By Kevin McCauley
Gibson Guitar has hired Crowell & Moring to work Washington in the aftermath of the high-profile August raid of its Nashville and Memphis by armed federal officials who were hunting illegal wood.
The agents seized more than 10,000 fingerboards allegedly made from rosewood imported from India in violation of the Lacey Act. The 1900 law bans the illegal trafficking of wildlife, plants and lumber products. Gibson contends the wood imported was certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
The Tea Party has pitched the raid as an example of vast federal overreach. Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz addressed a "We Stand with Gibson" rally and concert Oct. 8 in Nashville, calling the Lacey requirement that wood must be finished before it is imported to the U.S. a "misuse of environmental law."
Environmentalists believe conservatives are using the raid to weaken the Lacey Act.
C&W’s team representing Gibson includes Stephanie Daigle, who handled Congressional relations at the Environmental Protection Agency; Joshua Tzuker, ex-legislative director to Rep. John Dingell; Michael Gill, former aide to Sen. John Danforth and Patrick Donnelly, who was global public affairs leader for Dow AgroSciences.
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