Alcatel and Lucent Lobbyists Are on the Job
 

By Judy Sarasohn
Thursday, May 11, 2006; A25

The planned merger of Paris-based Alcatel and Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. is dialing up teams of high-powered and pricey lobbyists in Washington -- partly to make sure there's no rerun of the Dubai Ports World dust-up.

The lobbyists are being deployed on the Hill and in Bush administration offices to assure every Washington official who needs to be assured that the $13 billion deal has no antitrust, national security or other issues. It was only a couple of months ago when Congress was thrown into a furor over a plan for the United Arab Emirates-based DP World to take over a company that manages terminals at six major U.S. ports. That pressured DP World to look for an American buyer for its newly acquired U.S. operations.

The merger (some describe it as an acquisition by Alcatel) has to clear European Union and U.S. regulatory hurdles, including approval from the interagency Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, which scrutinizes foreign purchases of U.S. companies to ensure that they do not threaten national security.

"It's a new world for transnational transactions. You've got to have a strategy," said Reginald J. Brown , former associate counsel to President Bush and a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr .

Brown and his WilmerHale partner Jamie Gorelick -- a Defense Department general counsel and deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, and a member of the Sept. 11 commission -- are part of the bipartisan team working on behalf of Lucent, the telecom equipment company.

Besides the WilmerHale folks, working on behalf of Lucent are such powerhouse lobbyists as Patton Boggs 's Thomas H. Boggs Jr. and Jeffrey L. Turner , and the Duberstein Group 's Kenneth M. Duberstein and Michael S. Berman .

Also on board is Winning Strategies , a lobby shop with New Jersey ties, including Donna Mullins , former chief of staff to Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.); Alex DelPizzo , former legislative director to Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.); Robert Zucker , former legislative director to Rep. Steven R. Rothman (D-N.J.); and Michael Merola , former deputy chief of staff to then-Sen. Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.).

Ivan A. Schlager , a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom , is coordinating the lobbying and legal teams for Alcatel and Lucent. Skadden Arps already had the lead role of advising Alcatel on the merger.

Lobbying on behalf of Alcatel is the PodestaMattoon lobby shop, including Daniel J. Mattoon, former deputy chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee; Claudia James , a former Democratic congressional staffer; Missi Tessier , a former GOP congressional staffer; Elizabeth Morra , an aide to then-House Appropriations Committee chairmen Bob Livingston (R-La.) and C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.); Kimberly Fritts , former RNC Southern political director; and Andrew Kauders , former executive director of the House Democratic Caucus.

And this doesn't even count the other legal and financial advisers not working the Hill.

Big Oil Spent $33 Million on 2005 Lobbying
 

Perhaps some of those higher gas prices are covering the lobbying costs of the oil companies. PoliticalMoneyLine recently ranked the lobbying costs of the top 10 oil companies, as reported in their regular filings to Congress. The top 10 spent more than $33 million on lobbying in 2005. Here are the numbers, by company:

· ChevronTexaco, $8,550,000.

· Exxon Mobil, $7,140,000.

· ConocoPhillips, $5,098,084.

· Marathon, $4,290,000.

· BP, $2,880,000.

· Occidental, $2,042,177.

· Shell, $1,478,831.

· Ashland, $904,000.

· Sunoco, $540,000.

· Anadarko, $250,000.

Exxon Mobil slipped to No. 2 from No. 1 in 2004, when it spent $7.7 million.

Asked about the company's lobbying expenses and its ranking, Exxon Mobil spokesman Mark Boudreaux said simply: "We fully comply with all" lobbying disclosure requirements.

Career Moves

B&D Consulting , a subsidiary of the Baker & Daniels law firm, has added a number of people in recent weeks: Dan Cummings , previously with Ineos, a petrochemical company; Mary H. Stewart , from Peak Health Solutions; Patrick O'Brien , who worked for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers and, earlier, for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.); Jonathan Dilley , an aide to Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.); Marcie McClintic , also an attorney at Baker & Daniels; and Laura Bonavita , who earlier worked for a member of the New Jersey General Assembly.

Lisa Harrison , most recently director of communications and special assistant to the director of the National Park Service, has joined the American Chemistry Council as vice president of communications. Harrison worked 18 years worked for Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.) in the House and Senate.

Jessica Battaglia , former tax and trade counsel for Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on the House Ways and Means Committee, has joined Venn Strategies ' tax practice.

Walt A. Sanders has brought his shop, Sanders International Group , under the wing of Van Fleet Associates , a firm that has specialized in defense lobbying for such companies as BAE Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. Sanders formerly worked for Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and then-U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Ann Brown. Sanders's clients have included the American Council of Regulatory Compliance, Carolina Distributors and Parris Manufacturing.