Fascinating read on conflicts in this space: “National climate group asks: Should Md. lobbying firms take fossil fuel clients?” —

• “What do these three major Maryland institutions [the city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, Prince George’s County government] working to improve the environment have in common? They have all, in recent years, paid Annapolis lobbyists who also work for the fossil fuels industry.”
• “Baltimore City, Hopkins and Prince George’s are hardly alone. Across Maryland, scores of institutions, nonprofit groups, and even clean energy organizations use State House lobbyists who are also representing fossil fuels interests.”
• “Most high-priced Annapolis lobbying firms, which usually hire teams of politically savvy generalists, tend to work a range of issues for a broad variety of clients.”
• “But now a new national climate advocacy group is beginning to ask whether major lobbying firms ought to be taking on fossil fuel clients at all — especially if the aims of those clients run counter to the goals of the institutions, nonprofits and clean energy businesses that these lobbyists also represent.”
• “This new advocacy group, known as F Minus, is also questioning whether various businesses and organizations of all types ought to be spending their money on lobbying firms that also choose to represent fossil fuel interests.”
• “Browning first became interested in the potential conflict of interest that statehouse lobbyists may face two decades ago, when he noticed that a prominent Maryland lobbyist, Laurence Levitan, who was a former state Senate committee chair, was registered to represent both the American Lung Association, which was pushing for an indoor smoking ban, and the Maryland Auto Dealers Association, whose cars were creating air pollution. That seemed like a contradiction to Common Cause.”
• “But now, Browning believes he has encountered hundreds of similar potential conflicts of interest in all 50 state capitals. That’s what he’s hoping to spotlight with F Minus. The organization has compiled a database of lobbyist registrations in all 50 states, tracking lobbyists and the clients they take on.”
• “In Maryland, those registrations can be looked up on the website of the Maryland State Ethics commission, which regulates the lobbying industry. [Direct link here: Maryland Lobbying Registrations]”
• “In Maryland, lobbying state government is big business. According to the ethics commission’s 2022 annual report, businesses, professional associations, labor unions, law firms, educational institutions, government agencies, and advocacy groups spent $71,241,236.38 to influence Maryland lawmakers between Nov. 1, 2021 and Oct. 31, 2022. In that same period, 15 lobbying firms earned $1 million or more, led by Perry White Ross & Jacobson, which took in $6,505,549.86, and Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC, which earned $5,084,315.99.”
• “Dozens of lobbyists represent fossil fuel interests in Annapolis. Several also represent clean energy companies, environmental groups, public health organizations, and institutions that have tried to do their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
• “In Annapolis, as in many state capitals, lobbying firms have a large portfolio of clients. While in Washington, D.C., there is a degree of specialization in the lobbying corps — though some large K Street firms also thrive as generalists — the big money firms in Annapolis are generally populated with lawyers, operatives, and government veterans who have a broad range of political contacts and are able to represent their clients’ interests on just about any issue. ‘The model of representing widely divergent interests is more prevalent at the state level than it is at the federal level,’ Browning said.”
• “Consider: Two companies are pushing to build offshore wind energy installations off the coast of Ocean City. One of those companies, Ørsted North America, uses the lobbying firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC, one of the oldest and most powerful lobbying shops in Annapolis. The firm also represents Berkshire Hathaway Energy, an energy company with a broad portfolio of clean energy and fossil fuel businesses. It also represents Colonial Pipeline, an oil pipeline company, and TC Energy, a diverse energy and pipeline company.”
• “Michael V. Johansen, Rifkin’s managing partner, declined to comment. Maddy Voytek, Ørsted’s head of government affairs and market strategy for Maryland, said the company runs “a conflict check every time we hire policy advocates and it is our assessment that these relationships [the Rifkin firm maintains] are appropriate.””
• “In fact, the one registered lobbyist who agreed to speak on the record was Sushant Sidh, a principal in the Annapolis firm Capitol Strategies LLC. His firm represents the Maryland Geothermal Association, a clean energy group, but also Covanta Energy LLC, an operator of trash incinerators and gas plants, and Constellation Energy LLC, a gas and electric company with a varied portfolio.”
• “Sidh said his firm runs ‘an exhaustive conflict check’ whenever it signs a new client, and routinely reaches out to other clients that could take an opposing position from the new client. ‘If both sides agree that there’s no conflict, we’re free to take on the client and we represent clients based on individual goals,’ he said.”
• “Sidh said he understands F minus’ argument about climate change and representing potential polluters, but argued that clean energy technologies aren’t ready for widespread use, meaning fossil fuels must still be part of the energy mix.”
• “Some lobbyists described their firms’ procedures for ensuring there are no conflicts of interest between clients, and two lobbyists who are lawyers said they follow more formal state guidelines for attorney conflicts. Some of the lobbyists said they are reluctant to give up longstanding clients, and said they’re proud to help them navigate the ever-changing legislative and regulatory environment on climate and energy. Others sought to draw distinctions between representing an oil or gas company that is that is drawing fossil fuels from the earth, and a utility or pipeline company that is distributing energy to power plants and consumers.”
• “Still others conceded that F Minus had a point — but asserted that taking an absolutist position on clients and energy producers was at least a decade or more premature, because a full transition to renewable energy is still years away. ‘This is not the way the world works,’ Sidh said.”