Leading private equity’s charge in Washington is the prosaically named American Investment Council. Headquartered about 2 miles from the Capitol, it’s backed by outfits such as Carlyle Group LP, Apollo Global Management Inc. and Blackstone, giving it the resources to cast a message nationally. The AIC regularly places opinion pieces in local newspapers to burnish the industry’s reputation, often noting that the firms control companies employing thousands of area residents.
“Businesses backed by private equity employ over 11,800 workers in the Hawkeye state,” AIC president Drew Maloney, who served as a liaison between the Treasury Department and Congress earlier in the Trump administration, wrote in Iowa’s Des Moines Register in July. “Real jobs. Real lives.”
The industry has shown a knack for hiring Beltway insiders who can navigate both Republican and Democratic circles. This month, the AIC plans to bring CEOs of private-equity-owned companies to Washington to chat with lawmakers across the spectrum. “They have managed to have influence with both parties,” said John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University.
Republican Support
Take Ken Mehlman, KKR’s political whiz who held various positions in the George W. Bush administration, managing his 2004 re-election campaign and then chairing the RNC.
In mid-2017, as Republicans were racing to come up with a tax overhaul for Trump, Mehlman helped persuade House Republicans to protect the carried interest loophole that makes it possible for wealthy executives to pay lower tax rates than their secretaries.
The money managers get paid in two ways: an annual management fee and a share of investment profits. While the fee is taxed as ordinary income, the profit share is treated like a capital gain and taxed less. Critics say this doesn’t make sense because the profit share is essentially just another fee paid by clients.
After an effort spearheaded by Mehlman, 22 Republican congressmen signed a letter to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee arguing the break is good for the country. “Now, more than ever, we need a tax reform package that bolsters long-term investment in American companies,” they wrote. “Carried interest does exactly that.”
‘Almost No’ Regulation
Top private equity firms now wield assets that dwarf those of regional banks such as Fifth Third Bancorp and Citizens Financial Group Inc. But unlike banks, they mostly fall through the regulatory cracks.
Congress tried to tighten one of the industry’s favorite loopholes after the 2008 financial crisis. The aim was to force private equity firms to abide by many of the routine requirements -- compliance programs, inspections, disclosures on assets -- that other investment companies have faced since the 1940s.
By 2014, officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission had taken up the cause, talking about the need for more transparency, or as they called it, “spreading sunshine.” Yet behind the scenes, congressional staffers close to the industry were encouraging the SEC to focus elsewhere.