Presented by Vanderbilt University and Washington University in St. Louis
HOW TO LOBBY WITH AI: The National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics has unveiled its first set of recommendations for the use of artificial intelligence in lobbying campaigns. The guidelines urge lobbyists to disclose when they use AI and to be transparent with stakeholders about how AI is being used, and they recommend that lobbyists “implement measures to identify and mitigate biases in AI systems.”
— Lobbyists should use the technology to “enhance civic engagement” and participation in the democratic process, the recommendations say, while also “avoiding the dissemination of misleading or false information” with the help of AI.
— NILE also wants lobbyists to adopt several data privacy best practices as they incorporate AI into advocacy work, including obtaining informed consent for data collection that will be used in advocacy involving the use of AI, being transparent about data ownership and making sure data is secure.
— NILE first set to work last year to craft the new guidelines, which board Chair Paul Miller said draw on “extensive input from professionals across the industry.” But the organization stressed the ethics guardrails will continue to evolve along with advancements in AI and how it’s used to sway public opinion and shape policy.
— In addition to the recommendations laid out today, NILE said it’s working on several other related projects, including developing an AI ethics training program for members, standing up an internal watchdog committee and compliance mechanisms and crafting a standardized AI disclosure framework for the industry to adopt.
— The group is also planning to push for changes to the nation’s lobbying laws, calling for a “comprehensive rewrite” of the Lobbying Disclosure Act to modernize and update the statute to account for technological advances in the influence industry.
— “After one year of her tenure, Brookings does not have a clear direction nor guidance from Dr. Rouse on where we are headed as an organization nor how to navigate the current political climate,” the letter asserts. The letter, sent last week, also argues that Rouse, the former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Biden White House, hasn’t given any guidance on how Brookings is handling federal freezes on grants.
— It requests that the board send out an independent anonymous survey to ask Brookings staffers to assess Rouse’s performance and a town hall meeting with co-chairs of the board for employees to express their concerns.
— It also says that there’s been a brain drain of employees from the think tank last year and alleges that 25 percent of Brookings’ full-time employees have left the think tank since Rouse started.
— The letter goes on to say that Brookings scholars and researchers have been told to avoid topics like DEI that are being criticized by the Trump administration and that the message was “perceived as a form of censorship and a violation of scholar independence.” The new letter follows an earlier letter protesting the return-to-office policy that was sent last November.
— The letter, which is signed by “The Brookings community,” also says that there has been no search for a replacement for its chief development officer and that Rouse has relied on a consulting firm to handle fundraising instead. A recent internal presentation about fundraising shows that Brookings only “partially met” a $2 million annual fundraising goal for the “President’s Special Initiative Funds.”
— Brookings is also considering moving itself from a 501(c)(3) to a 501(h), which would allow the think tank to do lobbying to have more impact, according to internal slides of a recent executive leadership meeting. But an employee of Brookings said the potential move is making some scholars nervous because it could weaken the nonpartisan nature of Brookings.
— Rouse also recently told staff that she is going to centralize the development staffers for each research program, which currently have separate development staffers, into reporting into the central development department, which the employee said is leading to worry about layoffs. (Three staffers in the communications department were laid off Wednesday, according to four people familiar with the matter, with one of them saying the organization cited “business reasons” for the move.)
— Rouse and a spokesperson for Brookings didn’t respond to requests for comment, but a person close to Brookings said in an email that the think tank and its leadership “are focused and steady in a time of extraordinary change.”
— “The letter is filled with inaccuracies with respect to transparency, the role of federal grants, moving away from nonpartisanship, etc., but the point is taken; these are challenging times for universities, think tanks and NGOs,” they added. “Change is hard, and strong new leadership can be tough. Understood.”
WHITHER THE CHAMBER?: “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was for decades an indomitable force in Washington with close ties to the Republican Party. But that influence has eroded in recent years alongside its relationship with traditional GOP allies, putting the lobbying giant in a tough spot to fight tariffs and push tax priorities at the start of a second Trump administration,” NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno writes.
— “As the president has launched an aggressive tariff strategy at the start of his second term, the Chamber’s objections don’t appear to be going far. And while the 2017 tax cuts were a huge victory for the business community and its advocates, the Chamber is entering lobbying efforts this year on the heels of a House investigation into donations to the Chamber’s foundation from left-leaning organizations — led by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith.”
— While a source told NOTUS that “the Chamber isn’t in the conversation” about the tax bill, the group’s top lobbyist pushed back on the suggestion. “Whoever said that might not be in the same rooms that we’re in,” said Neil Bradley, who on Wednesday hosted the GOP leader of the Senate Finance Committee as well as a member of the Ways and Means Committee at a Chamber-organized tax summit.
— “The waning influence of the Chamber has been a source of discussion on K Street for some time, but often in hushed tones on background or off the record. The reticence to outright write off the Chamber indicates its influence has perhaps not waned beyond repair, but four more years of President Donald Trump and a Republican Party more beholden to MAGA than traditional conservative principles will undoubtedly be a challenge unlike any other in the institution’s 113-year history.”
MERCURY ADDS ANOTHER TRUMP HAND: Danielle Alvarez is rejoining Mercury Public Affairs after spending the past four years working in Republican politics. Alvarez was most recently a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 campaign and also worked for his 2020 reelect as a spokesperson for the Southern Gulf region. During the 2022 cycle, Alvarez served as communications director for the RNC. She spent half a decade with Mercury before that.
FAMILY MATTERS: Representatives of the Trump family “have held talks to take a financial stake in the U.S. arm of crypto exchange Binance,” The Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Ballhaus, Patricia Kowsmann, Angus Berwick, Josh Dawsey and Caitlin Ostroff report, “a move that would put Trump in business with the firm that pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering requirements” and whose founder has been pushing for a presidential pardon for related charges.
— “Trump has increasingly blurred the boundaries between the presidency and his business ventures. … But pursuing a business deal involving a felon seeking a pardon from his administration would be an unprecedented overlap of his business and the government. A stake in Binance.US would also be a striking expansion of the family’s cryptocurrency endeavors as Trump signs a series of executive orders that benefit the industry.”
THE REVOLVING DOOR OF THE SPEAKER’S LOBBY: “House Speaker Mike Johnson is naming Boeing official Curtis Beaulieu his top tax adviser, sources familiar with the decision say, filling a big hole on his staff as a sprawling fight in Congress over the tax code begins to heat up,” per POLITICO’s Brian Faler.
— “Beaulieu, a senior director at Boeing, will replace Derek Theurer, who left for the Treasury Department — part of a recent wave of Republican tax aides to leave the Hill, even as lawmakers begin to zero in on what to do about some 40 temporary tax provisions slated to expire at the end of this year.”
— Beaulieu has been on K Street for more than a decade, registering to lobby for dozens of clients at Bracewell before moving over to Boeing, “but has previously worked on the Hill. He was tax counsel at the Senate Finance Committee a decade ago and, before that, worked for several Republican lawmakers, including former Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), whose district is now represented by Johnson.”
— Terry Moynihan is now a senior vice president at BerlinRosen, where he’ll lead a new research practice. He previously was a special assistant to the president and director of research in the Biden White House and is a Biden campaign and Democratic Governors Association alum.
— Amanda Tuminelli will be the next executive director of the DeFi Education Fund, with current leader Miller Whitehouse-Levine departing the group for a new role. Tuminelli is currently the chief legal officer, a title she will retain.
— Aviva Aron-Dine will join the Brookings economic studies program as a senior fellow and director of the Hamilton Project. She most recently was acting assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department.
— Nicole Lindler is now director of government advocacy at the National Association of Realtors. She previously was principal deputy executive secretary at the Treasury Department.
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