Thorn Run Partners In The News

InsideHealthPolicy.com, a top online newsletter service for inside news on federal health and safety regulation, featured an article about Thorn Run's newest partner, Catherine Finley.

Health policy lobby shop Thorn Run Partners has tapped key GOP health lobbyist Catherine Finley as its newest partner, the group announced in a Nov. 1 press release. Finley, a former staff director for GOP Sen. Gordon Smith (OR), who served as chair of the Senate aging committee, was most recently at Capitol Counsel, LLC, and her practice focuses on Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, mental health and managed care.
 
 
In addition to her work on the aging committee, Finley also directed Smith's efforts on the Senate health and Finance committees. Prior to joining Smith, Finley was senior health policy advisor for Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and worked with former Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH). She also has experience on the state level, having severed for four years as the heath policy director for the Southern Governors Association and in the policy office of then Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the release says.

The September 12 National Journal featured a story on Thorn Run's newest Senior Vice President, Jessie Howe Brairton.
 
 

Former drug lobbyist Jessie Howe Brairton has joined the boutique lobbying shop Thorn Run Partners as a senior vice president, the firm will announce later today. The addition of Brairton, a former staffer to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, strengthens the firm's ties to House Republicans. A former director of federal government affairs for the drug giant Eli Lilly, Brairton worked on health care reform and Medicare and Medicaid issues. She has also worked at NFIB.
 
As a senior legislative assistant to Smith, Brairton advised the congressman on bankruptcy, telecommunications, intellectual property and terrorism issues before the Judiciary Committee. She also worked for GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley.
 
"Bringing Jessie on board adds another experienced Republican to our firm at a time when clients are looking for help with bipartisan relationships and strategies," Andy Rosenberg, a partner and firm founder, told Influence Alley

In an August 10 article in Bloomberg Government on the lobbying challenges of the deficit-cutting super committee, Thorn Run's Chris Lamond offered his take on the committee's effect for health care clients.

The health care industry is bracing for cuts, particularly for Medicare providers. "We're obviously on alert to respond as quickly as possible," Lamond said.
 
It remains unclear, Lamond said, whether the health care industry would rather take the hit from the spending cuts proposed by the super-committee, or hope those recommendations are voted down by Congress, an action that would trigger automatic, across-the-board cuts that treat health care programs similarly to defense.
 
Chris Lamond, a lobbyist with Thorn Run Partners, said his first task after the super committee is selected is to research the legislative history of its members, including what programs they have championed and opposed. The clients of Lamond's firm, which specializes in health care issues, include the Medical Device Manufacturing Association and the Long Term Care Pharmacy Alliance.

Lobbying 2011: Not an Easy Sell

Thorn Run's Daniel Bates was featured in a Roll Call article today about the challenges of lobbying the 112th Congress.

A combination of partisan gridlock in Congress and budget battles in the 50 state capitals has moved much of K Street’s attention not just away from Congress but also far beyond Washington....
 
 
You don’t have to explain that to Dan Bates. A former director of government relations for Oregon’s largest city, Portland, he is a partner at Thorn Run Partners, with offices there and in Washington. Many of his clients, in both cities, are working to preserve existing policies and programs that could easily be undone or curbed by budget-minded lawmakers. “The gridlock at the federal level forces people to look for solutions at other levels — state and local — if they’re not going to see federal action soon,” he says. “On the opposite side, some of the same trends you see at the federal level are true at the state level, too: budget deficits and split governments.”

You can find the entire article online at Roll Call's website.