-- Former Patton Boggs lobbyist to share time between DC and new Portland, Oregon office --
For immediate release: March 8, 2010
Contact: Andy Rosenberg, 202-247-6301
Thorn Run Partners announced today the addition of its newest partner, Daniel S. Bates, as well as the opening of an office in Portland, Oregon. Thorn Run Partners is one of Washington, DC’s newest bipartisan lobbying shops, and the first Washington-based firm to open an office in Portland.
Bates will share his time between the two offices, starting on April 1.
Dan Bates, who hails from Canby, Oregon, comes to Thorn Run Partners from his position as Director of Government Relations for the City of Portland. But Bates is no stranger to Washington. Before taking the Portland job, Bates spent five years in the nation’s capital as a member of the legislative practice group at Patton Boggs LLP, the city’s largest lobby shop.
At Thorn Run Partners, Bates will focus his practice in the areas of local government representation, transportation and water infrastructure, energy and environmental policy. During his four years as the City’s head lobbyist, Portland blazed the way in innovative federal partnerships. The City was frequently cited for its award winning quality of life and has been recognized by Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood as the model for the nation on transportation policy. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar has gone so far as to recognize the City’s approach to transportation as the “template.”
During Bates’ tenure, the City became the first municipality to have a streetcar project qualify for federal small starts funding. The City’s success at reducing carbon emissions while growing its economy and becoming a hot bed of clean technology innovation received national attention and was the subject of Congressional hearings. Portland’s leadership in green infrastructure has proved a model for EPA best practices in green approaches to addressing stormwater run-off.
As chief lobbyist for the second largest city in the Pacific Northwest, Dan brings a unique perspective to Thorn Run Partners – an accomplished lobbyist who knows how to get things done -- as both a professional big city manager and a private practitioner.
In addition to his federal practice, which will be shared with fellow Thorn Run Partners Andy Rosenberg and Chris Lamond, Bates will be developing an Oregon state government relations practice. Bates will counsel clients on strategic approaches to achieving legislative goals and lobby the state legislative and executive branches on client priorities. During his leadership at the City, Bates lobbied the state government on an extensive set of issues.
Dan Bates is a graduate of Houghton College in western New York and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Founded in January, 2010, by veteran lobbyists Rosenberg and Lamond, who previously served as staffers to Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Fred Thompson (R-TN), Thorn Run Partners draws its name from Rosenberg’s farm located in West Virginia.
For more information on Thorn Run Partners, please visit www.thornrun.com.
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