By Kate Ackley
A former lawmaker-turned-association leader is enlisting a motley team of lobbyists spanning political divides in an uphill push to overhaul federal rules for proxy advisory firms.
Ex-Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), who was a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, is leading the effort for the American Consumer and Investor Institute where he is chief executive. ACII, which started in 2023, says on its website that it advocates for consumers and investors to have more choice and access to US financial markets, products and services, including banks, securities and cryptocurrencies.
United By Interest, a firm with connections to conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, will lobby for Luetkemeyer’s group, along with the financial advocacy shop Blue Ridge Law & Policy. The aim of the influence effort is to advance bipartisan legislation that would require more disclosures for proxy advisory firms about how they arrive at their recommendations to shareholders.
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“American investors have every right to know that the systems shaping their retirement savings are transparent, accountable, and working for them,” said Luetkemeyer, who joined the group last year, in a statement. “This is a structural problem with a bipartisan solution.”
United By Interest, an 8-year-old shop run by lobbyists from both Democratic and GOP firms, “is uniquely positioned in this current environment to bring the left and right together,” said Democrat Mike Williams, a partner in the outfit. “Whereas in normal times, this issue would be pretty straightforward.”
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Republican lobbyist Sam Geduldig, a founder of United By Interest and also a partner at the all-GOP CGCN Group, said the bipartisan effort had reach into the different factions of both parties, ranging from the House Freedom Caucus to the Congressional Black Caucus.
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“Over time, I’ve come to appreciate that there aren’t just two sides — there are dozens of lenses shaping how policy moves,” Geduldig added. “If you’re only seeing two lenses, you’re operating at a disadvantage.”
Read the full article: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/proxy-advising-rules-fight-shows-shift-toward-bipartisan-lobbying