A trio of tax lobbyists — James Gould, Thomas Dwyer and Tucker Shumack — have opened a new shop, GDS Strategies.

Gould’s résumé includes a stint on Capitol Hill as staff director and chief counsel to the Senate Finance Committee during the chairmanship of former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas). Dwyer previously worked as tax and banking counsel to ex-Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.). And Shumack was tax and finance counsel for Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

“GDS Strategies is proud to open its doors at a time when Congress is gearing up to consider major reforms in federal taxation and when unsustainable federal deficits and the aging of the population will focus unrelenting attention on the federal tax code,” Gould said in a statement.

Set in Stone

The bipartisan Granite Integrated Strategies, a new communications firm founded by Ali Harden and Kristen Hawn, has signed on to manage media relations for Center Forward, a public policy group that, as its name suggests, focuses on centrist issues.

“Ali Harden and Kristen Hawn founded their firm with the desire to bring forward a reasonable, collaborative, bipartisan approach to public affairs,” Cori Smith, Center Forward’s executive director, said in a statement. “Their approach complements and aligns exactly with Center Forward’s goal of a less partisan and more cooperative environment in Washington.”

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