffith and Rogers — firms have actually bought themselves back from a parent company.
“There’s a sense that bigger is not always better,” said Doug Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council. “A lot of corporations and associations are looking at boutique firms more.”
Pinkham noted that WPP’s newest acquisition shows that even though lobbying isn’t a recession-proof enterprise, it is “recession resistant” and small firms can make attractive investments.
“The trick is maintaining that boutique-iness under the corporate structure, which could be the best of both worlds,” he said.
Johnson said that’s the plan at Glover: “The culture of the firm is core to everything we do, and we’re going to continue that.”
Citizens United in Advertising
Think there are already too many political and issue ads? Well, Victor Hannak wants even more, and he’s started a business — Standlouder.com — that he says will give “everyday citizens” and small-business owners access to the airwaves.
“Up until now, only wealthy groups like large corporations could afford it,” Hannak said. “We want to turn those monologues into national dialogues that everybody can participate in.”
But he and his lawyer, Womble Carlyle’s Jim Kahl, are awaiting approval from the Federal Election Commission.
The idea is for ordinary citizens to view campaigns and then sign on by pledging money to help fund billboards or TV ads. Hannak’s business would take a cut of the money.
“We’re asking the FEC, ‘What is the level of regulation to which this would be subjected?’” Kahl explained.
Both said they saw opportunities after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allows corporations and unions to spend unrestricted money on campaigns.
“This is Citizens United for the many rather than for the few,” Hannak said.
Lobbying for Gadhafi’s Billions
Lobbyists who represent victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorist acts have intensified their efforts to get more money to compensate Americans harmed in such attacks.
The lobbyists argue that it should be a condition of relations between the U.S. and the new post-Moammar Gadhafi Libyan government. Crowell & Moring partner Stuart Newberger, who is working on the effort, said he predicts a shortfall of some hundreds of millions of dollars to the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations for the IRS, arrives for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the investigation of the IRS' targeting of political groups. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not testify and caused a protest from some committee members when she offered an opening statement and engaged in dialogue with members before invoking the right.
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