F Minus today called on Maryland’s top lobbying firm, Harris Jones & Malone, to drop Elon Musk’s Tesla as a client because DOGE-driven funding cuts are harming HJM clients such as Johns Hopkins University and the American Federation of Teachers. Statewide, DOGE job and funding cuts have led to the loss of an estimated 13,000 jobs.
“Drastic DOGE cuts to education, public health, housing, and environmental programs are damaging Maryland,” said James Browning, Executive Director of F Minus. “Many of the good things that HJM has done for Baltimore, in particular, are being undone by DOGE. The firm needs to cut ties with Musk’s Tesla and refuse to work for any Musk company.”
HJM has lobbied to obtain funding for Johns Hopkins. Yet under DOGE, the university has lost $800 million in federal funding and been forced to cut more than 2,000 jobs. In February, JHU joined other universities in suing the Trump administration over a new National Institutes of Health policy that would limit federal funding for overhead costs associated with research projects.
HJM has also lobbied for education funding on behalf of the Maryland Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. National AFT President Randi Weingarten has referred to DOGE’s and President Trump’s plan to cut half of all staff at the Federal Department of Education as an “evisceration.” In February, the National Chapter of the AFT joined a lawsuit calling for DOGE operatives to be banned from accessing the records of the DOE.
“The ever-expanding list of DOGE targets threatens nearly everyone in Maryland,” Browning continued. “So why would any Maryland lobbying firm want DOGE’s top dog Musk as a client?” Last Friday, the Trump Administration announced drastic cuts at seven more agencies, including the Minority Business Development Agency, which aims to bolster minority-owned businesses. HJM represents the Maryland Minority Contractors Association.
In May 2024, the National lobbying firm Pioneer Public Affairs dropped Tesla as a client as Elon Musk’s activities in support of Donald Trump became increasingly incompatible with the pro-labor, pro-environment missions of many of its other clients.