Fritts Adds a Fourth

The Fritts Group, the two-year old boutique lobbying firm of former NAB director Eddie Fritts, has expanded its team from three to four.

Lobbyist Ken Inouye, who ran lobbying operations on the Hill for first the Motion Picture Association of America and then the Entertainment Software Association, is joining the firm in mid February.

“At the MPAA, most of his work has to do with piracy, copyright, and intellectual property issues,” says Kathleen Ramsey, a member of the Fritts group. “He went over to the ESA last year, and did a lot of the same issues, truthfully, along with content regulation.”

His hire marks the first non-NAB addition to the small shop. (Fritts took Ramsey, NABs former communications director, along with former Director of Government Relations John Lively, with him when he left the NAB to start his own shop.)

Since then, the small shop has built a roster of nine high-dollar clients in the communications field. Judging by the firm’s midyear lobbying reports, $320,000 a year appears to be the standard retainer. The two most recent clients, Comptel and the MPAA, signed on in the second half of last year.

Inouye happens to be the son of the venerable Hawaiin Sen. Daniel Inouye. The Fritts group, which doesn’t seem to mind keeping a low profile outside of the telecom and broadcasting lobbying fields, didn’t feel the need to advertise his arrival.

“We didn’t send out a release or anything,” says Ramsey. “This is a small town, people will figure it out.”

What’s will be his new title?

“We don’t have titles here, either,” Ramsey says.