Gephardt Government Affairs has hired two lobbyists to run its budding transportation practice, including the Democratic firm's first Republican lobbyist.
Kyle Mulhall and Scott Brenner, both formerly of Akerman Senterfitt, joined Gephardt Government Affairs as vice presidents on April 1. Mulhall worked for then-Rep. Dick Gephardt, the firm's president and chief executive officer and a former House majority leader, on the Hill. Brenner is a former Bush administration official who was most recently chief of external affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, but has also worked at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Mulhall and Brenner said they worked together for three years at Akerman Senterfitt, and came to Gephardt as a team. "We actually do share almost all of our clients," Mulhall said. "We've gotten to the point, we're kind of Frick and Frack on handling our issues."
The two said they plan to grow the practice, and are bringing several clients with them, including the Port of Oakland in California, the Miami-Dade County Expressway Authority, and Sensis Corp., which manufactures radar systems. The two had already shared one client, Los Angeles World Airports, with Gephardt Government Affairs.
In response to a question about whether Gephardt Government Affairs plans more Republican hires, Tom O'Donnell, the firm's managing partner, responded via e-mail through a spokeswoman to say, "We're always looking for talented people who have decades of experience on policy in the legislative and Executive branch. Scott fits that bill."
Brenner himself said his partisan differences with his new colleagues weren't immediately apparent, but did surface at a recent office gathering, when "the pro-Democratic comments were flying around the room, and I had to just make one comment. It was the first awareness everyone had that there was a Republican in their midst."
Comments