Politico

Goldman Sachs strengthens D.C. ties

What more could a leading global investment banking firm need? How about a pair of Washington-based vice presidents for Goldman Sachs’ government affairs team — Todd M. Malan and Ken Connolly?

Malan, who starts next month, is the former president and CEO of the Organization for International Investment, the leading association of U.S. subsidiaries of companies headquartered abroad. Earlier, he was head of government and press relations at the European-American Chamber of Commerce and was a congressional liaison in the office of the U.S. trade representative under President George H.W. Bush.

Connolly, who started in June, came from Mintz Levin, where he was senior vice president of government relations. Additionally, he worked in the Senate for 13 years, most recently as staff director of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

At Goldman Sachs, he’s focusing on energy and environmental issues.

Copyright champ tacks on new role

As an amateur photographer, Drinker Biddle & Reath partner Janet Fries understands the artist’s perspective when it comes to intellectual property cases.

Her copyright expertise, in fact, has earned her an additional position: chairwoman of the American Bar Association’s Copyright and New Technologies Committee. It’s an offshoot of the association’s 22,000-lawyer/member intellectual property section and the merger of two committees that dealt with Internet copyrights.

Fries will continue at Drinker Biddle as she serves her one-year leadership stint on the bar committee.

Aiding her as ABA committee vice chairman is Phil Cardinale, also of Drinker Biddle. Their closeness will be an asset, Fries said, since they’ll be able to communicate quickly and easily when it comes to preparing and collaborating on bar association reports — and they can draw in some of their colleagues to help.

While Fries is the artist, Cardinale may be the wordsmith, holding a Ph.D. in English literature from Oxford.

Stanton’s new star

Patrick Brady takes his health care prowess to a new job at the PR firm Stanton Communications, where he’ll be a vice president. Most recently, he was executive director of Citizens for Long Term Care, a coalition of health care providers, insurers and workers.

Transitioning to a PR beast like Stanton should be easy for Brady, since he’s already done communications for some big pharmaceutical firms, national medical associations and leading health care systems. And he’s implemented PR campaigns on medical technology and low-income access to prescriptions.

Brady lives in Baltimore, where Stanton has an office, but he’ll commute to work in Washington.

More crusaders for social justice

The Center for Community Change, a nonprofit championing the values of Robert F. Kennedy, has expanded its new policy unit: Steve Savner is the new director of public policy, and Kate Kahan is now legislative director.

Savner, a lawyer, comes to the center with experience in dealing with the federal food stamp program at the Center for Law and Social Policy. Kahan, a longtime women’s rights activist, was a welfare expert on the staff of the Senate Finance Committee.

From its U — not K — Street office, the group pushes policies of economic justice, especially for minorities.

Hot off the presses!

Covington & Burling has been named “One of the Best Law Firms for Women” for the second straight year by Working Mother magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers.

Sharing the honors are seven other Washington-based law firms: Arent Fox, Arnold & Porter, Hogan & Hartson, Miller & Chevalier, Patton Boggs, Steptoe & Johnson and WilmerHale.

The rankings are based on a number of factors, including maternity and paternity leave, emergency and on-site child care, alternative work arrangements, and the ratio of woman partners and associates.

According to the survey, Covington spends $2.5 million annually to subsidize a child care center in Washington, and lawyer-moms can take two weeks of paid pre-maternity leave as well as 18 weeks of paid maternity leave.

Guess who’s gone all Web 2.0?

Here’s a new site for your Google bookmarks: Political GPS at womblepoliticallaw.blogspot.com. The folks over at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice have joined the blog bandwagon.

Bloggers extraordinaire include former Federal Election Commission general counsel Larry Norton and former FEC deputy general counsel Jim Kahl. The blog aims to provide a “weekly roadmap to the world of political law.”

“This is a first foray into blogging, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Norton e-mailed Suite Talk. “I think I can provide a unique insider’s perspective.”

— Jacqueline Klingebiel and Ariel Alexovich

Suite Talk is a regular Politico feature that follows career changes, client developments and other movements in the public affairs sector. Please send news items and photos to suitetalk@politico.com.

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President Bush’s end-of-term to-do list includes solidifying an agreement with India on civilian nuclear trade that could send billions of dollars to U.S. corporations.

But the going won’t be easy, because key members of Congress and the Indian parliament disagree about the extent of constraints on the trade.

This week, the Nuclear Suppliers Group of 45 nations is meeting in a special session to consider a U.S. government proposal to give India a pass on international nuclear safeguards. The exemption is part of a deal that Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have been working on since 2005 to fully cooperate on research and development and commercial trade in supplies for the generation of nuclear power.

If the group exempts India from nuclear safeguards that other nations abide by, Bush’s next step would be to secure congressional approval of the final agreement for civilian nuclear cooperation. But Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has vowed to hold up the deal until next year unless the suppliers group places conditions on India, such as calling for a ban on nuclear weapons testing.

Further complicating the situation is India’s undeclared status as a nuclear weapons state. India won’t accept the deal if Berman’s conditions are included, and that has the anti-waiver camp saying the holdup could undercut the U.S. business interests that are hoping to benefit from the accord.

On the administration’s side is the U.S.-India Business Council, made up of Westinghouse, General Electric and more than 100 other large corporations. And even though Congress is out on its long August recess, Business Council President Ron Somers declared, “We’re mobilized. We are fully organized in terms of getting the word out to the districts of elected officials on how very important this is.”

At the State Department, spokeswoman Kelley Osterthaler said she had no comment on Berman’s position or on the administration’s plans for the deal going forward.

With a burgeoning population of 1.1 billion people and a rapidly expanding middle class, India is “obviously a very large nuclear market — one we are very much interested in,” said Vaughn Gilbert, a spokesman for Westinghouse, which sells small nuclear reactors on the international market.

Defense companies Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and Textron have thrown their support behind the deal as well, hoping any resulting goodwill would translate into contracts for fighter jets and advanced computer weapons systems.

Somers addressed the opposition’s concerns, saying that even though India has produced hundreds of megawatts of nuclear power on its own, it has never proliferated nuclear technology beyond its borders. And without the development of nuclear energy, the country must rely on environmentally unfriendly coal power, he said.

Edmund Rice, president of the Coalition for Employment Through Exports, agrees with opponents that granting the exemption would mark a fundamental change for international nonproliferation efforts.

But since India already has nuclear materials, exemptions by the Nuclear Suppliers Group would at least bring India inside the international community of nations that trade in nuclear materials, Rice said. “All of these governments are going for the good over the perfect,” he said.

Exemptions from international safeguards are far from good, opponents contend.

The Bipartisan Security Group — a coalition of 23 arms control, environmental, medical and religious groups that oppose exemptions for India — is appealing to Germany, which now leads the Nuclear Suppliers Group, to reject what it calls an “ill-conceived proposal.”

“For those world leaders who are serious about ending the arms race, holding all states to their international commitments and strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, it is time to stand up and be counted,” the Security Coalition wrote last week to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

According to the letter, signed by representatives of nonproliferation groups such as Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, the Nuclear Suppliers Group agreement would undermine the nuclear safeguards regime, lead to possible transfer of sensitive nuclear items, provide indirect aid to India’s nuclear weapons program and help India test nuclear weapons.

Germany isn’t saying anything officially about the upcoming meeting. But after the International Atomic Energy Agency’s recent approval of another safeguards agreement regarding India, Steinmeier did call for more progress.

“India, for example, is one of a group of countries whose ratification is essential for the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to take effect,” Steinmeier said. “A moratorium on the production of fissile material for military purposes would also be desirable.”

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said he supports the waivers recommended by the United States.

In addition to those concerns, Kevin Davis, a program associate for the Bipartisan Security Group, offered another cautionary note.

If the Nuclear Suppliers Group relaxes rules for India, France and Russia could step in to trade nuclear power materials with India, while the United States is locked out until Congress approves the agreement, Davis said.

And that’s just the leverage point Berman mentioned in a recent letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

According to the letter, Rice assured the House committee that the Nuclear Suppliers Group decision would be “completely consistent” with a number of conditions passed in 2006 under the Henry Hyde Act, which allows the United States to trade in civilian nuclear supplies with India as long as India agrees to conditions such as opening nuclear facilities to international inspections and not testing nuclear weapons.

But the proposal before the Nuclear Suppliers Group doesn’t address those conditions, which include the suspension of nuclear trade if India detonates nuclear explosives or breaks safeguard agreements.

“In this context, I am also deeply concerned about the potential for a significant time gap between an accelerated NSG decision and congressional action on the India agreement,” Berman said. “This would give other countries an unacceptable head start in securing commercial nuclear contracts with the Indian government, thus placing U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage.”

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Hollywood-backed legislation to curtail copyright infringement by college students could make music and movie piracy even worse, the education lobby says.

The landmark provision, part of an expansive higher education bill signed into law last week by President Bush, requires colleges to curb students’ illegal file sharing. But the anti-piracy plan has rankled the American Council on Education and other education groups, which warn universities could be turned into copyright police — on their own dimes.

File-sharing experts also say the legislation would probably exacerbate the growing divide between the entertainment industry and the education community, where more schools are beginning to protect their students from the legal pursuits of the recording industry.

Backed by Rep. Howard Berman, the California Democrat whose district includes Hollywood, and powerful recording and movie industry constituents, the provision also urges schools to consider deterrents such as legal file-sharing programs such as Ruckus and Napster. Music piracy alone costs the recording industry up to $12.5 billion annually, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

The recording industry and the Motion Picture Association of America have tried unsuccessfully for years to tackle illegal activities of college students, who use powerful campus networks to download and distribute entire movies within minutes.

“We don’t want people in college to go to higher education institutions where they’re receiving an education that it’s OK to perform illegal activities online,” said Copyright Alliance Executive Director Patrick Ross.

As chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, Berman has pushed the piracy issue in hearings and elsewhere. And his provision was barely disputed in either the House or the Senate, perhaps in part because it was buried in the 1,158-page higher education bill that was seven years in the making.

By clarifying the student loan process and expanding the Pell Grant financial aid program, the new law would help cut students’ college costs. But it has been widely criticized by education experts for doing just the opposite. Dozens of other provisions require schools to collect data about alumni success rates, fire safety and textbook prices, many of which the education groups fought vehemently because of the new costs involved.

But only Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a former U.S. education secretary, and a handful of Republicans opposed the bill because it contained too many regulations.

“This provision may lead to a Pandora’s box of impractical expectations. … Student privacy may be at great risk,” said Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. He complained that the unfunded mandate would also “add significantly to colleges’ administrative costs, which is ironic given the pressure Congress is putting on colleges to control their expenses.”

The University of Maryland and Pennsylvania State University are among hundreds of schools that have already installed Napster, Ruckus and other legal file-sharing programs to curb Internet piracy. Most universities, too, fine repeat offenders or cut off their Internet access.

But the legal file-sharing programs are also experiencing backlash from students, who say a technological barrier is preventing them from transferring the legal music and movies onto Apple iPods, the world’s most popular portable music players.

“These programs don’t deliver the music format the students want,” said Terry Hartle, vice president of the American Council on Education. “Our belief is that if music can’t be downloaded properly, the students won’t use it.”

More compatible technology is on the horizon but will not be ready for campus use soon.

While many schools have partnered with the recording and motion picture industries to fight online piracy, many education groups view Congress’s recent legislation as a threat to student privacy.

Tufts University recently refused to identify students sought by the recording industry in a file-sharing case.

“This is heading more toward polarization than a working relationship between schools and the copyright industry,” said Marty Lafferty, chief executive officer of the Distributed Computing Industry Association. “It’s a concern. It’s like the recording industry wants to do everything but the obvious — work with people.”

Entertainment executives argue that the bill would provide relief for colleges, where networks can be clogged with illegal downloading traffic and students are even being sued by the industry.

“Congress has sent a clear message that illegal file-sharing and downloading on college networks is a real problem that must be addressed by universities,” said Dan Glickman, chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association.

Under the copyright provision, schools won’t face penalties if they can’t stop illegal activity. But the rules for implementation of the new law would have to be drawn by U.S. Education Department, where education lobbyists hope to find a sympathetic ear.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has criticized the many regulatory measures in the higher education bill, and experts expect the data collection process will be a huge burden for the department.

“The 110th Congress left a huge present for the next secretary of education,” said Hartle of the American Council on Education. “These regulations will put a huge burden on a thinly staffed agency. They will certainly need to hire new staff.”

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Kristian Connolly tried every curveball, slider, knuckler and fastball he knew to save it, but baseball’s annual Hall of Fame Game is history.

Connolly’s mighty one-man lobbying blitz couldn’t stave off the demise of the annual Cooperstown, N.Y., tradition any more than its fans could stop the rain that washed out the last-ever Hall of Fame Game this summer.

“We’ve made up our mind that this is the right way to go and … is better for the fans and, ultimately, we believe better for the Hall of Fame and Cooperstown,” said Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy, explaining the decision to pull the plug.

In the end, Connolly, a Cooperstown native with fond memories of the game, may have learned a lesson that eventually comes to all Washington lobbyists: Persuasion is best accompanied by a bit of leverage.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “they hold all the cards, so their opinion matters most right now.”

Still, Connolly’s attempt to save the game got the attention of Washington players.

He’s not a registered lobbyist, but he manages communications for the Humane Society Legislative Fund. He used to work in PR and was a scout for the Minnesota Twins.

His quest began shortly after baseball’s announcement in January that this year’s Hall of Fame Game would be the last.

Connolly launched a one-man grass-roots lobbying campaign that grew from a small website to a movement that mobilized some 1,700 fans, drew the interest of some of the nation’s largest newspapers and landed the support of some of New York’s most powerful lawmakers.

All the attention and letter writing earned Connolly a face-to-face meeting with DuPuy and Jeff Idelson, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, during last month’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony weekend.

“It shows the kind of impact people can have if they collectively come together and work toward the same goal,” Connolly said. “The best thing about what we’re doing here is just being fans reacting to a decision that we don’t like.”

What Connolly and his supporters didn’t like was baseball’s decision to eliminate a game that has brought two professional ball clubs to Cooperstown’s historic Doubleday Field for decades.

The game dates to about 1940 and for most of its history was played the same weekend that baseball’s greats were inducted into the Hall of Fame. The tradition helped lure thousands of tourists to the Village of Cooperstown to grab a $12 ticket that put fans no farther than 25 rows from the action, Connolly said.

“To have that experience and do it affordably is unheard of,” he said.

The game was worth saving, Connolly argued, because it helped fuel the village’s tourism economy and preserved a piece of Americana etched in the memories of many as sepia-colored nostalgia.

The Hall of Fame Game is one of Rep. Michael Arcuri’s first childhood memories. The New York Democrat grew up about 40 miles from Cooperstown and remembers meeting the bus that carried the Major Leaguers into town and snagging the autograph of Minnesota Twin Tony Oliva.

“It’s something that has been a part of our summers as long as anybody can remember,” said Arcuri, whose congressional district includes Cooperstown.

Baseball, Arcuri said, is now all about big salaries, big stadiums and big ticket prices. The Hall of Fame Game helped connect baseball to its simpler beginnings in America’s fields and back lots.

“I’m worried that when they chip away at these institutions like the Hall of Fame Game, they’re chipping away at the very foundations that make baseball America’s pastime,” he said. “This is just one of the things that disenchants people with their idols.”

Arcuri and fellow Democratic New York lawmakers Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer and Reps. Maurice Hinchey and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote Major League Baseball several times to register their “strong disapproval” of its decision to scrap the game.

Still, the sternly worded letters and Arcuri’s informal talks with baseball’s honchos didn’t save the game.

Instead, the league decided to promote the Hall of Fame nationally instead of with a regional game that’s not broadcast and costs more than $100,000. This year, for instance, the league spent about $250,000 to bring 49 Hall of Famers to the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, DuPuy said.

In the future, the league plans to promote the Hall of Fame induction weekend in all of its ballparks, perhaps with a taped message from Commissioner Bud Selig and a souvenir, DuPuy said.

“Our goal is to drive more tourists to Cooperstown,” he said.

He added that he has heard talk of replacing the Hall of Fame Game with an old timers’ game or minor league all-star game, options Arcuri also mentioned.

Both DuPuy and Connolly described last month’s meeting in Cooperstown as friendly. And DuPuy complimented Connolly’s passion.

“I can’t think of anything that’s been quite as well organized by one person,” DuPuy said of Connolly’s lobbying effort.

DuPuy is not the only one impressed with Connolly’s campaign, which would have cost tens of thousands of dollars if the work had been done by a professional firm.

“He has been one of the driving forces behind it, and I really appreciate all of his efforts,” the congressman said, commending Connolly for reaching out to him.

And Maura Corbett, a partner at PR powerhouse Qorvis, said, “He led with his heart, knew how to talk to his base and then knew where to lead them.

“This guy, God bless him, through heart and sheer intuitive genius, caught lightning in a bottle. In our world, that’s the Holy Grail.

“Do you think he’d come in for an interview?”

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McHenry hires McCleary

Talk about a backward move. Brock McCleary has traded in his high-paying gig as vice president of Revolution Media Group to become a Hill rat — communications director for Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

“No, I am not making this move for financial gain,” McCleary laughed, admitting that he’s “working backwards.”

After nearly three years at Revolution, he was ready for a more partisan pace.

“I recognize this is a time when the congressional GOP needs to re-establish itself and put hard-working, middle-class people first,” McCleary said. “This is a time when Republicans could use more hands on deck.”

In McHenry’s office, where he started working in early July, McCleary oversees the communications staff.

D.C. goes green with new clean energy group

Take a drive down Route 50 toward Mount Storm, W.Va., and you’ll notice the nearly 80 wind turbines generating renewable energy.

And you might want to credit Phil “PJ” Dougherty. For the past 17 years, he’s lobbied clean energy technologies as national director of Wind Powering America for the U.S. Energy Department.

Now he’s moving to Strategic Marketing Innovations to help launch its energy policy division, Helios Strategies, which will focus on new energy research and development.

“I’ve run in some of the big circles working for DOE, so it was sort of how I was introduced to Helios,” Dougherty told Politico. “I’m looking forward to this great opportunity in continuing renewable energy efforts.”

Widmeyer + 2

Every week it seems like there’s another staff change at Widmeyer Communications. But don’t worry, Suite Talk is watching the revolving door.

Most recently, the firm has bulked up its media services by hiring higher education expert Robert C. Dickeson and welcoming back senior media strategist Andrew Weinstein, both as senior counsels.

A former president of the University of Northern Colorado, Dickeson most recently was senior vice president for policy and organizational learning at the Lumina Foundation for Education.

Weinstein, meanwhile, comes back to Widmeyer after a decade-long hiatus. Most recently, he was vice president and chief spokesman at AOL during what Weinstein calls a “transformational” period.

He also did a few political stints, serving as director of media relations for former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) during his 1976 vice presidential campaign and as deputy press secretary for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

Back to his old Kentucky home

Blake Brickman, chief of staff to Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), is leaving the Hill — and Washington — this week to finish law school in Lexington, Ky. He had been running the senator’s office for 2½ years.

Picking up the reins is Kim Dean, Bunning’s legislative director for the past five years — and his energy legislative assistant for four years before that.

William Henderson completes the shuffle by taking over as legislative director. He has been the Republican staff director and counsel of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee’s economic policy subcommittee. But since Bunning is the committee’s ranking Republican, Henderson will continue serving in his old role as well.

Boost in fight against cancer

Another advocate has joined the fight for finding a cancer cure. Andrew Whitman is the new vice president of government affairs for Varian Medical Systems, the world’s largest manufacturer of radiotherapy and radiosurgical devices.

The newly created position places Whitman in the heart of the fight in Washington as he assists Varian in implementing the company’s global government affairs and public policy strategies.

“I am very excited about the creation of this new position at Varian and to have a bigger role in the common cause of beating cancer,” Whitman said. “In addition to representing the company, I expect to be a strong advocate for medical clinicians and cancer patients around the world.”

Whitman was vice president of the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance, a division of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. It was there that he played large roles in regulatory issues involving the group’s clients in Europe, Latin America and China.

Troutman modifies its moniker

Should you be trolling the Yellow Pages or its online counterpart for Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group, heads up — it doesn’t exist anymore. The governmental affairs firm has made a subtle change and now goes by Troutman Sanders Strategies.

“The name change reflects the firm’s substantial growth since its founding in 2002,” said Chairman Pete Robinson.

— Ariel Alexovich and Jacqueline Klingebiel

Suite Talk is a regular Politico feature that follows career changes, client developments and other movements in the public affairs sector. Please send news items and photos to suitetalk@politico.com.

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When a guerilla advertising blitz stung defense giant Boeing last week over the $35 billion Air Force aerial tanker contract, staffers in Boeing’s Washington headquarters scrambled to figure out who was firing at them.

Not your usual Washington crowd, as it turns out, but four men from Mobile, Ala.: a firefighter, an accountant, a real estate agent and a lawyer-lobbyist.

And the way they see it, Boeing started the fight — and the Alabama foursome may not be finished responding.

The ads, which ran on two Washington radio stations, were placed by “Alabamians to Build America’s Tanker.” Their aim: to diminish Boeing’s chances of winning the contract, which the Air Force is rebidding, at the expense of Northrop Grumman and its partner, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. Northrop and EADS plan to build the tankers in Mobile.

Two of the three ads cited recent corruption scandals at Boeing in a campaign-style attack that seriously irritated Boeing’s union leaders.

The group behind the ad feels irritated, too. Among Boeing’s arguments to win the contract is a claim that the Northrop-EADS tanker would be a European plane, dismissing the contributions of the would-be Alabama workers.

“When was the last time you saw a company accuse an entire state of a conspiracy to send jobs overseas?” asked Jonathan Gray, a Mobile-based public relations agent working for the group. “Boeing has slapped us in the face. We’re ready to slap them back.”

So four men who often chat casually at the city’s annual Mardi Gras bash and other community events decided they’d had enough. Over a conference call, they planned a counterattack.

They registered as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and began soliciting funds. The group’s president, Bryan Lee — a firefighter in Mobile who has pressed City Hall for pension benefits — refused to disclose who ponied up the thousands of dollars for the ads that ran last Tuesday on radio stations WTOP and WMAL.

Other sorts of advocacy groups frequently buy ads, “but it is unusual for a 501(c)3 to do it since they are limited to insubstantial lobbying,” said Stephen Weissman, associate director of policy for the Campaign Finance Institute. For instance, they can’t urge listeners to call Congress and demand a vote, one way or the other.

Loren B. Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, a defense industry think tank, said it’s also unusual for “a small, local nonprofit to start weighing in in Washington on big contract decisions.”

“I think it will make some people wonder if they’re getting funding from folks with an interest in the outcome of the competition,” Thompson added.

Although the group cites civic pride as its motivation, its members do have connections to the tanker program.

Palmer C. Hamilton of Miller, Hamilton, Snider and Odom lobbies for the city of Mobile, which is pressing Northrop’s case in hopes of landing the jobs that will come with the tanker project.

Several months ago, Hamilton was walking the Capitol hallways with Samuel L. Jones, the mayor of Mobile, to talk with lawmakers about the importance of the tanker contract to the city.

In an interview, Hamilton said his association with the Alabamians’ group was as a private citizen — not as a lobbyist.

He’s also a big congressional campaign donor, supporting primarily Republicans. This year, he gave $500 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and to Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Brad Miller (D-N.C.), according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Paul Wesch is the real estate agent in the group. He is executive vice president of The Mitchell Co. He and his wife, Linda, have also donated to political campaigns, supporting Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) in 2006 as well as the state’s two Republican senators, Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, according to the center.

The accountant, Michael Thompson, works for Russell Thompson Butler and Houston. He is not a campaign donor.

Lee, the firefighter, said he doesn’t want the group’s defense of Alabama to cause consternation among people in Seattle, where Boeing plans to build its tankers.

But Connie Kelliher, the spokeswoman for the Boeing union near Seattle, poked back at the Alabamians. Unlike Boeing’s longtime assembly base in Washington state, the Northrop team broke ground just last month for a factory that will do only modification work on the tanker.

“What’s their record on refueling tankers? What? They don’t have one,” Kelliher said. “That’s our response. If the competition was fair, Boeing would win hands down.”

The Alabamians pulled the ads on Thursday after realizing that Congress was heading out of town on summer recess.

But the foursome was thrilled at the response to its first strike. The Alabama congressional delegation is “pumped up and excited,” Gray said, and the competition clearly rattled.

With the money they saved by cutting last week’s buy, they could gain some extra visibility in September, Gray said. They’ve already received calls from numerous other radio, television and print outlets (this one included) soliciting advertising.

But it’s unlikely they’ll have the airwaves to themselves now that Boeing’s team is on alert and the dispute could escalate into a full-scale Alabama vs. Washington feud.

Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) is already demanding an apology.

“I believe that the group responsible for this ad should apologize to every Boeing worker, and I urge my colleagues in the Washington state, Kansas and Alabama delegations to join me in calling for these ads to be taken down so that the bidding process can carry on in a fair, responsible and respectful manner,” he said.

“These ads are beneath the dignity of the country these tankers will ultimately serve.”

The Alabamians have remained mum about their specific plans. After pulling the ads, they posted only a few words Friday on their website, www.bettertanker.org:

“First Mission Accomplished; Stay Tuned.”

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Former Vice President Al Gore may have made global warming a household term, but this year’s tactical mistakes by the green army may have set the cause back just when it seemed to be on the brink of a legislative breakthrough. While pushing for sharp emission reductions, a number of environmental groups failed to adapt their pitch to acknowledge rising energy costs, experts say, leaving voters to believe that saving the planet will mean unaffordable energy prices.

The Senate’s Climate Security Act — sponsored by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), John Warner (R-Va.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) — called for quick emission reductions that would have raised energy costs significantly for Americans. A handful of well-advertised studies by the business community painted the legislation as an economic apocalypse.

But Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups were pushing lawmakers to go even further to prevent irreversible environmental damage.

In a year when gasoline soared past $4 per gallon, the green message triggered populist anger and eventually drove away a core group of moderate and conservative Democrats.

When the legislation came to the Senate floor, 10 conservative Democratic senators who voted to debate the bill also vowed to oppose it later — even after it had been sweetened with billions of dollars in last-minute public energy assistance.

The group included Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who said he plans to offer his own legislation next year. He told Politico that environmentalists will be forced to compromise next year and support the development of clean coal, nuclear power and other alternative fuels.

“We need to be able to address a national energy strategy and then try to work on environmental efficiencies as part of that plan,” Webb said. “We can’t just start with things like emission standards at a time when we’re at a crisis with the entire national energy policy.”

Polls show that the public clearly sees global warming and high energy prices as separate issues, rather than one overall problem. Now more Americans than ever are urging politicians to solve the skyrocketing gas prices before finding a solution to climbing temperatures. And while support for offshore oil drilling has reached a record high, solving global warming is low on the list of voter priorities.

In a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, global warming ranked seventh in a list of eight top voter priorities, behind the economy and energy at the top, and also following the war in Iraq, health care, terrorism and illegal immigration. It was ahead of only housing.

“There was not enough emphasis that if we move aggressively toward sustainable energy, we will transform our energy costs,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who said he plans to offer his own global warming bill next year. “We were not as clear as we might have been.”

Still, Democrats who backed the legislation remain supportive of the greens’ agenda.

“I’m not discouraged at all,” said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.). “The environmental community understands that we have to have a starting point. The next bill should be modified with the greens but also with those in the business community.”

Boxer said environmental groups would continue to play a vital role in next year’s debate. “The vast majority of green groups support the targets that are necessary to avoid the most dangerous impact of global warming,” she said.

Greens deny that their policy push overlooked the energy crisis but acknowledge a public perception problem.

“The solution for us next year is connecting gas prices and global warming. We have to show voters that the solution to gas prices and the solution to global warming is the same,” said Greenpeace global warming expert Kate Smolski. “What’s been lost on decision makers is that the cost of inaction will far exceed any costs of dealing with the problem now.”

It’s a balancing act that plenty of others saw coming.

“You cannot have a system that emphasizes pain,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), whose American Solutions group opposed the global warming bill. “It is elitist. You’d have to be so wealthy you don’t notice the cost or so dedicated that the cost is irrelevant.”

A study by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity found that energy costs are disproportionally affecting lower and middle class minority families.

Sierra Club global warming lobbyist Dave Hamilton said the environmental community was partly a victim of timing. Despite efforts to educate the grass roots about the relationship between global warming and energy prices, news of the added energy assistance funding came too late and failed to resonate with key voting blocs.

“The problems with energy prices have really happened in the last few months,” he said. “We somehow failed in making that a priority, and I think we have a huge amount [of work] to do on energy policy.”

Environmentalists say Americans want immediate action on global warming but don’t want to pay for it. A recent study by the Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change showed that a large majority of Americans wanted serious government action on climate change but that only 14 percent were willing to pay more than $50 a month to help the cause.

“You cannot drive home environmental legislation without considering the cost on the economy,” said National Association of Manufacturers lobbyist Keith McCoy. “That message was already universally unacceptable.”

Leading policymakers suspect greens will continue to face hurdles if energy costs stay high.

“They’re defeating themselves and hurting all of us on an issue that hurts all of us,” said former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who was instrumental in implementing the Clean Air Act. “The trouble comes when people try to attribute everything to global warming. Then the public gets skeptical about the claims.”

Avi Zenilman contributed to this story.

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It’s a year today since the Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, but don’t expect Gov. Tim Pawlenty to showcase the reconstruction.

Indeed, with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul just a month away and Pawlenty reported to be high on John McCain’s running mate list, Republicans want to drive attention away from the infrastructure disaster that spotlighted the nation’s crumbling bridges and from the criticism the governor faced for what some critics said was a slow response.

The governor’s staff reports there are no plans to hold any events near the site of the bridge collapse, about 10 miles from the convention hall. And GOP convention planners have organized hundreds of buses to ease the congestion expected when some 45,000 conventioneers, guests and media commute to the hall.

“The anniversary of the bridge collapse is this Friday, and the convention isn’t for a month after that. The two things aren’t really related,” said Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung.

Republicans say they would rather not dampen the convention by revisiting an old tragedy.

But critics suspect the GOP wants to prevent embarrassing a potential vice presidential nominee and avoid drawing attention to Congress’ slow response to the infrastructure crisis.

"A tragedy of that kind raises national visibility to those kinds of decisions,” said former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.), an honorary chairman of the Alliance for Improving America’s Infrastructure, referring the bridge collapse and Pawlenty’s prospects to make the national ticket.

“They are based on a bunch of different factors and the weight nominees give to them,” Talent said. “Decisions can also change based on immediate political needs.”

Pawlenty was criticized by House Transportation Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.) and other members of the state’s congressional delegation last year for being slow to apply for disaster funding relief after the tragedy and for vetoing state legislation that would have invested millions in the state’s infrastructure.

The state of Minnesota was recently highlighted in House legislation for spending only 51 percent of its federal bridge funding on bridges over the past five years. Just last weekend, a 1,200-pound slab of concrete fell from the bottom of a St. Paul bridge, damaging two vehicles. No one was injured.

“I would certainly hope that while members are in Minnesota, they would visit the new bridge and reflect on the country’s need for infrastructure funding,” said Ray McCabe, a bridge expert with engineering firm HNTB who has testified before Congress.

The governor, though, has not avoided all discussions about the nation’s infrastructure. He recently hosted New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell on his radio show to talk broadly about the country’s needs. But the bridge was not a topic of discussion.

“Everyone is very careful about not making the I-35 bridge an issue,” said the Pennsylvania governor’s Washington representative, Peter A. Peyser. “Gov. Rendell and Mayor Bloomberg wanted to highlight the [infrastructure] issue but didn’t do it in a way to involve the bridge. Both were sensitive that people died there.”

Along with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rendell and Bloomberg chair the Building America’s Future coalition, which plans to invite both presidential campaigns to join in a forum on the broader infrastructure issue this fall.

Increased national attention could mean increased scrutiny of Congress, as well. Last month, the House successfully passed a bill sponsored by Oberstar that allocates $1 billion to repair the nation’s bridges, a sliver of the estimated $140 billion needed.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation and other states bemoaned the legislation, however, because it would prevent state officials from transferring the funds to non-bridge projects.

“It takes away flexibility from the states to spend the money where it’s most needed,” said the Brad Larsen, director of federal relations for the Minnesota Transportation Department.

But with Congress headed out on its August recess, similar legislation has yet to be introduced in the Senate — and the Bush administration is already promising a presidential veto.

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The Navy’s announcement last week that it would put the brakes on an increasingly expensive shipbuilding modernization program is roiling the waters in a Maine Senate race.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins opposes the Navy’s decision to cease construction of a new destroyer in favor of making nine older-model destroyers; her opponent in the Senate race, Democratic Rep. Tom Allen, agrees with it.

The differing positions provide a sharp contrast on issues vital to voters during this election cycle: jobs and the state’s local economy.

Collins is a popular incumbent, and her race has not been rated as particularly competitive. But Democrats are hoping the struggling economy and President Bush’s unpopularity will prompt voters to consider a change, and a hot local issue could help Allen make the race more competitive.

Maine is home to General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works, a shipbuilding yard that employees about 5,000 people. It’s received a share of the construction business from two major Navy shipbuilding projects — the next generation Zumwalt-class destroyer and its older counterpart, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

The Navy originally planned to build seven of the new Zumwalt-class ships, but rising costs — exceeding $1 billion per ship — prompted the Navy to consider cutting its losses after construction of two ships is completed. The freed-up cash would allow the Navy to build nine new ships of the Arleigh Burke class.

The plan still needs the Pentagon to sign off on it and Congress to fund it.

What’s unclear is how much of that work will stay at Bath once the Navy doles out the workload between shipyards in Mississippi and Maine. Collins’ “fear is the Navy won’t propose building the amount of ships that will maintain the same workforce at Bath,” said Kevin Kelly, Collins’ campaign spokesman.

Collins signed a letter with 11 other powerful senators — including fellow Maine Republican Olympia Snowe and New England Democrats such as Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Jack Reed of Rhode Island — asking the Pentagon to reconsider its decision.

Allen supported construction of the next generation of ships. But after looking at the potential for billion-dollar cost increases, he wanted to prepare a backup plan — with the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer included in the mix.

In contrast, Collins “wanted to put all her eggs in one basket,” said Carol Andrews, Allen’s campaign spokeswoman. Allen said in an interview that he wants to see funding for the Arleigh Burke ships as soon as possible. “I’m troubled by the suggestion that we would not fund a destroyer in the 2009 appropriations bill,” he said.

The congressman also met with union officials last week and concluded workers actually would prefer to continue work on the older model ship.

The new generation of ships are built in modules around the country and are sent to Bath for assembly. Bath Works has a larger share of the construction work for the older destroyers, said Don Bilodeau, trustee and the chairman of the legislative committee for the union at Bath Iron Works.

But even he acknowledges uncertainty, because there are so many variables in his plan. The Navy and Congress would need to fund all nine of the older Zumwalt-class destroyers over the next several years. On Wednesday, House Appropriations’ Defense Subcommittee didn’t fall in line with the Navy’s plan to provide funding for the newer-model ship. So the Navy has more convincing to do with Congress; it will then have to direct the assembly of six or seven of those ships to Bath to keep the work force in Maine active.

“Seven is the magic number,” Bilodeau said, adding there is no guarantee that Bath will get that much work or more on other Navy programs. “There are lots of ‘ifs,’ ‘ands’ and ‘buts’ out there.”

Although both Allen and Collins say their positioning isn’t political, the Senate race ensures politics plays a role.

Collins has criticized Allen for leaving his seat on the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees the shipbuilding program, to serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Allen counters that he’s kept strong ties to senior members of the committee to help watch over state industries.

Meanwhile, his campaign is more than ready to take a shot at Collins.

“She’s saying the sky is falling. It’s not,” Andrews said. “She’s still running around. She’s trying to play on fears, and it’s just not working for her. It’s sad that she’s doing that with people’s jobs.”

Collins has received big donations from members of General Dynamics and its subsidiary Bath Iron Works. During this election cycle, Collins so far has pulled in $27,700 from employees of General Dynamics, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Bath Iron Works President John F. Shipway kicked in $3,000.

Allen, meanwhile, has received significant support from unions throughout his career, including $10,000 this year from the machinists union, which represents workers at the shipyard.

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Oil company lobbyists expect to return from the August recess with a growing roster of Democratic allies, a result of the intense pressure lawmakers will face over the break from voters concerned about high gas prices.

As gas prices fluctuate near $4 per gallon, polling shows that public support for expanding domestic oil exploration is at its highest point in a decade.

A slow trickle of Democrats — particularly those facing tough elections in economically struggling states — have recently expressed openness to traditionally Republican-backed initiatives that would open up protected areas to oil exploration.

Oil lobbyists welcome the shifting landscape.

“You’re starting to see the pressure on Congress really ratchet up,” said Dan Naatz, vice president of federal resources at the Independent Petroleum Association of America. “It’s a teachable moment.”

Although domestic exploration is often considered a partisan issue, Democrats from so-called oil-patch states such as Texas and Louisiana have long backed drilling as a way to increase state revenue.

But over the past few weeks, various proposals to expand exploration have gained new allies.

“New people are showing up that are not part of the original cast of characters,” said one oil company lobbyist. “And six weeks with constituents at the coffee shop might give some Democratic members the chance to rethink what they are doing right now.”

In 2006, Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Tim Holden voted against oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The following year, he voted to extend the moratorium on offshore drilling.

In a sign of how much the landscape has changed, Holden recently told a local paper in his district that he wants to “drill everywhere.

I’m for offshore drilling. It needs to be part of a multipronged approach.”

The pro-drilling Democrats are joined by moderate Republicans, some of whom have toned down their previous opposition to domestic drilling.

“We’re going to have to do some extra exploration and drilling in costal regions,” Connecticut Republican Rep. Christopher Shays said earlier this month in an interview with National Public Radio. “Times change, and politicians should respond to the realities that confront them.”

Shays, long an opponent of drilling in environmentally sensitive areas like ANWR, now faces a tough reelection fight against Democrat Jim Himes. Energy costs are a huge concern in Connecticut, where gas prices are among of the highest in the nation.

Democrats have tried to shift the focus from expanding drilling to other proposals, such as releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, forcing oil companies to first use the leases they already control, and cracking down on investors speculating on the oil markets. But Republicans have pushed to include drilling-related amendments in those bills.

Earlier this month, President Bush lifted an executive moratorium on offshore drilling. The administration and its Republican allies are pushing Congress to pass similar legislation.

The dynamics leave Democratic leaders fighting to keep support from environmentalists and economically struggling voters alike.

“It’s one thing to break ranks with your party rhetorically, but it’s a whole different ballgame when you start talking about votes,” said Brian J. Kennedy, spokesman for the Institute for Energy Research and former aide to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

Bipartisan groups in both chambers are working to develop a compromise energy plan. The proposals, which will almost certainly have to wait for consideration until after the August recess, seek a compromise on drilling in restricted areas.

“I haven’t heard anyone say they’d be absolutely against drilling under all circumstances,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who supports expanding domestic drilling.

Nearly half of Americans rate energy exploration as an important priority, up from 35 percent in February, according to polling conducted by the Pew Research Center in early July. The share of respondents who said it is more important to increase energy conservation and regulation than conduct energy exploration declined by 10 percentage points over the same period.

“The hesitations that voters had previously regarding opening up new areas for exploration for drilling seem to have been washed away by the high cost of gasoline,” said Neil Newhouse, co-founder of the Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies.

Republicans believe the issue could be a winner in the fall.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) changed his position on offshore drilling in June, coming out in support of lifting the federal ban if states keep the right to veto drilling off their coasts. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a prominent backer of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, reversed his stance against drilling to support the McCain plan.

“When you see a smart governor like Charlie Crist change his position on this issue, you know something is up,” said New­house.

Democrats, particularly those in oil-producing states, are also using drilling on the campaign trail.

In Alaska, Democrat Mark Begich is making offshore revenue-sharing and drilling in ANWR centerpieces in his campaign to unseat indicted Republican Sen. Ted Stevens.

Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu recently released an advertisement highlighting her support of oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and her decade-long battle to get revenue-sharing for the state.

And in Wisconsin, Rep. Steve Kagen, a freshman Democrat in a competitive reelection race, wrote a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel op-ed. supporting new drilling.

The increasing prominence of campaign messages about exploration is worrying environmental advocates, who argue that drilling poses serious ecological risks and will produce almost no reduction in gas prices.

“You are never sure where a member is going to come down until there is a vote on the issue, but certainly the rhetoric is alarming,” said Jason Patlis, head of government relations for the World Wildlife Foundation.

This week, the Sierra Club released ads defending six Democrats who are getting hammered for not supporting efforts to open more areas to exploration. And on Monday, the WWF ran a quarter-page advertisement in The New York Times urging Congress to uphold the ban on new drilling.

“We have tried to confront it head-on with, really, a very robust and full-fledged campaign,” said Patlis.

But the pressure on lawmakers, said oil and gas lobbyists, will only increase as temperatures drop. Market analysts expect home heating prices to hit record highs this winter.

“It’s highly unlikely that another issue trumps energy going into the November election,” Kennedy said. “It’s going to be all energy, all the time, and it’s going to get harder and harder for opponents to hide.”

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