Dutko Worldwide (DW), now Dutko Grayling formerly The Dutko Group, TDG or TDG Companies, is a Washington, DC–based bipartisan lobbying firm that offers "comprehensive public policy management." DW's services include "Issues and opportunities assessment, Strategy Development, Crisis Management, Execution of sound public policy management programs." It identifies as its core issue areas "Appropriations, Technology, Telecommunications, Health Care, Energy, Financial Services, International Trade, Environmental Regulation, Corporate and Global Tax Policy, Sustainable Development."
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History
Dutko Worldwide was founded by Dan Dutko, as the lobbying firm Dutko and Associates, in 1981. DW later expanded to become The Dutko Group Companies. Dan Dutko stressed the importance of relationship-building to lobbying: "Even those who oppose our initiatives today may eventually become allies who will support our initiatives tomorrow. The extended hand of mutual respect, even among adversaries, opens more doors than an iron fist."[2]
In 2008, Dutko Worldwide reported $20.3 million in federal lobbying income, a decrease of 9% from 2007.[3]
In late 2009, Huntsworth, the UK-based global public relations and health care communications group, acquired Dutko Worldwide to become Huntsworth's primary public affairs brand. [4]
In 2019, DC–based Dutko Grayling lobbying firm reported 4 lobbyists and $2,280,000 in lobbying expenditures, down from 64 lobbyists and $22,771,500 in lobbying expenditures in 2007. [5]
Campaigns and clients
Industry-supported "consumer" groups
According to The Hill Staff's biweekly listing of the top lobbyists in a specific industry[6] DW was one of the major contributors in developing the Consumer Alliance for Affordable Natural Gas, an effort launched by major chemical companies that want to reach a critical lobbying mass by joining industry and consumer groups together in a campaign to lower natural-gas prices. Companies such as American Chemistry Council, American Forest and Paper Association, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Rohm and Haas, and the Society of Plastic Industries want to cut the rising price of natural gas - which the companies use both to fuel plant production and as a feedstock for their products — by encouraging more drilling and new conservation efforts.