LobbyMatic claims on its website that its AI-powered software can do everything — like automatically monitor congressional hearings or “supercharge research” into legislative and regulatory issues.
Jumping on the AI hypewagon is a perfectly respectable career move. The problem is that sources have told Politico that Wohl and Burkman are running the firm under the pseudonyms “Jay Klein” and “Bill Sanders.”
LobbyMatic has no leadership listed on its official website. A company by the name of LobbyMatic that is registered in Delaware lists its registered agent as “A Registered Agent, Inc.” When reached for comment, LobbyMatic emailed The Verge with a link to a video featuring a man who looks like Jacob Wohl. In the video, he admits that “years ago I was involved in partisan politics.” Later in the video, he adds, “I don’t want my past in partisan politics half a decade ago to distract from a phenomenal product.”
The man does not explicitly identify himself as Wohl at any point or address the claims that he is running the company under a false name.
Politico’s report is based mostly on four former employees they are keeping anonymous. Its case can be summarized as follows:
When The Verge emailed LobbyMatic, we received an email with nothing but a hyperlink to a post on X by an account called @TheLobbyistGuy. The post reads, “Explaining the situation” and features a four-minute and forty-one-second video of a man who looks like Jacob Wohl. “There’s a news story out today I’d like a chance to respond to,” says the man. “It’s no secret that years ago I was involved in partisan politics. It’s certainly no secret in Washington, D.C. It was about half a decade ago, I was a young man, and since then, I have taken my energy in a new direction.”
He then proceeds to give a sales pitch for his software.