Federal lobbying work might be slowing down for the summer months, but a new state-focused hire at Patton Boggs is just getting started. On Monday, the firm announced the arrival of Katie Whelan, who directed the Democratic Governors Association before serving as a senior adviser and lobbyist in the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) After a stint last year representing the University of California, she has joined Patton Boggs.
While she’ll eventually represent the firm’s federal clients, Whelan says, much of her role will be to advise the firm’s Washington lobbyists on how to coordinate their clients’ state-level efforts. Part of her practice will certainly revolve around California — her one-year moratorium on lobbying on state issues recently expired — but she expects to draw on the full range of relationships and experience she acquired helping run electoral campaigns and coordinate policy at the Democratic Governors Association.
“A lot of companies are looking to the states to get things done,” says Whelan. “We have a lot of people who already do federal very well, so I can be at the table on the state side.”
Comments