Chrysler, GM lobby a shareholder — the feds

My K Street column follows up on the lobbying done with your tax dollars.

Chrysler, meanwhile, still has hired guns on retainer. Venable LLP and Timmons & Co. both filed lobbying registrations in recent days listing Chrysler as the client. Timmons has represented Chrysler since at least 1999, and Chrysler originally retained Venable in April 2008.

A Chrysler lobbyist at Timmons told me his firm needed to file a new registration effective June 11 because the Chrysler that emerged from bankruptcy that day was a new corporate entity. Venable, similarly, terminated its representation of the old Chrysler — legally “Chrysler LLC” -- June 10 and registered as a lobbyist for “Chrysler Group LLC.”

Asked about its lobbying, a Chrysler spokeswoman replied in an e-mail:

“There continues to be significant demand for education and information regarding Chrysler from legislators and government officials. These include responding to government requests for plant visits, explaining significant company decisions and preparing for various congressional hearings. All of this is lobbying under the law.”

Read the whole thing here.