A few months after snubbing a Senate committee looking into his lobbying activities, Republican consultant Michael Scanlon will appear before Congress this week after federal marshals served him with a subpoena — but he won’t testify. [IMGCAP(1)]

Scanlon will appear Wednesday as part of an ongoing Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigation into the representation that he and GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff provided several American Indian tribes.

Together, Scanlon and Abramoff billed more than $80 million in lobbying fees during the past three years from the tribes, according to documents unearthed by Senate investigators.

Federal investigators say the pair sometimes acted improperly. In one case, Scanlon and Abramoff billed a tribe millions of dollars for helping to open a new casino, while at the same time rallying anti-gambling religious conservatives to oppose the new casino.

Abramoff appeared before the Indian Affairs Committee in late September. Though he refused to answer questions from Senators, he was subjected to a grilling from Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), the committee’s outgoing chairman; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the incoming committee chairman; and other panel members.

But Scanlon refused to appear, asserting that he had not been properly subpoenaed. On Wednesday, Scanlon is expected to follow the lead of Abramoff by pleading the Fifth.

Lobbying Shop Changes Name. The Washington government affairs shop formerly known as Loeffler, Jonas & Tuggey has been renamed The Loeffler Group.

The firm, founded by former Rep.-turned-lobbyist Tom Loeffler (R-Texas), lost name partner W. James Jonas III a few weeks ago, a spokesman for the firm said. Jonas is going into private practice, the spokesman said.

Tim Tuggey is no longer part of the Washington shop’s name, but he remains in the new name of the parent firm in Texas, where he is managing partner. After the addition of two longtime partners’ names, the Texas firm is now called Loeffler Tuggey Pauerstein Rosenthal.

The new name isn’t the only recent change for the firm. In the past year, the firm has lost Republican lobbyist Dan Cohen but responded by rapidly expanding its roster of lobbyists.

Among the new hires are former House Majority Whip Bill Gray (D-Pa.);

former Investment Company Institute chief lobbyist Julie Domenick; Joe Mondello, a one-time aide to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas); Kristen Palasciano Gullott, a one-time aide to White House political strategist Karl Rove; Wallace Henderson, a close ally of former House Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.); and Shannon Billings, a former ICI lobbyist who once worked at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.  

Can You Hear Me Now? Verizon Communications has hired three new people to its Washington-based media relations team.

Former GOP Capitol Hill aide David Fish has been hired as executive director of the media relations team. Most recently, Fish worked for the Progress & Freedom Foundation, but he spent years as a spokesman for the House Commerce Committee under then-Chairman Tom Bliley (R-Va.) and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee under then-Chairman Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Joining Fish in Verizon’s public policy media team is Christy Reap, who was promoted from a different media post with the company. Meanwhile, Larry Plumb has been named director of industry analyst relations.

In related news, longtime media reporter Patrick Ross is leaving Washington Internet Daily to become vice president of communications at the Progress & Freedom Foundation.  

K Street Moves.  Ambassador Robert Blackwill will join the all-GOP lobbying firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers after leaving his Bush administration post as a deputy national security adviser. … Insurance reporter Dennis Kelly has left the beat to become the director of federal media affairs at the American Insurance Association. … Executive search firm Korn/Ferry International has made its own hire: Kristin Mannion has joined the firm as a senior client partner with a focus on the nonprofit sector. …

Megan Delany has joined Kevin M. Joseph Consulting as a principal. Delany, a Washington native and former GOP aide at the House Energy and Commerce Committee, most recently handled regulatory policy for Allegiance Telecom. … Michael Roberts has joined the Washington office of Venable LLP after leaving the St. Louis-based firm of Thompson Coburn LLP where he worked on maritime issues. … Claire DeMatteis, a former aide to Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), has left Capitol Hill to join the Wilmington, Del.-based office of Stradley Ronon Stevens and Young LLP. …

Former Naval secretary John Dalton has joined the Financial Services Roundtable as the head of its Housing Policy Council. … The Livingston Group announced that it has tapped Maj. Gen. James Livingston to open a Charleston, S.C., outpost for the Washington-based lobbying firm. Livingston is not related to former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), the firm’s founder. … At Piper Rudnick, former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard (D) and managing partner Paul Tiburzi have been tapped to oversee a new state affairs practice.

Lisa Geiger has joined the American Health Quality Association after leaving the American Pharmacists Association. … APCO has hired two top public relations officials: Roger Lowe, who worked for Porter/Novelli, and Mike Tuffin, an official with America1s Health Insurance Plans.