Five PR and public affairs firms in New York filed a federal suit to block an advisory opinion that render PR pros who contact editorial writers as lobbyists for disclosure purposes.
The firms -- BerlinRosen Public Affairs, Mercury, November Team, Anat Gerstein and Risa Heller Communications -- filed suit to block the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics from implementing the rule, which would require PR firms to disclose contact with opinion media.
The advisory opinion (PDF), issued in January, requires disclosures including when a firm was hired, their fees and issues covered in its advocacy work.
The opinion drew the ire of the PR sector, including trade groups like PRSA and the Council of PR Firms.
The lawsuit holds that the opinion is "unconstitutionally vague," and argues that conversations between PR consultants and editors are private conversations that are vital the share important information and views with media. "Yet under the opinion, those conversations will no longer be private, and therefore will no longer occur," said the suit.
The committee said it will oppose the suit.
Maggie Moran, who is well-connected in New Jersey and New York Democratic politics, has established Moxie Strategies in Asbury Park, NJ.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
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