Daniel Bates is an experienced government relations professional who has been lobbyist, client and a professional manager in a large city. Mr. Bates has built his practice helping public and private clients achieve their business objectives by partnering with government at all levels. He brings to Thorn Run Partners extensive lobbying experience and an intuitive understanding of client needs and expectations.

Mr. Bates joined Thorn Run Partners in 2010 after serving the City of Portland, Oregon as its Director of Government Relations. Previous to his tenure at the City of Portland, Mr. Bates was an attorney and lobbyist with the legislative practice group at Patton Boggs LLP, DC’s largest lobby shop.

Mr. Bates has represented large and small cities, counties, transit agencies, ports and state governments – helping his clients achieve both funding and policy goals. Mr. Bates has considerable expertise in pursing client objectives in Surface Transportation Authorization legislation, Water Resources Development Act legislation, annual appropriations legislation, and energy legislation. Non-profit and educational institutions have relied on Mr. Bates to help them navigate the annual appropriations process to secure federal partnership on innovative programmatic and capital projects. Mr. Bates has also worked with business clients seeking to introduce technology into markets by partnering with governments that act as purchaser, promoter and driver of the market through policy decisions.

Navigating projects that require government relations expertise at local, state and federal levels simultaneously is a significant component of Mr. Bates’s professional portfolio. With significant experience lobbying the Oregon State Legislature and Executive branch, Mr. Bates can assist public and private clients with interests in Oregon to achieve their goals. Mr. Bates is uniquely situated to guide clients through multiple levels of government, represent clients at the state and federal level, develop public private partnerships, and deliver top-notch client service. Mr. Bates received bachelors of arts degrees in Political Science and History at Houghton College in Houghton, New York and earned his juris doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law.

When he’s not in Washington, DC, Mr. Bates lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Allison and two children.