Turmoil leads to rapid rise for new Capitol lobbying firm

Eagle-eyed readers of Capitol Weekly’s recent report on quarterly lobbying payments might have spotted an unfamiliar firm name among the top recipients for the first quarter of 2024: the Deveau Burr Group.

Especially close readers also might have noticed that Strategies 360, a perennial top firm in Sacramento, was conspicuously absent from the list of top payees for the quarter, although we did report that it has raked in more than $5.3 million over the first 15 months of the 2023-24 legislative cycle.

Still, you’d expect a firm that made $1.3 million in the first quarter of the cycle, nearly $1.4 in both the second and third quarters, and over $1 million in the fourth would have banked more overall for the cycle thus far.

Indeed, if you check out Strategies 360’s page on Cal-Access, you’ll see that its earnings fell off a cliff in quarter five, dropping 83 percent from the fourth, down to just over $170,000.

What happened, you ask? The Seattle-based lobbying firm – with locations in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Vancouver, Washington and Washington, D.C., in addition to Sacramento – filed for bankruptcy in late November.

Virtually all of Strategies 360’s Sacramento-based lobbyists and clients jumped ship, with most of them transferring to the newly formed Deveau Burr Group, headed by former Strat 360 president Andrea Deveau and former head of Strat 360’s Bay Area office Timothy Burr Jr.

Strat 360 CEO Ron Dotzauer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for his company in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington to try to hold off what he has described in court records as a hostile takeover bid by his former business partner Eric Sorenson.

The case is ugly, with Sorenson claiming that Dotzauer owes him $6 million to buy out his stake in the firm. After years of litigation following Sorenson’s removal from the company, he secured a judgement against Dotzauer, then filed a motion to have a receiver oversee the Strategies 360’s assets.

Virtually all of Strategies 360’s Sacramento-based lobbyists and clients jumped ship, with most of them transferring to the newly formed Deveau Burr Group.

As Dotzauer said in December declaration filed in the bankruptcy proceedings, “This chapter 11 proceeding was filed in order to avoid the potential appointment of a receiver at the behest of creditor and former equity holder Eric Sorenson. If that had happened, it would have had a very negative impact on the company due to uncertainty about who would control and manage S360 going forward.”

Rather than wait through what is sure to be some pretty messy and protracted legal proceedings, 63 of Strat 360’s 68 Sacramento clients left the firm, as have eight of its nine Sacramento lobbyists.

Deveau and Burr added four former colleagues to their new firm – lobbyists Sarah Bridge, Gina Plate, Leticia “Tish” Rylander and Charles Wright – and scooped up more than 30 of Strat 360’s old clients, including Highland Community Charter and Technical Schools, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, KIPP SoCal Public Schools, Aurora Innovation, the Association of California Healthcare Districts, Exxon Mobil, Zoom and Lyft.

The Deveau Burr Group didn’t exist until Q4 of 2024, when it received only $35,500.00 in payments. In the next quarter, it brought in $882,488.46, making it the 23rd-highest-earning lobbying firm in Sacramento for the quarter.

“We are incredibly proud of the swift progress and success of our new firm, the Deveau Burr Group,” Managing Partner Andrea Deveau said in an email to Capitol Weekly. “Our team has worked tirelessly to establish a strong foundation built on dedication, expertise, and a steadfast work ethic.”

Devean Burr Group lobbyists have also picked up six clients that they didn’t take from Strat 360: Electric Era Technologies, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association Pacific, the city of Palm Desert, the Plumas Hospital District, Ripple and Varcomm.

“We are heads down, fully immersed in our work, forging ahead with determination and enthusiasm, Deveau said.

As for Strat 360, a spokesperson for the firm said in an email to Capitol Weekly that when Deveau, Burr and the others left, “(W)e took it as an opportunity to reset our long-term strategy and decided to combine our SAC and SF teams into a new Northern California office for the firm helmed by Rashad Johnson and Theo Ellington, with a focus on diversifying the client base while still maintaining an active presence in the state capital. Rashad and Theo are both firm vets and community leaders that bring valuable skillsets, perspectives, and relationships.”

The spokesperson also suggested that Strat 360 harbors no ill will towards the Deveau Burr Group, writing, “The previous leadership of our Sacramento office built a successful practice primarily focused on government relations. The firm deeply values what they built/contributed and maintains positive working relationships.”

The spokesperson added that Strat 360’s current business extends beyond lobbying, writing “(T)he Northern California team represents a variety of clients in areas not included in lobbying disclosures (communications, community engagement, PR, crisis management, etc).”

The email from the spokesperson also included a quote attributable to Rashad Johnson, Strat 360’s senior vice president, Sacramento: “We have big plans for the future and are excited to continue building on our vision for the firm in Northern California.”