Last year when Ed Gillespie presided over the Republican National Committee and Marc Racicot was chairman of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, it would have been nearly impossible to find an issue on which the two publicly disagreed.

But now that they are back to lobbying, the two former party chiefs — Racicot was Gillespie’s immediate predecessor at the RNC — have lined up on opposite sides of at least one long-running lobbying saga. [IMGCAP(1)]

The Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, an American group that lobbies against Canadian-subsidized lumber imports in the U.S. market, is battling its Canadian rival, the British Columbia Lumber Trade Council. The Canadian group has long retained Gillespie’s firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates. The U.S. group recently hired a team from Bracewell & Patterson, led by Racicot.

Both Racicot and Gillespie were unavailable for comment. But Terry Holt, a Quinn Gillespie & Associates colleague (and himself a spokesman for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign), said Gillespie, who also is penning a book, looks forward to facing off over the lumber issue with Racicot.

“His strong relationship with Gov. Racicot will help the issue. It’s a positive that two people who work so well together are working on bringing this to a resolution,” Holt said.

Foreign Agent Files. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office — Taiwan’s principal representative office in the United States — has renewed its contract with former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and the Atlanta-based firm where he works.

TECRO will stay with an Alston & Bird team led by Dole at a cost of $25,000 a month, according to documents filed with the Justice Department’s Foreign Agent Registration Unit.

Neither Dole nor officials from TECRO returned phone calls seeking comment. But the contract said Dole would facilitate regular meetings with senior members of the Bush administration and with Republican and Democratic Members of Congress.

The contract also requires that Alston & Bird not represent the government of the People’s Republic of China or most affiliates of its government. Beijing has considered Taiwan a renegade province since 1949, when the two split after the Communist revolution.

However, the parties agreed that Alston & Bird could continue to represent commercial clients where the People’s Republic of China’s ownership interest is one-half or less.

The contract also incorporates some more unusual details. It stipulates that if Dole travels for the client, he and two staff members must fly first-class. …

In the meantime, Joel Johnson and the team that recently moved from the Harbour Group to the Glover Park Group have brought their foreign-government clients to their new outpost.

Glover now represents the U.S. Malaysia Exchange Association, the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey. Johnson appears to be on good terms with his former firm because the Turkey client is through the Harbour Group.

Raising the Bar. Doris Matsui, the lobbyist, widow and now House candidate, has amassed an intimidating war chest in only six weeks on the campaign trail, thanks in part to her network of Washington contacts, including those at her firm, Collier Shannon Scott, according to FEC reports.

The widow of late Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.) reported last week she has raised nearly $700,000 in her bid to succeed her husband. Rep. Matsui died in office earlier this year.

Collier Shannon Scott’s PAC donated $5,000 to her campaign, and some of its clients have proved helpful as well.

The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers and the National Association of Insurance and Financial advisers both maxed out with donations of $5,000. Enterprise Rent-A-Car gave $1,000 and Fannie Mae gave $2,500.

Among the individual contributors were such notables as Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass); Madeleine Albright, secretary of State for then-President Bill Clinton; and Alice Rivlin, Clinton’s budget director.

A special election for the Sacramento-based seat is scheduled for May 3, but the real contest in the heavily Democratic district will be the March 8 primary. Matsui is considered a clear frontrunner in the race.

Making Rain. Kimberly Hoover, who runs the lobbying firm Hoover Partners, has added Rainmakers Bank, an American Indian-owned financial institution, to her client roster.

The bank is looking to encourage mortgage lending to individuals on Indian reservations.

“It’s like lending to land on a foreign nation — there’s no established court system,” Hoover said. She said her client is looking for a legislative fix, although no such bills are under consideration yet.

“We just want to open that dialogue,” said Hoover, who plans to focus her attention on the Senate Indian Affairs and Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committees as well as the House Financial Services panel.

Around the World. Burnishing its newly unveiled brand, the firm formerly known as the Dutko Group, now called Dutko Worldwide, is announcing four new hires.

The newly global firm is hiring Nancy Donaldson, a lobbyist formerly with the Downey McGrath Group; Joe Jaso, former director of government affairs for the Republican National Committee; and Sky Gallegos, most recently national political director for the presidential campaign of then-Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.).

The addition of Bill Andresen, most recently a vice president at the Democratic Leadership Counsel, was announced in this space last week.

K Street Moves. James Datri, former executive director of the House Democratic Caucus, joined Manatt, Phelps & Phillips as partner. … CTIA-The Wireless Association has hired Laura Zuckerman, formerly communications director for Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) on the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet. … Allison Shulman, a senior lobbyist for the National Association of Convenience Stores, has gone to work for the all-GOP lobbying firm Alexander Strategy Group. … Washington Resource Associates hired Patricia Rimo, a telecom lobbyist who most recently headed the government affairs office for Lucent Technologies. … Prism Public Affairs picked up Gregg Perry, former chief spokesman for Rhode Island state Attorney General Jeffrey Pine (R).