Ernst & Young Tops List of SIFMA Lobbyists

SIFMA’s highest-paid outside lobbyist this year, Ernst & Young LLP in Washington, received $240,000 through September for activities in the House, the Senate, and the Treasury Department on miscellaneous corporate tax issues related to financial services, according to its disclosure reports.

Two Washington-based firms, Prime Policy Group and Elmendorf Ryan, each netted $180,000 in lobbying fees from SIFMA during the same period, their disclosure reports show.

Prime Policy Group lobbied for SIFMA in the House and Senate on “financial services regulatory reform” and “general monitoring of tax rate increases.”

Prime Policy Group originated from a 2010 merger between BKSH & Associates Worldwide and Timmons and Co., “two of Washington’s best government affairs brands,” according to its website.

Prime Policy Group’s principals include: Charlie Black, chairman, a former senior advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; Martin Paone, executive vice president, who logged nearly three decades working for Senate Democrats, including a 13-year stint as Democratic Secretary, a Senate officer; M.B. Oglesby Jr., chairman emeritus, a former senior staffer in the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations and former government relations officer for RJR Nabisco; and R. Scott Pastrick, president and chief executive, who was part of the national Democratic party leadership and a special assistant in the Treasury Department’s office of legislative affairs during the Jimmy Carter administration.

Elmendorf Ryan’s disclosure reports show it has lobbied on SIFMA’s behalf in the House and Senate about Title VII of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which regulates swaps, and about H.R. 11, the Build America Bonds to Create Jobs Now Act.

One of the firm’s principals, Steve Elmendorf, served in senior positions in the presidential campaigns of former Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The other principal, Jimmy Ryan, is a former senior vice president and co-head for federal government affairs at Citi, as well as a former chief counsel and floor policy director for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., according to the firm’s website.

Separately, the Walter Group in Alexandria, Va., received $110,000 from SIFMA for lobbying in the House and Senate on Dodd-Frank implementation, derivatives, and “investor advisor regulation.”

Its principal, Jeffery Walter, is a former fundraiser for and special assistant to former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R.-N.Y., who chaired the Senate Banking Committee, according to the firm’s website,

The law firm Jones Walker, formerly Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre LLP, received $60,000 from SIFMA this year for lobbying in the House and Senate about “financial regulatory reform legislation” and tax and fee issues affecting financial service companies, its reports say.

Concentrated in the Gulf states of Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, the firm has a strategic alliance with the Livingston Group LLC, headed by former Rep. Robert Livingston, R-La., who chaired the House Appropriations Committee, according to Jones Walker’s website.

Several other law firms report lobbying on SIFMA’s behalf this year as well. Those firms include Davis, Polk & Wardwell LLP, which received at least $30,000 in 2011 for lobbying on unidentified issues; Steptoe & Johnson LLP, which reports receiving $35,000 from SIFMA for lobbying in the House on issues related to fee disclosures and investment advice under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, which has reported less than $15,000 in payments from SIFMA for lobbying on unidentified issues; and Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP, which reports payments of less than $15,000 from SIFMA for lobbying on immigration issues.

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