LS2 Group withdraws as University of Iowa lobbyist, citing conflict of interest

IOWA CITY — A Des Moines-based government and public affairs firm the Board of Regents recently hired to lobby on behalf of the University of Iowa this upcoming session has resigned before its work could even start.

“Upon publication of the award to select our firm to provide government affairs representation for the University of Iowa, an existing client of our firm raised a conflict-of-interest issue that we were unable to resolve,” the LS2 group wrote Wednesday in a letter withdrawing from its contract with the board.

LS2 — with deep Republican roots and Saudi Arabia ties — signed a first-of-its-kind contract with the board in late November agreeing to “represent the interests of the board and the university before the Iowa Legislature and the executive branch.”

“Consultant shall provide the board with state relations services, which shall be primarily dedicated to the University of Iowa,” according to LS2’s one-session contract set to terminate June 30, 2026 — with an option to renew for subsequent sessions.

The firm on Wednesday expressed “deep regret” in withdrawing from the agreement.

“It has always been our practice that determinations of potential conflicts of interest reside with our clients and it is incumbent upon us to respect their decisions,” LS2 partner Jeffrey Boeyink wrote Wednesday. “My sincere apologies for any embarrassment this might cause and my best wishes on finding a firm to do this important work.”

In accepting its request to terminate the agreement, the board office on Thursday asserted it should not be responsible for any associated costs, fees or expenses.

LS2 history

LS2 made news in 2019 when it signed a one-year $1.5 million contract with the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C. to influence public opinion nationally by informing “the public, government officials, and the media about the importance of fostering and promoting strong relations between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” according to media reports.

Before its recent decision to hire LS2, the board had used its own internal “state relations officers” to lobby on behalf of the universities — like Keith Saunders, who served as UI lobbyist for 17 years before recently becoming “associate general counsel and facilities coordinator” for the board.

The regents contract — which would have paid LS2 $7,500 a month for the seven-month period between December and the end of June, totaling $52,500 — assigned two consultants to the UI job: firm partner Boeyink and Brittany Lumley, managing director of government affairs.

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Boeyink joined LS2 in 2013 as a senior vice president after spending three years as chief of staff for Gov. Terry Branstad from 2010 to Sept. 6, 2013. In that role, Boeyink served as the state’s chief operating officer — overseeing operations of the governor’s office and the state’s executive branch.

He also served as Branstad’s chief policy adviser and ran Branstad’s 2010 campaign, raising a record $8.5 million, according to LS2 — of which he became partner in 2016.

Boeyink’s political experience includes a stint as executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa as well as an “association manager, PAC director, major donor fundraiser, and longtime lobbyist at the Iowa State Capitol.”

As a lobbyist over the years, Boeyink has represented dozens of Iowa entities including former Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter’s Summit Group and Summit Carbon Solutions, which are trying to build a carbon sequestration pipeline across Iowa.

He also represented Wild Rose Entertainment LLC, founded and previously led by another regent President Michael Richards, along with Western Governors University, Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corp., and MercyOne — locked in a legal dispute with the former Mercy Iowa City hospital, which UIHC bought at bankruptcy auction last year.

The LS2 firm’s founding partners have deep Republican ties — starting with Charles Larson Jr., who served in the Iowa Legislature as a state representatives in the 1990s, when he chaired the House Economic Development Committee and House Judiciary Committee.

Larson — an Iowa native and UI graduate — also chaired the Republican Party of Iowa for two terms, served on U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential kitchen cabinet, and was ambassador to Latvia under George W. Bush, according to his bio and public records.

Fellow founding partner Karen Slifka was Midwest regional political director for the Republican National Committee and in 2004 worked on President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign.

Joe Shannahan, a third founding partner who joined several years later, was communications director and spokesman for Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack in the 2000s and spokesman for Sen. Tom Harkin’s re-election campaign.

Before LS2’s 2019 Saudi Arabia contract, the Associated Press in 2017 reported its staff had lobbied for the foreign government. And Larson’s father — Chuck Larson Sr. — had been director of law enforcement in Saudi Arabia.

Neither the board nor the firm mentioned any specific conflicts in severing the agreement.

Board officials did not immediately say how or who would be lobbying for UI this session. The board is continuing to use internal state relations officers to advocate on behalf of Iowa State University, University of Northern Iowa, and University of Iowa Health Care.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com