To Conceal Donors, Some Political Groups Look to the Tax Code

The shareholders of three dozen additional companies are scheduled to vote on political disclosure resolutions this year, according to the Center for Political Accountability, which is funded by foundations including George Soros's.

New Battleground of the Week

A new trade association, the Institutional Life Markets Association, was formed last week. Although there was no way to decipher the fact from its news release, the group was created to protect a new, multibillion-dollar market in the life insurance policies of individuals who no longer want them and sell them to investors.

Watch for the group to bump heads soon with such established powerhouses as the American Council of Life Insurers, which is not eager to see its products held to the end, so to speak, by some stranger waiting for a big payday. The new association's co-founders include Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and UBS.

Democratic Hires of the Week

The Democratic takeover of Congress continues to create a bull market for former Democratic staffers in Washington lobbying shops.

Two ex-staffers to Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, have landed big jobs. Eric "Rick" Kessler, a former chief of staff in Dingell's personal office, has joined the new government relations arm of the law firm Dow Lohnes. Hogan & Hartson hired Reid P.F. Stuntz, for 10 years the minority staff director and chief counsel of the committee under Dingell.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has chosen Scott DeFife, former policy staffer to House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), as its top Democratic lobbyist.

The Washington Group, a unit of Omnicom, added three new Democrats: veteran lobbyists G. John O'Hanlon, Gerry Kavanaugh and Moses Boyd. It also promoted Democrat Rita Lewis to vice chairman.

Hewlett-Packard, the technology firm, hired Kristy Skupa Sternhell, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry M . Reid (D-Nev.), as director of congressional affairs.

General Motors named Joseph B. Trahern director of federal legislative and regulatory affairs. Trahern was chief of staff to both Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and her late husband, Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.).

McKenna Long & Aldridge added Mac Campbell, for six years the tax counsel to Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee. BKSH & Associates Worldwide hired Stefan L.B. Bailey, former legislative director for Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.).

Quinn Gillespie & Associates added Bonnie Hogue D uffy, a former Democratic aide on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, to co-manage its health lobbying. And the Livingston Group hired Jill A. Schuker, a former senior official in the Clinton and Carter administrations.

Ex-lawmakers of both political stripes are also getting jobs. Patton Boggs hired former representative Chris Bell (D-Tex.) as of counsel. And Fleishman-Hillard Government Relations, which appears to be in the midst of a major rebuilding effort, picked up former senator James M. Talent (R-Mo.).

Separately, Kevin Ring, a onetime member of the team once led by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has resigned as a lobbyist for Barnes & Thornburg. Ring, a former top aide to Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), has been under Justice Department scrutiny in the ongoing Abramoff political corruption probe.

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