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K Street Files: ‘Moyni-world’ Fundraiser for Kathy Hochul, Dan Maffei

A pair of Congressional candidates will get a boost Thursday from a network of former aides to the late-Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.).

Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) and former Rep. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.), who is trying to make a comeback to Congress, both spent stints working for Moynihan. As a result, their fellow “Moyni-world” alums, many of whom are now on K Street, are coming to Washington, D.C.’s Aria Restaurant to help raise money for their election efforts.

“The Moynihan diaspora is really quite amazing,” said Tony Bullock, senior vice president of Ogilvy Government Relations and a co-chairman of the fundraiser. “We’re everywhere. And they all come together when they’re asked to.”

Bullock, once a chief of staff to the late Senator, and another former Moynihan aide, the Curley Co.’s founder and president Jennifer Curley, organized the event.

“Moynihan was always pleased to see members of the Moyni-world make the plunge into public office,” Bullock noted.

The group is gathering at Aria because it looks out over Daniel Patrick Moynihan Place, the extension of 13th Street south of Pennsylvania Avenue that lies between the Ariel Rios Building and the Ronald Reagan Building, Bullock explained.

Contribution levels for the 5:30 p.m. shindig include $1,000 for “Savior of the Western Tier” status; $500 to be a “Crusader of the Carlyle;” $250 for “Pindars Corners Patriot;” and $100 for the label of “Hell’s Kitchen Survivor,” according to the invite.

Other K Street denizens on the host committee include Bruce Heiman, the policy and regulatory practice leader at K&L Gates, who was legislative director and trade counsel to the late Senator; Capitol Tax Partners’ Jon Talisman; and Mike McCurry, a partner at Public Strategies Washington, who served as press secretary to Moynihan and then-President Bill Clinton.

Moynihan’s widow, Liz, and his daughter Maura also are helping to host the fundraiser.

Bullock said Moynihan, whose network of former staffers exceeds 280 people, encouraged his aides to move to positions in federal agencies or pursue graduate degrees. “He managed to have so many people who were fiercely loyal to him in places that would be of enormous benefit to him,” he said. “He had people everywhere, in every federal agency.”

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