With David Beavers and Aubree Eliza Weaver

CHAMBER HILL CO-FOUNDER LAUNCHES NEW FIRM: Michaela Sims, a co-founder of Chamber Hill Strategies, has left to launch her own firm, Sims Strategies. Sims decided to strike out on her own after a conflict of interest between two clients at Chamber Hill that couldn’t be resolved, she said in an interview. “It just made sense to split off,” she said. Sims is also a veteran of the Bockorny Group and before that worked for former Sens. Ben Nelson and Bob Kerrey, both Nebraska Democrats. Ted Prettyman is also leaving Chamber Hill to join the firm as a director.

— Sims is bringing five Chamber Hill clients with her, most of them in the health care sector: the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, AMAG Pharmaceuticals, the National Association for the Support of Long Term Care, WellCare and GlaxoSmithKline. The firm plans to focus on health and tax clients at the outset. (She’s lobbying for the American Academy of Adoption Attorney on preserving the adoption tax credit, among other issues.) “I would say our sweet spot is issues that will go through the [Senate] Finance Committee” and the House Ways and Means Committee, Sims said. She’s undaunted by the prospect of launching a Democratic firm — Prettyman previously worked for Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) — in Trump’s Washington. “The party that’s not in power is always going to be relevant — particularly in the Senate,” Sims said. “I would be saying the same if it was a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic-controlled Congress.”

Source: POLITICO Influence