I’ve spent the last five years talking to journalists about how the story gets told.

But there’s another layer—the people shaping what happens before it ever becomes a headline.

This week on The Friday Reporter, I sat down with Brody Mullins and Dave Tobey to talk about a new show we just launched: The Deciders.

It’s not a news show — It’s about how influence actually works right now—and who’s driving it. Because, the loudest voices aren’t always the ones making decisions.

Most people are still looking in the wrong places — that’s the gap we’re trying to close.

The Deciders is live.

And we’re open for business — reach out.

What happens when you build one of the largest women-owned lobbying firms in the country — and then decide to rethink the entire model?

This week, Lisa sits down with Jess Beeson Tocco, a seasoned strategist who helped grow one of the nation’s most successful women-owned lobbying firms before making the bold decision to sell the business and rethink what a modern lobbying practice could look like.

In this conversation, Jess shares why she stepped away from the traditional retainer-driven model that has long defined the lobbying industry. Instead of keeping clients on indefinitely, she’s developing a different approach — helping industries navigate government, secure federal funding and new opportunities, and then sending them on their way once the work is done.

It’s a results-driven model that reflects the evolving nature of lobbying today. While Washington remains central to the work, Jess’s approach serves clients across the country, connecting policy expertise with real economic opportunity for industries and communities far beyond the Beltway.

Lisa and Jess also discuss what it takes to build and sell a successful firm, the importance of women leading in the lobbying profession and how the next generation of public affairs professionals should be thinking about influence in a changing policy landscape.

🎧 Tune in for a thoughtful conversation about building, scaling and reinventing a lobbying firm that serves clients nationwide.

Find us on YouTube —>

Elie Honig doesn’t talk like a television pundit.

He talks like someone who has actually built cases.

On this week’s Friday Reporter, the former Southern District of New York prosecutor drew a straight line between organized crime and modern political power. The tactics, he said, don’t really change.

Create distance.Insulate the boss.Let other people take the fall.Stretch everything out.

Sound familiar?

We also talked about what the media consistently misunderstands about presidential investigations. These cases don’t move slowly because prosecutors are confused. They move slowly because the stakes are historic, the bar for evidence is high, and every decision reshapes the institution itself.

That caution protects legitimacy, but it can also suffocate it.

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Which led to the bigger question: does the Department of Justice truly return to being an independent institution — or has the last decade permanently shifted it closer to the presidency it is supposed to check?

Elie didn’t hedge. Institutions don’t magically reset. They either reassert themselves or they evolve into something else.

If you work anywhere near power — politics, media, corporate leadership — this is worth your time.

Because accountability is about structure — and structure is what determines who actually gets touched — and who doesn’t.

Link to the show is here —>