“They went from, for lack of a better term, a run-of-the-mill lobbying shop that still had significant power to a very, very prestigious shop that transcended lobbying in many ways.” They wanted to expand very fast, and they did,” Gatto said. “Mercury actively sought former elected officials. The firm has long been an influential lobbying force in California politics.įormer Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Los Angeles Democrat who chaired the Assembly Appropriations Committee, said Mercury’s reputation in the state Capitol was distinct from that of other public affairs firms. In California, 32 of its 34 partners, directors and other employees resigned, as well as 15 people in a London unit that was started by the California partners. Justice Department to represent a number of foreign entities, including the governments of Ethiopia and Haiti. Mercury, a bipartisan firm, has multiple offices in the United States, including in Washington, Albany, N.Y., and Austin, Texas, and has an international reach as well. Spokespeople for Omnicom Group and Mercury said they could not comment until Thursday. “All our clients are coming with us,” said Villaraigosa, the former Los Angeles mayor who also accused Omnicom of holding them “hostage” with noncompete clauses.īoxer, the former United States senator, did not respond to a request for comment. Nuñez, Villaraigosa, Boxer and the other California employees who left the company plan to set up a public affairs and consulting firm. and Westlands Water District, the utility that oversees the heart of the state’s agricultural lands in the Central Valley. The lawsuit and the resignations - from about a quarter of the company's workforce - throw into doubt the California presence of a powerhouse lobbying firm, which has raked in $1.3 million so far this year from clients such as Clorox, Lyft, the California Charter Schools Assn. “I have no choice but to stand up for not only my business, but my reputation and my dignity,” Nuñez, a former state Assembly speaker, wrote in a resignation letter to Omnicom Chief Executive John Wren on Friday. And Nuñez excoriates the company's handling of a foreign nonprofit tied to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort that exposed Mercury to liability and public denouncement. The suit also faults Omnicom for its use of restrictive covenants - in effect noncompete clauses - that are illegal under California law even if signed. Nuñez filed a lawsuit that alleges that Omnicom - Mercury's parent company - failed to live up to an agreement that would allow the California group to grow its business around the world. The departures are largely prompted by financial disputes. (Getty Images)įormer prominent Democratic elected officials Fabian Nuñez, Barbara Boxer and Antonio Villaraigosa led the mass resignations from one of the state's most powerful lobbying firms, Mercury Public Affairs. The former Democratic senator served from 1993 to 2017, when she was succeeded by now-Vice President Kamala Harris.From left Antonio Villaraigosa, Barbara Boxer and Fabian Nunez have left one of the state's most powerful lobbying firms, Mercury Public Affairs. The department is offering up to $2,000 as a reward leading to an arrest in the case. This incident is currently being investigated by the police department’s robbery section, police said. “I was yelling at the kid ‘Why would you do this to a grandma?’ but he could care less,” Boxer said in the interview. “I’m not physically hurt at all, I’m just shook up.”īoxer said she believes the suspect did not know who she was and described him as someone under 18 who fled the scene in a black sedan, according to KPIX.
“He pushed me very hard… and before I could follow him, he grabbed my phone,” Boxer told CNN affiliate KPIX. The suspect “forcefully took” Boxer’s cell phone and fled the area in a nearby waiting vehicle, police said.īoxer, 80, said she was “shook up” following the assault. local time in the 300 block of 3rd Street, the Oakland Police Department confirmed to CNN. The assault and robbery occurred Monday at 1:15 p.m.
“She is thankful that she was not seriously injured.” “The assailant pushed her in the back, stole her cell phone and jumped in a waiting car,” a spokesperson from Boxer’s office said. Barbara Boxer of California was a victim of assault and theft Monday in the Jack London Square neighborhood of Oakland, her office said.
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