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| washingtonpost.com - Judy Sarasohn -- Washington Post's Special Interests Col...
If a travel industry group wanted a big name with big credentials to speak up for opening U.S. borders to let in more business and recreational travelers, it couldn't have done much better than former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge.
What a difference a midterm election makes -- or so it seems at some firms and trade groups scurrying to bolster their bipartisan credentials. But the folks at the Investment Company Institute, the trade association for the mutual fund industry, say their recent Democratic hire just maintains the status quo.
Just as many firms are professing their Democratic bona fides in the wake of the Democratic takeover of Congress, Clark & Weinstock is unabashedly pushing Republican Vin Weber forward.
At a time when African American Democratic lawmakers are poised to take significant leadership roles in Congress, Ralph B. Everett is leaving a major law firm to head the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the nation's premier black think tank.
Perhaps a sign of the imminent post-Castro times, a small but official congressional delegation will be taking a quick trip to Cuba next month for a look-see. Helping to round up some interesting folks for the lawmakers to talk to is Sarah Stephens, a policy activist who has been trying for years to foster dialogue with the United States' communist neighbor.
The Republicans may have lost big time last week, with the Democrats taking the House and the Senate, but GOP staffers on the Hill and in the administration don't have to worry too much about their next moves -- there are apparently a lot of good jobs to be had in the influence biz.
As former House member Gerry Sikorski (D-Minn.), now head of the government practice at Holland & Knight , put it, some of his fellow Democratic lobbyists have a nice "jump to their step" today after the Democratic takeover of the House.
Restructuring, okay. Spinning off, okay. Just don't say that they're splitting up. But it's no longer going to be PodestaMattoon .
Gallaudet University has taken a beating from its student protesters who oppose the selection of Jane K. Fernandes as the next president of the nation's premier college for the deaf. The nationally televised demonstrations have raged on campus for three weeks, disrupting classes, as disgruntled students complain that Fernandes, who takes office in January, is not a good leader.
Republican lobbying shop Barbour Griffith & Rogers has picked up a client that won't be an easy sell to the U.S. government, but at least it pays well.
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