Mike Johnson's policy guy

Speaker Mike Johnson has hired Dan Ziegler to be his policy director, Ziegler confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: Ziegler has deep ties to the House GOP conference and has lobbied Congress on a huge slate of policy issues in recent years.

Zoom in: Ziegler staffed the Republican Study Committee when Johnson was the chair.

Tech ties: Ziegler has lobbied on behalf of the News Media Alliance on digital publishing issues and the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act as recently as Q3 of 2023.

• The News Media Alliance has railed against Big Tech for what it says is an unfair monopoly on digital advertising, hurting newsrooms.
• He also lobbied for Heritage Action for America.
• In the past few years, Heritage has accused Big Tech of conservative censorship and advocated for the overhaul of Section 230.

Of note: After a stint on the Republican Study Committee, he later moved to Williams and Jensen, where he had just recently registered to lobby on behalf of Ford Motor.

• His other clients have included pharmaceutical and financial companies, as well as Bloom Energy, a fuel cell company.
• Ziegler also did a stint at Interior during the Bush administration before becoming legislative director for Rep. Doug Lamborn.
• He also worked briefly for the American Energy Alliance.