Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Lonnie P. Taylor, former top lobbyist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a senior policy adviser at Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy has signed up with Nextel.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:57:18 -0500

Now on Tour . . . the Political Animals?

By Judy Sarasohn
Thursday, November 13, 2003; Page A29

In one of the more dramatic efforts to drum up grass-roots support for public
policy
issues, a group of musicians has taken to the road for the "Tell Us the Truth
Tour."

British folk-rocker Billy Bragg, country-rocker Steve
Earle, rock-and-R&B-infused-gospel-soul legend Lester
Chambers and others are playing a month of concerts
from Wisconsin to Florida and back up to Washington,
D.C., to raise awareness of the problems of media
consolidation on musicians and free expression and of
international trade on jobs. They hit the 9:30 Club here
on Nov. 24.

The concerts are being sponsored in part by the Future
of Music Coalition, the AFL-CIO, Common Cause,
Free Press and others.

While the singers hope to get their message out and to
energize their audiences to get involved in public policy,
they're not expected to harangue the crowds.

"This is a musical show -- no speeches," said Jenny
Toomey, executive director of the Future of Music
Coalition, a think tank in Washington.

Toomey said the musicians have been hurt by the
increasing concentration of media ownership, making it
harder for diverse artists to get airtime on radio stations.
They are also concerned about a variety of issues, such
as international trade, that might not seem immediately
related to music, she said. Most of all, they've been
"worried that the story was not getting out," Toomey
said.

Toomey and coalition co-founder Michael Bracy stress
that the Future of Music Coalition is not a lobbying
organization and does not buttonhole members of
Congress or the Federal Communications Commission -- although coalition members
will respond to requests for information from lawmakers or the FCC.

Bracy, director of government relations for the coalition, is a lobbyist in
town, a
partner in the Bracy Tucker Brown lobby shop (his father is Terrence Bracy).

"There are a lot of ways you can be part of the policy process without being a
paid
lobbyist on the Hill," Bracy said. He said his job is to help build coalitions,
run the
"virtual" organization, "facilitate a two-way conversation" between musicians
and
policymakers, and to translate Washington to musicians.

The concerts aren't free. Tickets at the 9:30 Club are $25. Toomey said the
tour's
"nine world-class artists" are donating their time, but there are significant
production
and travel costs. While the sponsors are contributing to the tour, Toomey said,
she
doesn't expect any money left over.

Moving to the Lobby

George P. Sigalos, director of government relations for KBR Inc., the government

operations arm of Halliburton Co., has registered to lobby for the subsidiary on

services contracting and federal procurement issues. He joined KBR earlier this
year
after serving as director of public affairs for the Contract Services
Association of
America and press aide to Rep. Philip M. Crane (R-Ill.).

A lawyer and former journalist for the Associated Press and ABC News, Sigalos
also
did press duties in the Bush I and Reagan administrations.

Halliburton, of course, is the company formerly headed by Vice President Cheney.

It's already doing quite well in the government-contract business in Iraq these
days.

Shuffling the Deck

Furthermore . . . Lonnie P. Taylor, former top lobbyist at the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce and a senior policy adviser at Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy
before going out on his own earlier this year, has signed up with Nextel
Communications. He's the company's new vice president of federal and state
relations.

"I like the wireless industry. It's the industry of the future," Taylor said.

Gail Amidzich, who worked in the legislative affairs shop of the Clinton White
House
drug office and served as legislative director for Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio), has
joined
the International Association of Fire Fighters, for whom she'll lobby on
homeland
security and public safety issues.

Sarah J. Dufendach, a longtime chief of staff in the House for David Bonior
(D-Mich.) and more recently chief operating officer of the Vietnam Veterans of
America Foundation, has joined Common Cause as its COO. Her job at Common
Cause includes coordinating the group's strategy on opposing media consolidation

and supporting election and presidential public finance reform.

Paul "Bo" Bollinger, most recently vice president of aviation client services
for
HNTB Corp., has been appointed president of the Air Traffic Control Association.

Earlier, he served as deputy director of the Association of Airport Executives
and
senior vice president of the Airports Council International. He succeeds Gabe
Hartl.

The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform has some new folks: Sean McBride,
formerly director of communications at the National Soft Drink Association, is
vice
president for communications; Andy Stephens, former president of People for
Common Sense Courts, is vice president for policy and research; and Judy
Shaffer,
previously director of the chairman's office at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is
the
director of operations.

Joining a Think Tank

Out west . . . James M. Souby, executive director of the Western Governors'
Association, has resigned to become chief executive of the Oquirrh Institute, a
think
tank of corporate CEOs and former governors based in Salt Lake City.

The think tank was founded by former Utah governor Mike Leavitt (R), who's the
new chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, and is chaired by William N.
Shiebler, chief executive of Deutsche Asset Management in New York City.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34125-2003Nov12.html

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