Peck Madigan Jones (now Tiber Creek Group)

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VERIFIEDPRIMARY SOURCES
VERIFIED 2026-03-26
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lobbying k-street democratic bipartisan healthcare pharma biden clinton trade appropriations energy

related: PhRMA - Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America · Apollo Global Management · Fossil Fuel Bloc

Who They Are

Peck Madigan Jones — now operating as the Tiber Creek Group following a 2021 rebrand — is one of Washington’s oldest continuously operating lobbying firms and the Democratic Party’s premier healthcare and appropriations shop. Founded in 1987 as Griffin, Johnson & Associates by Pat Griffin, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D-WV), and David Johnson, a former aide to Senators Edmund Muskie and George Mitchell (D-ME), the firm built its foundation in the Senate Democratic leadership apparatus and has never strayed far from it.

The firm reported $17.7 million in lobbying revenue in the first three quarters of 2025 (Q1–Q3) from 117 clients, tracking to an annualized ~$23.6M run rate. The firm employs 20 registered lobbyists — making it one of the larger operations in this cohort. The Q1–Q3 Q1–Q3 revenue reflects continued reliance on healthcare and appropriations clients amid Trump administration trade policy uncertainty. Revenue has grown steadily from the Peck Madigan Jones era (which peaked around $5.3 million under that name) as the Tiber Creek Group consortium model consolidated multiple subsidiary firms under a single umbrella. The combined entity has been named a Bloomberg Government “Top-Performing Lobbying Firm” in 2020, 2022, and 2024 — the kind of sustained recognition that reflects consistent client retention rather than one-off legislative wins.

The firm’s evolution tracks through a series of name changes that mirror its partnership shifts: Griffin, Johnson & Associates (1987) → Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart → Peck Madigan Jones (after Jonathon Jones, former Chief of Staff to Sen. Tom Carper, joined in 2007 and David Johnson retired) → Tiber Creek Group (2021 rebrand). Jeffrey Peck, the firm’s namesake and former Chairman who served as Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee under then-Chairman Joe Biden, stepped back from the chairmanship in 2018 but remains associated with the firm. Jones now serves as Managing Partner.

The Tiber Creek Group is structured as a consortium of specialized subsidiaries: the core government relations operation (formerly PMJ), the Ickes & Enright Group (a Democratic lobbying firm founded by Harold Ickes, Bill Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff), Bay Bridge Strategies (a Republican-side operation), TiberCom (communications and public affairs), and Tiber Creek Health Strategies (healthcare-specialized). This consortium model is the firm’s structural innovation — it allows a historically Democratic firm to offer bipartisan coverage without diluting its core Democratic identity.

Client List

Tiber Creek Group’s 2025 client roster of 120 entities is overwhelmingly concentrated in healthcare and pharmaceuticals — a profile that directly reflects the firm’s Senate health committee lineage and Jeffrey Peck’s Judiciary Committee connections to Biden’s policy network.

Healthcare & Pharma (dominant sector)

  • AstraZeneca PLC — $360,000 (top client, pharmaceuticals)
  • Blue Cross/Blue Shield — $360,000 (health insurance)
  • Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy — $320,000 (pharmacy trade association)
  • ACADIA Pharmaceuticals — $320,000 (neuroscience pharma)
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology — $280,000 (physician lobby)
  • BeOne Medicines USA — $280,000 (biopharmaceuticals)
  • Amgen Inc — $240,000 (biotechnology)
  • Astellas Pharma — $240,000 (pharmaceuticals)
  • Agilon Health — $240,000 (health services)
  • Abbott Laboratories — $200,000 (medical devices/pharma)
  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals — $240,000 (rare disease pharma)
  • Biotechnology Innovation Organization — $100,000 (biotech industry lobby)

Defense & Aerospace

  • Airbus Group — $240,000 (via Airbus Americas, air transport)

Finance & Investment

  • Apollo Global Management — $240,000 (private equity)
  • Bank of America — $240,000 (commercial banking)

Energy

  • Bloom Energy — $240,000 (renewable energy/fuel cells)

Tech & Security

  • AlClear LLC — $240,000 (via Secure Identity LLC, biometric security — CLEAR airport program)
  • Altana Technologies — $160,000 (supply chain intelligence)

Hospitality & Gaming

  • American Hotel & Lodging Assn — $240,000 (hospitality trade association)
  • Boyd Gaming — $240,000 (casinos/gambling)

Advocacy

  • Accountable for Health — $240,000 (health advocacy)

Money

The client list tells a clear story: this is a healthcare lobbying firm that happens to do other things. Of the top 25 clients by billing, roughly half are pharmaceutical companies, health insurers, biotech firms, or healthcare trade associations. AstraZeneca and Blue Cross/Blue Shield share the top billing slot at $360,000 each. The concentration is deliberate — Jeffrey Peck’s Senate Judiciary Committee connections to Biden and Jonathon Jones’s work with Sen. Carper on the Affordable Care Act created a healthcare policy network that the firm has monetized for two decades. When the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug pricing provisions were being negotiated, Tiber Creek’s clients were the companies most directly affected. The firm’s healthcare dominance also explains its revenue resilience: pharmaceutical lobbying demand doesn’t fluctuate with party control the way tech or energy lobbying does, because drug pricing, Medicare reimbursement, and FDA regulation are permanent legislative fixtures regardless of who holds the gavel.

The Revolving Door

Of 20 registered lobbyists, 13 are revolving door hires (65.0%) — former government employees now lobbying. Zero are former members of Congress. The revolving door runs primarily through Democratic Senate offices and the Clinton and Obama White Houses, with a Republican subsidiary (Bay Bridge Strategies) providing cross-aisle coverage.

Key Revolving Door Hires:

  • Jeffrey Peck (Former Chairman, 2007-2018) — Former General Counsel and Majority Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee under then-Chairman Joe Biden (D-DE), serving from 1987-1992. In that role, Peck played a leading role on four Supreme Court nominations (Robert Bork, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas), proposed constitutional amendments, the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990, and civil rights, intellectual property, and antitrust legislation. After leaving the Senate, Peck built the lobbying firm that bears his name. He later served as Treasurer and Vice Chairman of the Biden Foundation (2017-present) and as a volunteer senior advisor to the Biden Presidential Transition. Named one of Washington’s “top lobbyists” by The Hill for more than a decade. The Biden connection is the firm’s most valuable asset: Peck staffed Biden on the Judiciary Committee, then fundraised for Biden’s foundation, then advised Biden’s transition to the presidency, then lobbied the Biden administration for corporate clients.

  • J. Jonathon Jones (Managing Partner) — Former Chief of Staff to Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE). As Carper’s CoS, Jones led efforts on Class Action reform, Medicare Part D, the Affordable Care Act, the Gulf Coast Restoration Act, TSCA reform, clean energy and healthcare provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, and numerous trade agreements. Jones joined the firm in 2007 and became its central figure after David Johnson’s retirement, with the firm rebranding as Peck Madigan Jones to include his name. Now runs the entire Tiber Creek Group operation.

  • Harold Ickes (Partner, Ickes & Enright Group) — Former Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff to President Clinton (1994-1997), serving under Leon Panetta. Ickes co-founded the Ickes & Enright Group with Janice Enright in 1997, which later merged into the Tiber Creek Group consortium. Before the White House, Ickes was a prominent New York labor lawyer and Democratic operative. He advised Hillary Clinton on her 2000 Senate campaign and 2008 presidential bid. The Ickes subsidiary gives Tiber Creek direct Clinton White House lineage — one of the most valuable Democratic credential sets in Washington.

  • John Michael Gonzalez (Partner) — Came to PMJ after serving in the Obama Transition’s Legislative Affairs office, where he led outreach to the House Committees on Financial Services, Energy & Commerce, and Small Business. Previously worked in the U.S. House of Representatives. Served as lead Democratic lobbyist for the Business Roundtable-led coalition that renewed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA/fast track). Described as a go-to Democratic strategist for the House New Democrat Coalition and trusted advisor to House Democratic Leadership.

  • Jay Heimbach (Partner) — Former White House Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs under President Obama. Previously advisor to President Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff. Also served as Director of the Office of Legislative and Inter-Governmental Affairs at the FCC. Before joining PMJ, came from the World Bank where he served as Special Representative to North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.

  • Drew Cantor (Partner) — Revolving door profile.

  • Emily Kirlin (Partner) — Revolving door profile.

  • Lindsey Ledwin (Partner) — Revolving door profile.

  • Matt Leffingwell (Partner) — Revolving door profile.

  • Corey Malmgren (Partner) — Revolving door profile.

  • Andrew McKechnie (Partner) — Revolving door profile.

  • Tim Molino (Partner) — Revolving door profile.

  • Sean Richardson (Partner) — Revolving door profile.

2024–2025 Recent Strategic Hires

Jan Beukelman — Partner (January 2024). Chief of Staff to Senator Tom Carper (D-DE); Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Congressional Affairs. Fourteen years of government service across financial services, energy, healthcare, and trade policy. Directly integrated into Tiber Creek’s trade and appropriations practices alongside Jones (also former Carper CoS), providing deep Democratic trade policy expertise during Trump’s second-term tariff/reciprocal trade campaign.

Nikole Burroughs — Senior Advisor (2023–2025). Deputy Chief of Staff at USAID; Senior Advisor on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Brings international development and foreign affairs expertise to strengthen the firm’s bipartisan appropriations practice in foreign aid, development policy, and State/Foreign Operations appropriations — complementing the existing Carper/Ickes/Peck Democratic appropriations network.

Contradiction

The revolving door at Tiber Creek Group runs through three distinct Democratic power centers: the Senate (Peck/Biden Judiciary, Jones/Carper, the Griffin/Byrd founding), the Clinton White House (Ickes as Deputy CoS), and the Obama White House (Gonzalez transition team, Heimbach Legislative Affairs). This three-era coverage means the firm has institutional relationships with every generation of the Democratic establishment — from the Byrd-era Senate old guard through the Clinton centrists to the Obama coalition. The Biden connection is the capstone: Peck literally staffed Biden’s committee, then advised his presidential transition. When pharmaceutical companies hire Tiber Creek to lobby on drug pricing, they’re buying access to a network that spans 40 years of Democratic power. The firm’s bipartisan subsidiary (Bay Bridge Strategies) exists to cover the Republican side, but the Democratic network is the product being sold.

What They Deliver

Tiber Creek Group delivers healthcare policy access and federal appropriations expertise — two issue areas where its Senate Democratic lineage provides structural advantages.

Top Issues Lobbied (2025):

Issue AreaReportsLobbyistsClients
Health Issues1251838
Medicare & Medicaid1111530
Taxes981931
Fed Budget & Appropriations891928
Trade481516
Finance391011
Homeland Security3499
Energy & Nuclear Power311510
Insurance2897
Labor, Antitrust & Workplace26108

Key Legislative and Regulatory Work:

  • Healthcare Dominance: Health Issues (125 reports) and Medicare/Medicaid (111 reports) together account for more lobbying activity than any other combined issue pair. With 38 healthcare clients, the firm runs what amounts to a standing healthcare lobbying operation — permanent advocacy infrastructure for the pharmaceutical and insurance industries on drug pricing, reimbursement rates, and regulatory oversight.

  • Appropriations Machine: The firm’s about page highlights its “best-in-class budget and appropriations practice” — a reflection of its Senate Democratic lineage. Pat Griffin’s Byrd connection and subsequent partnerships built deep appropriations relationships. With 89 reports on federal budget and appropriations for 28 clients, this is one of the larger appropriations practices in the cohort.

  • Drug Pricing / IRA Implementation: Jonathon Jones’s direct involvement in the Inflation Reduction Act’s legislative process — working on healthcare provisions while serving as managing partner of a firm representing pharmaceutical clients — positions Tiber Creek at the center of IRA drug pricing implementation. The clients affected by Medicare drug price negotiation (AstraZeneca, Amgen, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals) are paying the firm that helped shape the legislation to navigate its implementation.

  • Trade Policy: Jones’s Carper-era work on trade agreements and TPA renewal, combined with Gonzalez’s Business Roundtable TPA coalition leadership, gives the firm trade policy credentials. 48 trade reports for 16 clients in 2025.

The Bipartisan Model

Tiber Creek Group’s bipartisan model is structurally unusual: rather than mixing Republican and Democratic partners within a single firm, it operates parallel subsidiary firms serving different parties.

Democratic Side (Core Operation):

  • Jeffrey Peck — Biden Judiciary Committee Staff Director, Biden Foundation Treasurer
  • Jonathon Jones — Sen. Carper CoS (D-DE), Managing Partner
  • Harold Ickes — Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff, Ickes & Enright Group
  • John Michael Gonzalez — Obama Transition Legislative Affairs
  • Jay Heimbach — Obama WH Legislative Affairs, Clinton WH advisor

Republican Side (Bay Bridge Strategies subsidiary):

  • Bay Bridge Strategies operates as an “accomplished and experienced” Republican partnership within the Tiber Creek family, providing bipartisan coverage without requiring the core Democratic firm to hire Republican partners directly.

Specialized Subsidiaries:

  • Tiber Creek Health Strategies — healthcare-specific lobbying (leveraging the firm’s dominant sector)
  • TiberCom — communications and public affairs integration

This consortium model solves a problem that most bipartisan firms handle by hiring across the aisle: how do you maintain deep Democratic identity and relationships while offering clients Republican access? Tiber Creek’s answer is structural separation — the Democratic firm stays Democratic, the Republican subsidiary stays Republican, and the consortium packages them together for clients who need both. Whether this works better than the integrated model (used by firms like Mehlman Consulting or Cornerstone) depends on whether clients value depth of partisan relationships over the convenience of a single point of contact.

Billing vs. Outcomes

Lobbying-to-Policy Timeline

DateRecipient/TargetAmountPolicy ReturnTime Gap
1987-1992Senate Judiciary CommitteePeck’s govt salaryStaff Director under Biden — built relationships that became firm’s foundation and Biden-network access premiumPre-firm
1994-1997Clinton White HouseIckes’ govt salaryDeputy Chief of Staff — converted to Ickes & Enright Group founding, later merged into Tiber Creek0 years (immediate)
2007Sen. Carper’s officeJones’ govt salaryCoS departure — joined PMJ, became managing partner, renamed firmImmediate
2008-2009Obama TransitionGonzalez/Heimbach govt rolesLegislative Affairs positions → PMJ partnerships, Obama-era Democratic access1-2 years
2017-2020Biden FoundationPeck volunteer serviceTreasurer/Vice Chairman — maintained Biden relationship through private sector gap0 years (continuous)
2020-2021Biden TransitionPeck advisory roleSenior advisor to Biden Presidential Transition — reactivated Senate-era relationship for incoming administrationImmediate
2021-2024Biden White House / Congress$23.8M annual revenueHealthcare clients positioned during IRA drug pricing negotiations. Jones’s direct ACA/IRA legislative work monetized for pharma clients0-3 years
2022Congress / CMSClient feesInflation Reduction Act drug pricing provisions — firm’s clients (AstraZeneca, Amgen) directly affected by Medicare negotiation frameworkCurrent cycle
2023–2025CMS / Senate Finance / Ways & Means$17.7M (Q1–Q3 2025)125 health reports, 111 Medicare/Medicaid reports for 38 healthcare clients — IRA implementation lobbying continuing at full scale; Biden healthcare network (Peck, Jones) still active despite Trump administrationCurrent cycle
Jan 2024Senate Finance / Trade / CongressBeukelman hire costJan Beukelman (Senator Carper CoS, USTR Congressional Affairs, 14 yrs govt service) joins as Partner to deepen trade expertise during Trump tariff/reciprocal trade policy battlesImmediate
2024–2025Senate Appropriations / State Dept / USAIDBurroughs hire costNikole Burroughs (USAID Deputy CoS, Senate Appropriations senior advisor) joins to strengthen bipartisan appropriations and foreign development practice — adds international affairs depth to existing Democratic appropriations networkImmediate

Money

The firm’s most valuable asset isn’t any single client relationship — it’s the Jeffrey Peck-Joe Biden connection, which spans nearly four decades. Peck staffed Biden’s Judiciary Committee (1987-1992), maintained the relationship through various Biden ventures, served as Biden Foundation Treasurer (2017-present), advised the Biden presidential transition (2020-2021), and then lobbied the Biden administration for pharmaceutical clients. This is the longest-running revolving door relationship in the cohort — a single person who moved from government service under a senator to private sector lobbying, then re-engaged with that same senator when he became president. The revenue data confirms the value: Tiber Creek’s revenue growth from the PMJ era (~$5M) to the current $23.8M tracks the firm’s expansion from a Senate-focused shop to a full-service operation with Biden White House access. The consortium model (adding Ickes & Enright, Bay Bridge, TiberCom, Health Strategies) was the mechanism for scaling — each subsidiary adds a new access point or capability without diluting the core Democratic identity.

Class Analysis

Peck Madigan Jones — now Tiber Creek Group — represents the institutional wing of Democratic lobbying: a firm that doesn’t flash celebrity ex-members or headline-grabbing foreign government clients, but instead builds durable, decades-long relationships with the Democratic Senate establishment and converts them into a permanent healthcare lobbying operation. The firm’s structural function is to provide pharmaceutical companies, health insurers, and biotech firms with continuous access to the Democratic policy apparatus that regulates their industries.

The Jeffrey Peck-Joe Biden relationship is the template. Peck spent five years as Biden’s Judiciary Committee Staff Director, building the kind of institutional knowledge and personal trust that doesn’t expire. When Peck left government to build a lobbying firm, that relationship became the firm’s founding asset. When Biden ran for president 28 years later, Peck was still close enough to serve as a transition advisor. The pharmaceutical companies paying Tiber Creek $360,000 annually aren’t buying a one-year lobbying contract — they’re buying access to a relationship that was built with public funds on a Senate committee in 1987 and has been continuously maintained ever since.

The consortium model reveals a structural truth about bipartisan lobbying. Most firms hire partners from both parties and call themselves bipartisan. Tiber Creek’s approach is more honest: the core firm is Democratic, full stop. The Republican access is provided by a separate subsidiary (Bay Bridge Strategies) that operates under the same corporate umbrella but maintains its own partisan identity. This structure acknowledges what integrated bipartisan firms obscure: that partisan access is the product, and mixing parties within a single firm can dilute the depth of relationships that clients are actually paying for. Whether this is more effective than the integrated model is an empirical question — but Tiber Creek’s sustained growth and Bloomberg Government recognition suggest the consortium approach works.

The healthcare concentration is the firm’s most revealing feature. When 125 of your lobbying reports are about health issues and 111 are about Medicare/Medicaid, you’re not a general-purpose lobbying firm that happens to do healthcare — you’re a healthcare lobbying firm with a general-purpose sideline. The ACA, the IRA’s drug pricing provisions, Medicare reimbursement rates, FDA approvals — these are the legislative battles where Tiber Creek’s Senate Democratic relationships deliver the most value, and these are the battles that pharmaceutical companies will pay $200,000-$360,000 annually to fight. The firm’s revenue resilience — growing from $5 million under the PMJ name to $24 million under Tiber Creek — reflects the permanent nature of healthcare policy demand. Drugs will always need FDA approval, Medicare will always set reimbursement rates, and insurance companies will always need someone who knows the Senate Finance Committee staff by name.

Harold Ickes’ presence in the consortium adds a historical layer. Ickes was Bill Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff — the person who managed the White House’s legislative agenda and political operations. When he left government in 1997 and founded the Ickes & Enright Group, he converted Clinton White House access into a lobbying product. That subsidiary later merged into Tiber Creek, adding Clinton-era relationships to the firm’s Biden-era and Obama-era networks. The result is a firm with continuous Democratic White House access spanning Clinton (Ickes), Obama (Gonzalez, Heimbach), and Biden (Peck) — three of the last four Democratic administrations, connected through a single corporate entity. This is not a bug in the system. This is the system.

Sources

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