Lobbying World: Oil and gas lobby snags top Manchin aide

Lance West, former chief of staff to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), joined the American Petroleum Institute as vice president of federal affairs. West joined the oil and gas industry group after spending most of the last decade as an aide to Manchin, including serving as deputy staff director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 

Former Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) joined Cozen O’Connor as managing director. Davis served five terms in Congress and exited after losing a primary last June. He served as the top Republican on the House Administration Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s highways and transit subcommittee. 

Former Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) joined BakerHostetler as a partner and head of the firm’s federal policy team. Roskam served six terms in Congress and was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee’s subcommittee on tax policy, where he helped draft Republicans’ 2017 tax cuts.  

Karl Racine, former Washington, D.C., attorney general, joined Hogan Lovells as a litigation partner and head of the firm’s newly launched state AG practice. Racine served two terms as attorney general, where he sued tech giants such as Amazon and Google over competition and privacy concerns. He was president of the National Association of Attorneys General in 2021.

Anna Taylor joined Deloitte as deputy managing principal of the company’s tax policy group. Taylor spent the last decade as tax and trade counsel for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

The Distilled Spirits Council hired Denzel McGuire as chief of federal and state government relations. McGuire previously served as a senior policy adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). 

KP Pratt joined Smith Dawson & Andrews as executive vice president and chief of staff. Pratt most recently served as chief of staff to recently retired Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The firm also promoted chief counsel and managing director Brett Garson to CEO.

Venn Strategies hired Jon Pyatt as an executive vice president in its health practice and Andy Sigmon as a vice president in its critical infrastructure practice. Pyatt most recently served as chief of staff to former Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.). Sigmon previously served as legislative and intergovernmental affairs specialist at the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration.

The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America hired Raaed Haddad as director of federal government affairs. Haddad comes from Experian, where he was senior manager of government affairs, and previously served as senior legislative assistant to Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s oversight and investigations subcommittee.