Saul, Andrea

===

wow, no links or img here:<a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/andrea-saul">http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/andrea-saul</a>MERCENARY ADMEN: 5 WAYS ONE PR GROUP HAS HIJACKED POLITICS FOR CORPORATE GAINPosted on: 7 March 2013 By: Jesse Coleman
Most people have never heard of the DC lobbying and public relations firm DCI Group. When DCI Group does it’s job right, most people never do. That’s because DCI is a prime example what a highly effective, professional, and well-funded Public Relations firm can do. Are you a cigarette company that wants grassroots support for cigarette smoking? DCI can do that. Are you an Indonesian timber conglomerate that wants the “freedom” to sell illegal rainforest pulp? DCI can enlist thousands of liberty-lovin Americans to protect that freedom. Do you want people mobilized, in the streets, demanding that the government relax pollution laws and other regulations on your coal or oil corporation? DCI actually did that. It was called the Tea party.
CASE STUDIES1 DCI Group and TobaccoAddictive, deadly, and rich, the tobacco industry is the perfect client for a crack PR team like DCI Group.During the early days of tobacco regulation in the 1980’s, tobacco corporations were spending millions of dollars to convince Americans that tobacco really wasn’t that bad for them, and regulating tobacco was an infringement on the god given rights of every American.Masterminding that message was DCI Groups founders, Doug Goodyear and Tom Synhorst, who were two of the tobacco PR men involved in the early days of “tobacco control opposition.”Using a strategy DCI Group would repeat and hone in the coming decades, PR admen like Goodyear and Synhorst pioneered couching a pro-corporate agenda, in this case tobacco’s, in terms of rights, liberties and freedoms. They started “smokers rights groups,” whose anti-regulatory, pro-business bent is right at home in today’s Tea Party messaging. DCI Group has maintained those close ties through the years, and currently lobby for Altria (Philip Morris).
2 DCI Group and the start of the Tea PartyA recently released academic study has traced the origins of the Tea Party back to its roots. The popular creation myth of the Tea Party, in which a news anchor, fed up with the federal governments creeping socialism demands an uprising - a la Network - is only part of the story. In fact, PR agencies working for tobacco, and oil, and coal corporations had been pushing for a Tea Party for decades, and had even registered the websites and domain names under the name Tea Party, 6 years before president Obama’s election.From the study:“Rather than being a grassroots movement that spontaneously developed in 2009, the Tea Party organizations have had connections to the tobacco companies since the 1980s. The cigarette companies funded and worked through Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), the predecessor of Tea Party organizations, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, to accomplish their economic and political agenda.”With the help of the oil billionaire Koch Brothers, DCI Group partner Dan Combs built “Citizens for a Sound Economy,”(CSE) during the 1990’s, right as the tobacco industry was busted for lying about the dangers of smoking. CSE’s self-described mission was "to fight for less government, lower taxes, and less regulation," which included opposing tobacco laws and pollution regulation on the oil industry.
3 DCI Group and Americans For Prosperity/ FreedomworksIn 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) split like a procreative amoebae into Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks, the two largest and most powerful Tea Party organizations. AfP and Freedomworks employ hundreds of Tea Party organizers all over the country, and pay for rallies, promotional materials, and conventions.DCI Group, and it’s alias FLS Connect, are currently the highest paid consultants for AFP and Freedomworks. DCI carefully crafts messaging for the Tea Party behemoths, and does extensive polling to make sure their pro-corporate, free-market PR is hitting the mark. Just as they directed anti-tax advocates to do big-tobacco and big-oil’s work through Citizens for a Sound Economy, DCI Group is using the Tea Party in the service of corporate America
4 DCI Group and Climate Change DenialDCI Group was a pioneer of brazen denial of scientific evidence while working for tobacco giants. They applied the same technique of creating fake science, misrepresenting impacts, and attacking legitimate scientists to their campaign denying the existence of climate change.At the behest of major oil corporation and DCI Group client ExxonMobil, DCI became a hotbed of climate change science attacks, training and funding outspoken climate change deniers. DCI Group created and ran Tech Central Station, a platform for climate science denial. Tech Central Station was so egregiously disingenuous about climate science that a Senatorial committee asked ExxonMobil to stop funding it, which Exxon did in 2006.
DCI Group's Andrea SaulHowever, a slap from the Senate did not stop DCI Group from continuing to specialize in anti-climate science messaging. DCI Group continues to hire and train professional climate change deniers. One such DCI Group alumnus, Andrea Saul, became candidate Mitt Romney’s press secretary during the 2012 presidential election, and helped push Romney’s anti-climate science positions. While at DCI, she wrote and distributed pres releases attacking legitimate climate science. Another DCI Group alumnus, Bob Paduchik, is now a Vice President of the coal front group called Americans for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).
5 DCI Group and Foreign Criminal Entities
DCI specializes in manipulating America’s white, conservative class, using loaded buzzwords like “freedom,” and “liberty,” and couching a corporate agenda of reduced regulation as “small government.” As it turns out, this type of manipulation is an old shtick, predating the Tea Party.
And DCI Group does this for many clients, including an Indonesian timber company responsible for illegal deforestation of rainforests in southeast Asia. DCI helped create a front group for Asia Pulp and Paper, which has destroyed millions of miles of endangered rainforest in Indonesia. They found a self described “tea party patriot” to lead the effort, who made tea party themed speeches that advocated for the Indonesian paper corporation, APP.
Chart Source: New York Times
Freetagging: oilcoaltea partyfront groupstobaccoandrea sauldci groupIndustry: Front GroupCompany or Organization: American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity ACCCEAmericans for ProsperityExxonMobilPrint HTML logo Print HTML Twitter logo Twitter Facebook logo Facebook JesseColeman's blog
SCIENCE DENIAL AND ANDREA SAUL – ROMNEY 2012 CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSONPosted on: 6 August 2012 By: Connor Gibson
Mitt Romney press secretary Andrea Saul has attacked science through public relations campaigns with DCI Group and Tech Central Station, both financed by ExxonMobil.A fully-footnoted version of this briefing is available for download from DocumentCloud. UPDATE 8/10/2012: see commentary on this briefing in Mother Jones, Buzzfeed and the Guardian.INTRODUCTION: Andrea Saul, a prominent Romney 2012 campaign operative and spokesperson, formerly worked for DCI Group, a Washington DC public affairs and lobbying firm. During this period, DCI Group was on contract to ExxonMobil at the height of Exxon’s campaign attacking global warming science and climate change policy. DCI’s efforts included campaigns to undermine climate legislation and to push counter messages and spokespeople to media on the connection between extreme weather and global warming. Saul’s extensive role in these DCI Group climate campaigns can be traced through archived documents and press releases. Her role in shaping Romney’s climate and science policy is not known. “Gov. Romney does not think greenhouse gases are pollutants within the meaning of the Clean Air Act, and he does not believe that the EPA should be regulating them,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. “CO2 is a naturally occurring gas. Humans emit it every time they exhale.”  Politico, July 2011?.Ms. Saul has also responded to Mitt Romney's contradictory public statements on global warming. NPR reported in October, 2011:"Romney went from believing that humans contribute to global warming, though he was uncertain how much, to saying he didn't know what contributes to global warming." Andrea Saul denied that Romney had "flip-flopped" on his climate stance, responding:"This is ridiculous. Governor Romney's view on climate change has not changed. He believes it's occurring, and that human activity contributes to it, but he doesn't know to what extent. He opposes cap and trade, and he refused to sign such a plan when he was governor. Maybe the bigger threat is all the hot air coming from career politicians who are desperate to hold on to power."
ANDREA SAUL AND DCI GROUPSaul was hired March 2011 as a Romney campaign spokesperson. Today, she regularly appears in the media as the main messenger for the campaign.While employed with the PR firm DCI Group as an account executive between 2004-2007, Ms. Saul helped to orchestrate a multi-faceted, covert operation to undermine science, attack scientists and confuse the public and reporters. DCI was, at that time, contracted as lobbyists by Exxon and many other corporations.  Exxon remains a DCI client today.From 2004 to 2007, Ms. Saul worked at the DCI Group, a top lobbying and public relations firm that has represented a range of clients including the Burmese junta and has orchestrated front group campaigns for Microsoft, Verizon and ExxonMobil. More on ExxonMobil's role in climate science denial is outlined in Steve Coll's new book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power.Two of the DCI Group founders, Tim Hyde and Thomas J. Synhorst, began their careers with the tobacco industry where they worked to undermine the science on the dangers of smoking. For instance, Mr. Synhorst oversaw field operations with the “smokers rights” groups, a phony movement designed to shift the discussion away from the dangers of smoking to the protection of smoking rights.In the early-2000s, DCI picked up ExxonMobil as a client and began operations to create confusion about climate change science. For instance, the Wall Street Journal reported on a purportedly homemade YouTube video portraying Al Gore as a sinister figure who blames several problems on global warming. The video’s maker was listed as “Toutsmith” a 29-year-old who identified himself as living in Beverly Hills, California.However, when Journal reporters contacted “Toutsmith” his return emails originated from a computer registered with the DCI Group. A spokesman from Exxon confirmed that the company was a DCI Group client. DCI declined to admit to the Wall Street Journal if they had made the video. According to the Wall Street Journal: "Traffic to the penguin video, first posted on YouTube.com in May, got a boost from prominently placed sponsored links that appeared on the Google search engine when users typed in "Al Gore" or "Global Warming." The ads, which didn't indicate who had paid for them, were removed shortly after The Wall Street Journal contacted DCI Group on Tuesday."As part of this Exxon funded campaign, Andrea Saul was a point person behind an effort to create confusion and advance contrarian viewpoints and corporate-funded pundits. This briefing illuminates Ms. Saul’s efforts at DCI:PART 1) Ms. Saul advanced the opinions of contrarian scientists and corporate-funded pundits on the Exxon-funded Tech Central Station, a purported news web site;PART 2) Ms. Saul sought to promote contrarian voices into the debate over hurricanes and climate change in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; PART 3) Ms. Saul promoted the views of a scientist who had no training in climate change to undermine a study on climate change effects on the Antarctic ice sheet; PART 4) Ms. Saul led a public relations campaign to undermine scientific consensus on the science of climate change; PART 5) Ms. Saul pushed out press releases for a front group linked to Grover Norquist designed to undermine pending climate change legislation.ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
Leaked Document: DCI, Heartland Institute and Exxon plan attacks on Clean Air Act (2006);DCI Group former staff within Romney 2012 campaign.
(click links above to jump down to a section of the briefing)
1. ANDREA SAUL - CONTACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE FOR PHONY NEWS SITE, TECH CENTRAL STATIONTech Central Station is a free market news site that was established, owned and published by DCI Group until it was sold in September 2006.  According to a story published in 2003 in the Washington Monthly, Tech Central Station appeared to be less about news than lobbying. The story found:"Tech Central Station looks less like a think-tank-cum-magazine than a kind of lobbying practice. Which makes sense: Four of the five co-owners of TCS are also the co-owners of the DCI Group, the Washington public affairs firm founded by Republican operative Thomas J. Synhorst. TCS's fifth owner is Charles Francis, who is also a senior lobbyist at DCI and is listed on TCS's phone directory. And as it happens, three of TCS's sponsors--AT&T, General Motors, and PhRMA--have also retained DCI for their lobbying needs. (Both DCI's spokeswoman and TCS's chief executive officer declined to be interviewed for this article. However, after I requested comment, the Web site was changed. Where it formerly stated that 'Tech Central Station is published by Tech Central Station, L.L.C.,' it now reads 'Tech Central Station is published by DCI Group, L.L.C.')"Like its publishing arm, DCI's business is to influence elite opinion in Washington. But instead of publishing articles, DCI specializes in what's known as 'corporate-financed grass-roots organizing,' such as setting up front groups to agitate for a client's position, placing letters to the editor with key newspapers, and using phone banks to generate calls to politicians. TCS, for its part, includes a disclaimer on its site noting that 'the opinions expressed on these pages are solely those of the writers and not necessarily those of any corporation or other organization.' But it is startling how often the opinions of TCS's writers and sponsors converge."In 2006, Andrea Saul was listed as the contact person on Tech Central Station’s webpage on climate change. The site hosted opinions written by many prominent climate change science deniers including Patrick Michaels, Willie Soon, Sallie Baliunas, David Legates, Robert C. Balling, Henry I. Miller, Tim Ball, William Gray, Anthony Lupo, and Roy Spencer.  2. DCI TECH CENTRAL STATION - CAMPAIGN ON LINK BETWEEN HURRICANES AND CLIMATE CHANGEOn the eve of the 2006 hurricane season, after the worst year of hurricane damage in recent history, including the devastating and deadly hurricane Katrina, DCI was deployed to create a counter narrative on the connection between stronger hurricanes and global warming. It is unknown who the DCI client was requesting this work, or what the deliverables were.As part of the DCI efforts, Tech Central Station produced and distributed a Video News Release (VNR) that called into question the science linking hurricanes with climate change. The VNR along with a known newscast that used the piece, is viewable online, preserved by the Center for Investigative Reporting:VNRs are produced videos, contracted generally by corporations, edited as news segments and sent out to news stations in small markets in hopes of filling airtime within the actual newscast. DCI’s hurricane VNR was distributed to TV stations across the Gulf states and was aired on at least one of them. Materials accompanying the video package listed "TCS Daily Science Roundtable" as the producer. The VNR’s announcers said:"There’s a lot of debate as to what’s been causing all of these hurricanes. Some scientists say it’s part of a naturally occurring cycle, while others have made the claim global warming is to blame."Dr. William Gray and Dr. James O’Brien, two of the nation’s top weather and oceans scientists, point to scientific data for the answer [...]."Gray and many of his colleagues believe it’s not global warming that’s creating these massive hurricanes, but the cycle of nature itself.
Growing Body of Scientific Evidence on Hurricanes and Climate Change:Around the time that Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005, several papers were published in the scientific literature that found a potential link between hurricanes and climate change.Two months before Katrina hit, Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research published a 'Perspective' article in Science that examined the published literature for possible evidence linking hurricanes and climate change.  Dr. Trenberth concluded:"Trends in human-influenced environmental changes are now evident in hurricane regions. These changes are expected to affect hurricane intensity and rainfall, but the effect on hurricane numbers remains unclear. The key scientific question is not whether there is a trend in hurricane numbers and tracks, but rather how hurricanes are changing."Weeks before Katrina landed, Kerry Emmanuel with the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a study in Nature that reviewed the power of roughly 4,800 hurricanes in the prior few decades. His analysis concluded that hurricanes that occurred over this period were increasing in average intensity. "My results suggest that future warming may lead to an upward trend in tropical cyclone destructive potential, and—taking into account an increasing coastal population—a substantial increase in hurricane-related losses in the twenty-first century."Evan Mills of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published a 'Viewpoint' in Science which argued that the insurance industry was vulnerable to the negative financial impact of disasters accentuated by climate change. The month after Hurricane Katrina hit, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Atmospheric Research published a study of tropical cyclones in Science. The data found an increase in the number and proportion of hurricanes reaching the largest categories, which are 4 and 5. The accumulated evidence of these papers, along with the media reports, had a definitive impact on public opinion. A poll run by Time/ABC News/Stanford University at that time, found that 85 percent of Americans agreed that the Earth was growing warmer. On the eve of the 2006 hurricane season, DCI responded to growing public recognition of global warming. On March 30, 2006, Andrea Saul sent out a press release alerting reporters to “experts” who could discuss the link between hurricanes and climate change. This press release furtively lists Saul as representing “Technology Commerce Society”, the tag line for TCS Daily, Tech Central Station’s daily blog website…it’s either Tech Central Station or the Technology Commerce Society. Saul’s real employer, DCI Group.Ms. Saul wrote in the release: “Coming off one of the most devastating hurricane seasons in recent memory, many are quick to blame the strength and frequency of these storms on global warming. Leading climate scientists, however, say there is no link between increased storm activity and a massive change in global climate.” The scientists listed on the press statement included:James J. O’Brien, director of the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, Florida State University – As an expert in oceanography and weather, Dr. O’Brien appeared to have little to no expertise in climate change according to his CV of published studies. Roy Spencer, Research Scientist at the University of Alabma – Spencer has long been a denier of anthropogenic global warming and has been affiliated with many contrarian groups including the George C. Marshall Institute. Patrick Michaels, Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Virginia – A denier of anthropogenic global warming, Dr. Michaels has maintained strong ties to several denialist and front groups for oil and gas interests including the Cato Institute and the Greening Earth Society. George Taylor, Manager of the Oregon Climate Service at the University of Oregon – With no training in climate change or hurricanes, Taylor’s job was “to help advise Oregon farmers, fishermen, skiers and motorists about likely weather conditions, both short- and long-term” (Jeff Wright, Eugene Register-Guard, Feb. 22, 2008).Anthony R. Lupo, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Missouri – A global warming denier and conservative activist, Lupo has been affiliated with numerous denialist organizations including the Science and Environmental Policy Project, the Heartland Institute, and the Marshall Institute (see also Dr. Lupo's resume).
3. ANDREA SAUL - PROMOTING THE VIEWS OF A NON-EXPERT EXPERTIn April 2006, Andrea Saul put out a press release to promote the views of weatherman and climate contrarian George Taylor who attempted to rebut a study published in Science which found that the Antarctic ice sheet was melting. Ms. Saul wrote:"TCSDaily Science Roundtable member and Oregon state climatologist George Taylor, expressed his concern over the legitimacy of recent claims that the Antarctic ice sheet is melting. The Washington Post article titled 'Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly' (www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201712.html) looked to Taylor to provide an expert view on the validity of a recent study published in Science magazine on global warming."George Taylor was the Manager of the Oregon Climate Service at the University of Oregon and had no training in climate change or its effects on polar regions of the Earth. According to an article about his retirement in 2008, Taylor’s expertise was “ to help advise Oregon farmers, fishermen, skiers and motorists about likely weather conditions, both short- and long-term” (Jeff Wright, Eugene Register-Guard, Feb. 22, 2008). 4. ANDREA SAUL - LED CAMPAIGN TO UNDERMINE SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCEIn mid 2006, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) sought to draft a consensus statement on the science of climate change. This statement examined the vast body of research on the matter in attempt to better explain the science to both scientists and the American public.In response, several scientists sent a letter to the AMS in an attempt to introduce contrarian views about “natural variability” and “data uncertainty” in the climate.   The lead author of the letter was Joseph D’Aleo a well-known climate change denier who has no training in climate change science. Other signatories include contrarian scientists and corporate funded pundits such as Richard Lindzen, Sallie Baliunas, and Patrick J. Michaels.To advance these views, Ms. Saul led a public relations campaign to “influence the deciding committee on the final statement.”  5. ANDREA SAUL - WORK WITH GROVER NORQUIST FRONT GROUP, UNITED FOR JOBSWhen Congress was considering a tax on oil companies in the mid 2000’s, Andrea Saul leaped to Big Oil’s defense as part of United For Jobs, front group. In a press release by Saul, she wrote:"Today United for Jobs (UFJ) warned that federal legislation to impose a so-called "windfall profits tax" on U.S. oil companies would have a severe economic impact on public employee trust funds. The Missouri Highway Patrol Retirement System, the Public School Employees' Retirement System of Missouri, the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System, and other public retirement funds could lose as much as $325 million per year in foregone gains, according to a recent study by the Investors Action Foundation (http://www.windfallprofitstax.org/)."United for Jobs had already led the campaign to kill the McCain-Lieberman climate legislation on a rolling basis beginning in 2004. In 2005, the latest McCain-Lieberman climate bill was gaining slow momentum and Senator McCain pushed for more votes. McCain staff told to us at the time that United for Jobs was the most formidable opponent, with their appearance as a multi-denominational coalition of "labor", black business (National Black Chamber of Commerce), and seniors groups (60 Plus Association). United for Jobs attacked numerous other proposals for greenhouse gas regulations, including a counter offense against Senator Jeff Binghaman’s carbon dioxide regulatory efforts in 2005United for Jobs no longer exists, but an archived website finds that their office was located at 1920 L Street, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036. At the time, this was the exact same address for Americans for Tax Reform, a corporate front group managed by Grover Norquist, an associate of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. DCI Group served as the contact and distribution node for United for Jobs reports and press releases. LEAKED DOCUMENT: DCI, HEARTLAND INSTITUTE AND EXXON PLAN ATTACKS ON CLEAN AIR ACTAn anonymous source sent Greenpeace a copy of an invitation, agenda and attendees list for a May 2006 meeting organized by the Heartland Institute and hosted at the DCI Group offices “to discuss public policy challenges related to the Clean Air Act.” The only corporation represented at the meeting was ExxonMobil. Exxon representatives gave two presentations over the course of the full day meeting. Six ExxonMobil staff are listed as invited guests. Two DCI – Tech Central Station representatives are named on the invitees list, along with a note “plus DCI field officers and staff”. It is unknown whether Andrea Saul attended this meeting. HEARTLAND INSTITUETE DCI CLEAN AIR ACT MTG GUESTLIST (p. 3)Selected portion of a source document hosted by DocumentCloudView entire document with DocumentCloud Organizations invited to this session included:American Council for Capital FormationAmerican Enterprise InstituteAmerican Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)Black Chamber of CommerceCato InstituteCenter for Science and PolicyCompetitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)CRA InternationalFrontiers of FreedomGeorge C. Marshall InstituteManhattan InstituteNational Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF)Phoenix Strategies{cke_protected}
DCI GROUP FORMER STAFF WITHIN ROMNEY 2012 CAMPAIGN:(Quotations sourced from Democracy in Action) Matt Rhoades, Campaign Manager:“(announced Feb. 15, 2010) A vice president with DCI Group, May 2007-Feb. 2010. Communications director on Romney's presidential campaign, Jan. 2007-March 2008. A deputy communications director in charge of research for the RNC during the 2006 election cycle. Research director for the 2004 Bush/Cheney re-election campaign. Deputy research director at the RNC, 2003-04. White House Liaison at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the Bush Administration, and earlier an Associate Director in the White House Presidential Personnel Office. B.A. from Syracuse University, 1997; and an M.A. from The George Washington University, 1999.”Andrea Saul, Press Secretary:“announced March 3, 2011 as communications advisor to Free and Strong America PAC) Press Secretary for Carly Fiorina’s U.S. Senate race in California. Communications director for Gov. Charlie Crist during his recent U.S. Senate run but resigned in April 2010 upon his decision to switch party affiliation. Press secretary to U.S Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) during much of 2009. Director of media affairs for McCain-Palin, responsible for organizing all television, radio and surrogate activity. Director of media affairs at the Republican National Committee, 2007-08. Associate account executive at DCI Group, 2005-07. Graduate of Vanderbilt University, 2004. twitter”Evan Yost, Deputy Communications Director and Research Director:“(June 2011) M.B.A. in finance, accounting from Rice University, 2011. A director at DCI Group, 2007-09. Deputy director of research on John McCain 2008 in 2007. Special assistant for strategic initiatives in the Office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, 2005-06. B.A. in English literature from The Johns Hopkins University, 2000.” Freetagging: global warmingclimate changeoilpublic relationsdenialgeorge c marshall institutePRExxonMobilheartland instituteTech Central Stationmitt romneyal goreskepticscienceandrea sauldci grouptcs dailyunited for jobsgrover norquistIndustry: Front GroupCompany or Organization: ExxonMobilHeartland Institute===

Jim Talent, a former Republican Senator and one of Mitt Romney’s top campaign advisors, has played an instrumental role in the Romney camp’s positions on energy.  Specifically, Talent has pushed for greater consumption and mining of coal to meet America’s energy needs.

What the campaign failed to mention is that the lobbying firm that Talent is still on the payroll with lists one of the largest coal-producing companies in the country as one of its top clients.

And although Talent is <a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/08/30/jim_talent_mitt_romney/" target="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">not registered as a lobbyist</a> in Washington, D.C.(thereby making it illegal for him to engage in lobbying activities,) his <a href="http://mercurypublicaffairs.com/staff-member/senator-james-talent" target="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">website clearly states</a> that “lobbying” is one of the services he is able to personally provide for clients.

<a href="http://www.republicreport.org/2012/coal-lobbyist-outfront-romney/" target="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">David Halperin has the story</a> at Republic Report:

===

<div class="post-meta" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 800; line-height: 20px; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">POSTED AT 4:29 PM BY <a href="http://www.republicreport.org/author/david-halperin/" title="Posts by David Halperin" class="url fn" rel="author" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 800; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;">DAVID HALPERIN</a></div>

Greenpeace has posted these <a href="http://photo.greenpeace.org/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&VBID=27MZVNDJTQ2ML&STID=27MZIFVATO96&PN=0&CT=Story" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">stark images</a> of the destruction Sandy brought to the New Jersey shore. The devastation on the ground is heartbreaking, and Americans are grateful for the courage and determination of people responding to the crisis. At the same time, it’s imperative that we start asking why we have seen so much extreme weather lately — and what kind of leadership it will take to truly address the crisis.

In the wake of the disaster, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo <a href="http://statepolitics.lohudblogs.com/2012/10/30/cuomo-we-have-a-new-reality-when-it-comes-to-these-weather-patterns/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer;">said</a>, “There has been a series of extreme weather incidents. That is not a political statement. That is a factual statement. Anyone who says there’s not a dramatic change in weather patterns, I think is denying reality.” Today, Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Bobby Rush (D-IL) <a href="http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Upton-Whitfield-Hurricane-Sandy-Letter-PR-2012-10-31_0.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">called</a> for congressional hearings, writing, “Hurricane Sandy is exactly the type of extreme weather event that climate scientists have said will become more frequent and more severe if we fail to reduce our carbon pollution.”

Unfortunately, big energy companies have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying, advertising, and <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2010/3/dealing-in-doubt.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">propaganda</a> aimed precisely at denying the powerful evidence that burning fossil fuels is contributing to climate change — and at blocking common sense energy reforms. And while Mitt Romney has <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/09/04/mitt-romney-climate-change-is.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">flip-flopped</a> on these issues, he has surrounded himself with people tied to the climate denial industry.

Romney’s campaign press secretary Andrea Saul previously worked, from 2005-07, at the Washington DC lobbying and public affairs firm DCI Group, where, on behalf of their client ExxonMobil, <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/blog/science-denial-and-andrea-saul-%E2%80%93-romney-2012-campaign-spokesperson" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">she worked on a campaign</a> seeking to undermine global warming evidence and policy changes. Saul was listed as a contact person on a 2006 <a href="http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-30-2006/0004330403&EDATE=" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">press release</a> that stated, ”Coming off one of the most devastating hurricane seasons in recent memory, many are quick to blame the strength and frequency of these storms on global warming. Leading climate scientists, however, say there is no link between increased storm activity and a massive change in global climate.”  Matt Rhoades, Romney’s campaign manager, also worked at DCI, from 2007-10.

In addition, while both Romney and President Obama have praised “clean coal” — even though there’s <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/4339171" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">no such thing</a>, at least not yet — Romney’s campaign is deeply connected to the coal industry, which is the <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/coal/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">biggest human-made source of carbon dioxide emissions</a> and a <a href="http://www.fightcleanenergysmears.org/behind_the_smears.cfm" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">major funder of climate denial</a>.

Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy, the nation’s largest privately-owned coal company, hosted a $1.7 million fundraiser for the campaign this year, and his firm’s employees have given Romney over $120,000.

Last fall, the Romney campaign released an energy policy paper that included a statement by Romney adviser and former Senator Jim Talent blaming government regulation for America’s energy challenges: “The problem is not that America does not have energy. The problem is that our government—alone among the governments of the world—will not allow its own people to recover the energy that they possess.” Where can such energy be found? Talent writes, “America has hundreds of years of coal reserves.’’ <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/jim-talent-s-profile-rises-as-top-romney-adviser/article_b201c725-01f9-5194-a840-da7de14707d3.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Talent</a>, a top candidate for Romney’s <a href="https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/27078/talent_as_romney_advissr" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">cabinet</a>, has a day job: <a href="http://www.mercurypublicaffairs.com/leadership" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">co-chairman of Mercury Public Affairs</a>, a D.C. lobbying and communications firm. As the Boston Globe first reported last year, Mercury lobbies for St. Louis-based Peabody Energy, the world’s biggest private sector coal company. Peabody has paid Mercury nearly <a href="http://www.boston.com/2011/09/09/web-talent/Vmtsu918Yd0ioJ6QU6nZAO/story.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">$700,000</a> in the past <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000020856&year=2012://" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">six years</a>. The Romney energy paper did not disclose that Talent’s firm was earning money from the coal industry when Talent praised coal as a pillar of America’s energy future for centuries to come.

Newsweek ranked Peabody energy 500th out of 500 — dead last — in its environmental ranking of America’s 500 largest corporations in <a href="http://greenrankings2009.newsweek.com/companies/view/peabody-energy" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">2009</a> and <a href="http://coalgeology.com/2010-newsweek-green-rankings-deeply-flawed-peabody-energy-nyse-btu/7603/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">2010</a>, because of the impact of mining and burning coal and because of Peabody’s aggressive stance against regulation. (The company managed to move up in the ratings for 2011 — to <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/features/green-rankings/2011/us.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">492</a>.) Peabody is a corporate leader in <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/scientific_integrity/a-climate-of-corporate-control-report.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">denying the dangers of global warming</a>. Peabody’s website <a href="http://www.peabodyenergy.com/content/224/Video-Gallery/Energy-Access-For-All" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">says today</a>, “The greatest crisis society confronts is not a future environmental crisis predicted by computer models but a human crisis today that is fully within our power to solve… with coal” (ellipses in original).

Peabody is also a member of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry group that has spent millions campaigning against efforts to halt global warming. A leaked 2004 “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/leaked-clean-coal-strategy-memo-peabody-energy" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">strategy letter</a>” from the president of that organization to Peabody’s CEO outlines plans to oppose the McCain-Lieberman cap-and-trade bill ”that would be highly injurious to coal-based electricity” and to “sow discord” among Northeast states committed to a greenhouse gas reduction plan. Peabody has spent about $42 million on lobbying in Washington since 2005.

A U.S. President should not take advice from people who have worked to advance climate denial efforts, which have already caused immense harm.

This article also appears on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Huffington Post</a>.

===

===

Andrea Saul, a key campaign operative and frequent spokesperson for Mitt Romney, previously worked as a lobbyist for the fossil fuels-friendly DCI Group. And precisely no one is surprised. But. A new <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/blog/science-denial-and-andrea-saul-%E2%80%93-romney-2012-campaign-spokesperson" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Greenpeace briefing points</a> out that while at DCI, Saul worked on some controversial campaigns; notably, lobbying on behalf of the authoritarian military regime in Myanmar and helping ExxonMobil wage a disinformation campaign about climate science in 2009.

From <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/blog/science-denial-and-andrea-saul-%E2%80%93-romney-2012-campaign-spokesperson" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">the briefing</a>:

<blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);">DCI’s efforts included campaigns to undermine climate legislation and to push counter messages and spokespeople to media on the connection between extreme weather and global warming. Saul’s extensive role in these DCI Group climate campaigns can be traced through archived documents and press releases.</blockquote>

There's nothing particularly earth-shaking in here; it's not surprising in the slightest that a candidate eager to prove his conservative credentials would select an operative who hews far to the right on climate and energy issues. And she's indeed pretty impressively far to the right; if Greenpeace's report is correct, she's on par with Big Tobacco's top spin doctors from decades past. Read the whole report for the details, which are pretty fascinating in a train wreckish kind of way.

So it's worth considering the degree to which such operatives shape his campaign's take on the issues. For instance, the briefing collects some of statements Saul has made for Romney on climate issues. A sampling:

- “Gov. Romney does not think greenhouse gases are pollutants within the meaning of the Clean Air Act, and he does not believe that the EPA should be regulating them,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. “CO2 is a naturally occurring gas. Humans emit it every time they exhale.” Politico, July 2011 .

-Responding to charges that Romney had 'flip-flopped' on climate: "This is ridiculous. Governor Romney's view on climate change has not changed. He believes it's occurring, and that human activity contributes to it, but he doesn't know to what extent. He opposes cap and trade, and he refused to sign such a plan when he was governor. Maybe the bigger threat is all the hot air coming from career politicians who are desperate to hold on to power."NPR, 2011

Now, I doubt that the Romney campaign's overall stance on climate has been swayed too dramatically by Saul's ideas—the entire congressional GOP is in an advanced state of climate denial, and Mitt's desperate to fit in. But she Saul provided a potent, slippery vocabulary with which to evade any meaningful confrontation with climate issues. Kate Sheppard <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/authors/kate-sheppard" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">puts it nicely</a>:

"Given Saul's past, it's no surprise the Romney campaign's most mealy-mouthed statements on climate—including 'CO2 is a naturally occurring gas' and 'he believes it's occurring, and that human activity contributes to it, but he doesn't know to what extent'—have come directly from her."

</div>

Tags: <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/tag/mitt-romney/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Mitt Romney</a>

===

Unfortunately, big energy companies have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying, advertising, and <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2010/3/dealing-in-doubt.pdf">propaganda</a> aimed precisely at denying the powerful evidence that burning fossil fuels is contributing to climate change -- and at blocking common sense energy reforms. And while Mitt Romney has <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/09/04/mitt-romney-climate-change-is.html">flip-flopped</a> on these issues, he has surrounded himself with people tied to the climate denial industry.

Romney's campaign press secretary Andrea Saul previously worked, from 2005-07, at the Washington DC lobbying and public affairs firm DCI Group, where, on behalf of their client ExxonMobil, <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/blog/science-denial-and-andrea-saul-%E2%80%93-romney-2012-campaign-spokesperson">she worked on a campaign</a> seeking to undermine global warming evidence and policy changes. Saul was listed as a contact person on a 2006 <a href="http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-30-2006/0004330403&EDATE=">press release</a> that stated, ''Coming off one of the most devastating hurricane seasons in recent memory, many are quick to blame the strength and frequency of these storms on global warming. Leading climate scientists, however, say there is no link between increased storm activity and a massive change in global climate."  Matt Rhoades, Romney's campaign manager, also worked at DCI, from 2007-10.

===

<a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute">http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute</a>

<h2 class="title"><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/blog/science-denial-and-andrea-saul-%E2%80%93-romney-2012-campaign-spokesperson" title="Science Denial and Andrea Saul – Romney 2012 Campaign Spokesperson">Science Denial and Andrea Saul – Romney 2012 Campaign Spokesperson</a></h2>

<div class="submitted"><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/users/cgibson">cgibson</a> | 6 August 2012 | 10:05 AM</div>

</div>

</div>

Mitt Romney press secretary Andrea Saul has attacked science through public relations campaigns with DCI Group and Tech Central Station, both financed by ExxonMobil.

</div>

<div><a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/407692-andrea-saul-briefing-greenpeace.html">A fully-footnoted version of this briefing is available for download from DocumentCloud</a>.</div>

<div>UPDATE 8/10/2012: see commentary on this briefing in <a target="blank" href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/08/romney-flack-promoted-climate-denial-behalf-exxon">Mother Jones</a>, <a target="blank" href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/greenpeace-attacks-romney-aide-on-climate-work">Buzzfeed</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/aug/09/obama-renewables">the Guardian</a>.</div>

<h2>INTRODUCTION: </h2>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Andrea Saul, a prominent Romney 2012 campaign operative and spokesperson, formerly worked for DCI Group, a Washington DC public affairs and lobbying firm. During this period, DCI Group was on contract to ExxonMobil at the height of Exxon’s campaign attacking global warming science and climate change policy. DCI’s efforts included campaigns to undermine climate legislation and to push counter messages and spokespeople to media on the connection between extreme weather and global warming. Saul’s extensive role in these DCI Group climate campaigns can be traced through archived documents and press releases. Her role in shaping Romney’s climate and science policy is not known. </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">“Gov. Romney does not think greenhouse gases are pollutants within the meaning of the Clean Air Act, and he does not believe that the EPA should be regulating them,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. “CO2 is a naturally occurring gas. Humans emit it every time they exhale.”  <a target="_blank" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59342.html#ixzz1zsEhYRZE">Politico</a>, July 2011 .</div>

</blockquote>

<div>Ms. Saul has also responded to Mitt Romney's contradictory public statements on global warming. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/10/28/141803099/mitt-romney-criticized-for-slow-motion-climate-change-flip-flop">NPR reported</a> in October, 2011:

"Romney went from believing that humans contribute to global warming, though he was uncertain how much, to saying he didn't know what contributes to global warming." Andrea Saul denied that Romney had "flip-flopped" on his climate stance, responding:</div>

<div>"This is ridiculous. Governor Romney's view on climate change has not changed. He believes it's occurring, and that human activity contributes to it, but he doesn't know to what extent. He opposes cap and trade, and he refused to sign such a plan when he was governor. Maybe the bigger threat is all the hot air coming from career politicians who are desperate to hold on to power."</div>

</blockquote>

<h2>ANDREA SAUL AND DCI GROUP</h2>

<ul>

<li>Saul was hired March 2011 as a Romney campaign spokesperson. Today, she regularly appears in the media as the main messenger for the campaign.</li>

<li>While employed with the PR firm DCI Group as an account executive between 2004-2007, Ms. Saul helped to orchestrate a multi-faceted, covert operation to undermine science, attack scientists and confuse the public and reporters. </li>

<li>DCI was, at that time, contracted as lobbyists by Exxon and many other corporations.  <a target="_blank" href="http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/pdfform.aspx?id=300465770">Exxon remains a DCI client</a> today.</li>

</ul>

<div id="cke_pastebin">From 2004 to 2007, Ms. Saul worked at the DCI Group, a top lobbying and public relations firm that has represented a range of clients including the <a target="blank" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/05/the-dci-group-responds-on-burma/53206/">Burmese junta</a> and has orchestrated front group campaigns for <a target="blank" href="http://articles.latimes.com/2001/aug/23/news/mn-37472">Microsoft</a>, Verizon and ExxonMobil. More on ExxonMobil's role in climate science denial is outlined in Steve Coll's new book, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/books/review/private-empire-steve-colls-book-about-exxon-mobil.html?pagewanted=all">Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power</a>.</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Two of the DCI Group founders, Tim Hyde and Thomas J. Synhorst, began their <a target="_blank" href="http://www.legacy.library.ucsf.edu/action/search/basic?fd=0&q=%22grassroots+specialist+Tom+Synhorst%22&df=er&c=at&c=ba&c=bw&c=ca&c=ct&c=da&c=ll&c=lm&c=mg&c=mm&c=pm&c=py&c=re&c=rj&c=ti&c=ub&c=us">careers with the tobacco industry</a> where they worked to undermine the science on the dangers of smoking. For instance, Mr. Synhorst oversaw field operations with the “smokers rights” groups, a phony movement designed to shift the discussion away from the dangers of smoking to the protection of smoking rights.</div>

<div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">In the early-2000s, DCI picked up ExxonMobil as a client and began operations to create confusion about climate change science. For instance, the Wall Street Journal <a target="_blank" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115457177198425388.html">reported</a> on a purportedly homemade YouTube video portraying Al Gore as a sinister figure who blames several problems on global warming. The video’s maker was listed as “Toutsmith” a 29-year-old who identified himself as living in Beverly Hills, California.</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">However, when Journal reporters contacted “Toutsmith” his return emails originated from a computer registered with the DCI Group. A spokesman from Exxon confirmed that the company was a DCI Group client. DCI declined to admit to the Wall Street Journal if they had made the video. </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">According to the <a target="_blank" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115457177198425388.html">Wall Street Journal</a>: </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"Traffic to the penguin video, first posted on YouTube.com in May, got a boost from prominently placed sponsored links that appeared on the Google search engine when users typed in "Al Gore" or "Global Warming." The ads, which didn't indicate who had paid for them, were removed shortly after The Wall Street Journal contacted DCI Group on Tuesday."</div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">As part of this Exxon funded campaign, Andrea Saul was a point person behind an effort to create confusion and advance contrarian viewpoints and corporate-funded pundits. </div>

</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">This briefing illuminates Ms. Saul’s efforts at DCI:

</div>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute#1">PART 1)</a> Ms. Saul advanced the opinions of contrarian scientists and corporate-funded pundits on the Exxon-funded Tech Central Station, a purported news web site;</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute#2">PART 2)</a> Ms. Saul sought to promote contrarian voices into the debate over hurricanes and climate change in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; </li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute#3">PART 3)</a> Ms. Saul promoted the views of a scientist who had no training in climate change to undermine a study on climate change effects on the Antarctic ice sheet; </li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute#4">PART 4)</a> Ms. Saul led a public relations campaign to undermine scientific consensus on the science of climate change; </li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute#5">PART 5)</a> Ms. Saul pushed out press releases for a front group linked to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Grover_Norquist">Grover Norquist</a> designed to undermine pending climate change legislation.</li>

</ul>

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute#DCI%20Heartland%20doc">Leaked Document: DCI, Heartland Institute and Exxon plan attacks on Clean Air Act (2006);</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/george-c-marshall-institute#DCI%20Romney%20staff">DCI Group former staff within Romney 2012 campaign.</a>

</li>

</ul>

(click links above to jump down to a section of the briefing)

<h2><a id="1" name="1">1. Andrea Saul - Contact on Climate Change for Phony News Site, Tech Central Station</a></h2>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Tech Central Station is a free market news site that was established, owned and published by DCI Group until it was <a target="blank" href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/5371">sold</a> in September 2006.  According to a story published in 2003 in the <a target="blank" href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0312.confessore.html">Washington Monthly</a>, Tech Central Station appeared to be less about news than lobbying. The story found:</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"Tech Central Station looks less like a think-tank-cum-magazine than a kind of lobbying practice. Which makes sense: Four of the five co-owners of TCS are also the co-owners of the DCI Group, the Washington public affairs firm founded by Republican operative Thomas J. Synhorst. TCS's fifth owner is Charles Francis, who is also a senior lobbyist at DCI and is listed on TCS's phone directory. And as it happens, three of TCS's sponsors--AT&T, General Motors, and PhRMA--have also retained DCI for their lobbying needs. (Both DCI's spokeswoman and TCS's chief executive officer declined to be interviewed for this article. However, after I requested comment, the Web site was changed. Where it formerly stated that 'Tech Central Station is published by Tech Central Station, L.L.C.,' it now reads 'Tech Central Station is published by DCI Group, L.L.C.')</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"Like its publishing arm, DCI's business is to influence elite opinion in Washington. But instead of publishing articles, DCI specializes in what's known as 'corporate-financed grass-roots organizing,' such as setting up front groups to agitate for a client's position, placing letters to the editor with key newspapers, and using phone banks to generate calls to politicians. TCS, for its part, includes a disclaimer on its site noting that 'the opinions expressed on these pages are solely those of the writers and not necessarily those of any corporation or other organization.' But it is startling how often the opinions of TCS's writers and sponsors converge."</div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">In 2006, Andrea Saul was <a target="_blank" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20060317152414/http:/www.tcsdaily.com/sections/science_roundtable.aspx">listed as the contact person</a> on Tech Central Station’s webpage on climate change. The site hosted opinions written by many prominent climate change science deniers including Patrick Michaels, Willie Soon, Sallie Baliunas, David Legates, Robert C. Balling, Henry I. Miller, Tim Ball, William Gray, Anthony Lupo, and Roy Spencer. </div>

<div>

<h2><a id="2" name="2">2. DCI Tech Central Station - Campaign on Link Between Hurricanes and Climate Change</a></h2>

<div id="cke_pastebin">On the eve of the 2006 hurricane season, after the worst year of hurricane damage in recent history, including the devastating and deadly hurricane Katrina, DCI was deployed to create a counter narrative on the connection between stronger hurricanes and global warming. It is unknown who the DCI client was requesting this work, or what the deliverables were.</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">As part of the DCI efforts, Tech Central Station produced and distributed a <a target="blank" href="http://cironline.org/reports/shaping-media-message-video-news-releases-vnrs">Video News Release</a> (VNR) that called into question the science linking hurricanes with climate change. The VNR along with a known newscast that used the piece, is viewable online, preserved by the <a target="blank" href="http://cironline.org/reports/shaping-media-message-video-news-releases-vnrs">Center for Investigative Reporting</a>:</div>

<div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">VNRs are produced videos, contracted generally by corporations, edited as news segments and sent out to news stations in small markets in hopes of filling airtime within the actual newscast. </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">DCI’s hurricane VNR was distributed to TV stations across the Gulf states and was aired on at least one of them. Materials accompanying the video package listed "TCS Daily Science Roundtable" as the producer. The VNR’s announcers said:</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"There’s a lot of debate as to what’s been causing all of these hurricanes. Some scientists say it’s part of a naturally occurring cycle, while others have made the claim global warming is to blame.</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"Dr. William Gray and Dr. James O’Brien, two of the nation’s top weather and oceans scientists, point to scientific data for the answer [...].</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"Gray and many of his colleagues believe it’s not global warming that’s creating these massive hurricanes, but the cycle of nature itself."</div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Growing Body of Scientific Evidence on Hurricanes and Climate Change:</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Around the time that Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005, several papers were published in the scientific literature that found a potential link between hurricanes and climate change.</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Two months before Katrina hit, Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research published a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5729/1753.full">'Perspective' article in Science</a> that examined the published literature for possible evidence linking hurricanes and climate change.  Dr. Trenberth concluded:</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"Trends in human-influenced environmental changes are now evident in hurricane regions. These changes are expected to affect hurricane intensity and rainfall, but the effect on hurricane numbers remains unclear. The key scientific question is not whether there is a trend in hurricane numbers and tracks, but rather how hurricanes are changing."</div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Weeks before Katrina landed, Kerry Emmanuel with the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7051/abs/nature03906.html">study in Nature</a> that reviewed the power of roughly 4,800 hurricanes in the prior few decades. His analysis concluded that hurricanes that occurred over this period were increasing in average intensity. </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"My results suggest that future warming may lead to an upward trend in tropical cyclone destructive potential, and—taking into account an increasing coastal population—a substantial increase in hurricane-related losses in the twenty-first century."</div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Evan Mills of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published a <a target="_blank" href="http://evanmills.lbl.gov/pubs/pdf/insurance_and_climate.pdf">'Viewpoint' in Science</a> which argued that the insurance industry was vulnerable to the negative financial impact of disasters accentuated by climate change. </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">The month after Hurricane Katrina hit, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Atmospheric Research published a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/309/5742/1844.full">study of tropical cyclones in Science</a>. The data found an increase in the number and proportion of hurricanes reaching the largest categories, which are 4 and 5. </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">The accumulated evidence of these papers, along with the media reports, had a definitive impact on public opinion. A <a target="_blank" href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1975813_1975844_1976436,00.html">poll run by Time/ABC News/Stanford University</a> at that time, found that 85 percent of Americans agreed that the Earth was growing warmer. </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">On the eve of the 2006 hurricane season, DCI responded to growing public recognition of global warming. On March 30, 2006, Andrea Saul sent out a <a target="_blank" href="http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-30-2006/0004330403&EDATE=">press release</a> alerting reporters to “experts” who could discuss the link between hurricanes and climate change. This press release furtively lists Saul as representing “Technology Commerce Society”, the tag line for TCS Daily, Tech Central Station’s daily blog website…it’s either Tech Central Station or the Technology Commerce Society. Saul’s real employer, DCI Group.</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Ms. Saul wrote in the release: </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">“Coming off one of the most devastating hurricane seasons in recent memory, many are quick to blame the strength and frequency of these storms on global warming. Leading climate scientists, however, say there is no link between increased storm activity and a massive change in global climate.” </div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">The scientists listed on the press statement included:</div>

<ul>

<li>James J. O’Brien, director of the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, Florida State University – As an expert in oceanography and weather, Dr. O’Brien appeared to have little to no expertise in climate change <a target="_blank" href="http://coaps.fsu.edu/people/obrien/obriencv.pdf">according to his CV</a> of published studies. </li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/roy-spencer">Roy Spencer</a>, Research Scientist at the University of Alabma – Spencer has long been a denier of anthropogenic global warming and has been <a target="blank" href="http://ttp://www.marshall.org/experts.php?id=122">affiliated</a> with many contrarian groups including the <a target="blank" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_C.Marshall_Institute">George C. Marshall Institute</a>. </li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/patrick-michaels">Patrick Michaels</a>, Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Virginia – A denier of anthropogenic global warming, Dr. Michaels has maintained strong ties to several denialist and front groups for oil and gas interests including the <a target="blank" href="http://www.cato.org/people/patrick-michaels">Cato Institute</a> and the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/global-warming-produced-greener-more-fruitful-planet">Greening Earth Society</a>. </li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/george-taylor">George Taylor</a>, Manager of the Oregon Climate Service at the University of Oregon – With no training in climate change or hurricanes, Taylor’s job was “to help advise Oregon farmers, fishermen, skiers and motorists about likely weather conditions, both short- and long-term” (Jeff Wright, <a target="blank" href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=20080222&id=1F9WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b_ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=2424,4372635">Eugene Register-Guard</a>, Feb. 22, 2008).</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/anthony-lupo">Anthony R. Lupo</a>, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Missouri – A global warming denier and conservative activist, Lupo has been affiliated with numerous denialist organizations including the Science and Environmental Policy Project, the <a target="blank" href="http://heartland.org/anthony-r-lupo">Heartland Institute</a>, and the <a target="blank" href="http://www.marshall.org/experts.php?id=152">Marshall Institute</a> (see also <a target="blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/407348-greenpeace-letter-to-charles-koch-8-6-12.html">Dr. Lupo's resume</a>).</li>

</ul>

<div>

<h2><a id="3" name="3">3. Andrea Saul - Promoting the Views of a Non-expert Expert</a></h2>

<div id="cke_pastebin">In April 2006, Andrea Saul put out a press release to promote the views of weatherman and climate contrarian George Taylor who <a target="_blank" href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oregon-state-climatologist-questions-global-warming-study-in-washington-post-55235012.html">attempted to rebut</a> a study published in Science which found that the Antarctic ice sheet was melting. Ms. Saul wrote:</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"TCSDaily Science Roundtable member and Oregon state climatologist George Taylor, expressed his concern over the legitimacy of recent claims that the Antarctic ice sheet is melting. The Washington Post article titled 'Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly' (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-%20dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201712.html">www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201712.html</a>) looked to Taylor to provide an expert view on the validity of a recent study published in Science magazine on global warming."</div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">George Taylor was the Manager of the Oregon Climate Service at the University of Oregon and had no training in climate change or its effects on polar regions of the Earth. According to an article about his retirement in 2008, Taylor’s expertise was “ to help advise Oregon farmers, fishermen, skiers and motorists about likely weather conditions, both short- and long-term” (Jeff Wright, <a target="_blank" href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=20080222&id=1F9WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b_ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=2424,4372635">Eugene Register-Guard</a>, Feb. 22, 2008).</div>

<div>

<h2><a id="4" name="4">4. Andrea Saul - Led Campaign to Undermine Scientific Consensus on Climate Change Science</a></h2>

<div id="cke_pastebin">In mid 2006, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) sought to draft a consensus statement on the science of climate change. This statement examined the vast body of research on the matter in attempt to better explain the science to both scientists and the American public.</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">In response, several scientists sent a <a target="blank" href="http://www.nhinsider.com/nhigb/2006/12/10/ams-council-amend-draft-statement-on-climate-change.html">letter to the AMS</a> in an attempt to introduce contrarian views about “natural variability” and “data uncertainty” in the climate.   The lead author of the letter was <a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/joseph-d-aleo">Joseph D’Aleo</a> a well-known climate change denier who has no training in climate change science. Other signatories include contrarian scientists and corporate funded pundits such as <a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/richard-lindzen">Richard Lindzen</a>, <a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sallie-baliunas">Sallie Baliunas</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/patrick-michaels">Patrick J. Michaels</a>.</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">To advance these views, Ms. Saul led a public relations campaign to “<a target="_blank" href="http://www.nhinsider.com/nhigb/2006/12/10/ams-council-amend-draft-statement-on-climate-change.html">influence the deciding committee on the final statement</a>.” </div>

<h2><a id="5" name="5">5. Andrea Saul - Work with Grover Norquist Front Group, United For Jobs</a></h2>

<div id="cke_pastebin">When Congress was considering a tax on oil companies in the mid 2000’s, Andrea Saul leaped to Big Oil’s defense as part of United For Jobs, front group. In a press release by Saul, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/United+for+Jobs+Warns:+Federal+%27Windfall+Profits+Tax%27+Legislation...-a0144002450">she wrote</a>:</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">"Today United for Jobs (UFJ) warned that federal legislation to impose a so-called "windfall profits tax" on U.S. oil companies would have a severe economic impact on public employee trust funds. The Missouri Highway Patrol Retirement System, the Public School Employees' Retirement System of Missouri, the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System, and other public retirement funds could lose as much as $325 million per year in foregone gains, according to a recent study by the Investors Action Foundation (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.windfallprofitstax.org/" title="http://www.windfallprofitstax.org/">http://www.windfallprofitstax.org/</a>)."</div>

</blockquote>

<div>United for Jobs had already led the campaign to <a target="blank" href="http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2004/08/01/new-study-shows-hefty-price-tag-mccain-lieberman-bill">kill the McCain-Lieberman climate legislation</a> on a rolling basis beginning in 2004. In 2005, the latest McCain-Lieberman climate bill was gaining slow momentum and Senator McCain pushed for more votes. McCain staff told to us at the time that United for Jobs was the most formidable opponent, with their appearance as a multi-denominational coalition of "labor", black business (<a target="blank" href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=113">National Black Chamber of Commerce</a>), and seniors groups (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=60_Plus_Association">60 Plus Association</a>). United for Jobs attacked numerous other proposals for greenhouse gas regulations, including a <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/node/515/edit">counter offense</a> against Senator Jeff Binghaman’s carbon dioxide regulatory efforts in 2005</div>

<div>United for Jobs no longer exists, but an <a target="blank" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20060624085846/http://www.united4jobs.org/">archived website</a> finds that their office was located at 1920 L Street, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036. At the time, this was the <a target="blank" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20060717041136/http://www.atr.org/">exact same address</a> for Americans for Tax Reform, a corporate front group managed by Grover Norquist, an associate of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. </div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">DCI Group served as the contact and distribution node for United for Jobs reports and press releases.</div>

<div>

<h2><a id="DCI Heartland doc" name="DCI Heartland doc">Leaked Document: DCI, Heartland Institute and Exxon plan attacks on Clean Air Act</a></h2>

<div id="cke_pastebin">An anonymous source sent Greenpeace a <a target="blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/320999-heartland-exxon-clean-air-act-mtg-2006.html">copy of an invitation, agenda and attendees list</a> for a May 2006 meeting organized by the <a target="blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/heartland-institute-hi/">Heartland Institute</a> and hosted at the DCI Group offices “to discuss public policy challenges related to the Clean Air Act.” The only corporation represented at the meeting was ExxonMobil. Exxon representatives gave two presentations over the course of the full day meeting. Six ExxonMobil staff are listed as invited guests. Two DCI – Tech Central Station representatives are named on the invitees list, along with a note “plus DCI field officers and staff”. It is unknown whether Andrea Saul attended this meeting.</div>

<div>

<div class="DC-note-title display"><a class="DC-title-link" href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/320999-heartland-exxon-clean-air-act-mtg-2006.html#document/p3/a66935">Heartland Instituete DCI Clean Air Act mtg Guestlist (p. 3)</a></div>

</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Organizations invited to this session included:</div>

<ul>

<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/american-council-on-capital-fo/">American Council for Capital Formation</a></li>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/american-enterprise-institute/?utma=1.644215745.1340031630.1344282501.1344288512.14&utmb=1.3.10.1344288512&utmc=1&utmx=-&utmz=1.1344288512.14.5.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=greenpeace%20koch%20american%20council%20capital&utmv=-&_utmk=130427791">American Enterprise Institute</a></li>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/american-legislative-exchange/?utma=1.644215745.1340031630.1344282501.1344288512.14&utmb=1.5.10.1344288512&utmc=1&utmx=-&utmz=1.1344288512.14.5.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=greenpeace%20koch%20american%20council%20capital&utmv=-&_utmk=221136024">American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</a></li>

<li>Black Chamber of Commerce</li>

<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/cato-institute/">Cato Institute</a></li>

<li>Center for Science and Policy</li>

<li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/competitive-enterprise-institu/">Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)</a></li>

<li>CRA International</li>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/frontiers-of-freedom/?utma=1.644215745.1340031630.1344282501.1344288512.14&utmb=1.10.10.1344288512&utmc=1&utmx=-&utmz=1.1344288512.14.5.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=greenpeace%20koch%20american%20council%20capital&utmv=-&_utmk=16025398">Frontiers of Freedom</a></li>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/george-c-marshall-institute/?utma=1.644215745.1340031630.1344282501.1344288512.14&utmb=1.12.10.1344288512&utmc=1&utmx=-&utmz=1.1344288512.14.5.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=greenpeace%20koch%20american%20council%20capital&utmv=-&_utmk=221538328">George C. Marshall Institute</a></li>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/the-manhattan-institute/?utma=1.644215745.1340031630.1344282501.1344288512.14&utmb=1.14.10.1344288512&utmc=1&utmx=-&utmz=1.1344288512.14.5.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=greenpeace%20koch%20american%20council%20capital&utmv=-&_utmk=221603736">Manhattan Institute</a></li>

<li><a target="blank" href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/national-taxpayers-union-found/?utma=1.644215745.1340031630.1344282501.1344288512.14&utmb=1.16.10.1344288512&utmc=1&utmx=-&utmz=1.1344288512.14.5.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=%28organic%29%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=greenpeace%20koch%20american%20council%20capital&utmv=-&_utmk=228476189">National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF)</a></li>

<li>Phoenix Strategies</li>

</ul>

</div>

{cke_protected}

</div>

<h3><a id="DCI Romney staff" name="DCI Romney staff">DCI Group former staff within Romney 2012 campaign:</a></h3>

<div id="cke_pastebin">(Quotations sourced from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.p2012.org/candidates/romneyorg">Democracy in Action</a>)</div>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Matt Rhoades, Campaign Manager:</div>

<div>“(announced Feb. 15, 2010) A vice president with DCI Group, May 2007-Feb. 2010. Communications director on Romney's presidential campaign, Jan. 2007-March 2008. A deputy communications director in charge of research for the RNC during the 2006 election cycle. Research director for the 2004 Bush/Cheney re-election campaign. Deputy research director at the RNC, 2003-04. White House Liaison at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the Bush Administration, and earlier an Associate Director in the White House Presidential Personnel Office. B.A. from Syracuse University, 1997; and an M.A. from The George Washington University, 1999.”</div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Andrea Saul, Press Secretary:</div>

<div>“announced March 3, 2011 as communications advisor to Free and Strong America PAC) Press Secretary for Carly Fiorina’s U.S. Senate race in California. Communications director for Gov. Charlie Crist during his recent U.S. Senate run but resigned in April 2010 upon his decision to switch party affiliation. Press secretary to U.S Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) during much of 2009. Director of media affairs for McCain-Palin, responsible for organizing all television, radio and surrogate activity. Director of media affairs at the Republican National Committee, 2007-08. Associate account executive at DCI Group, 2005-07. Graduate of Vanderbilt University, 2004. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.twitter.com/andreamsaul">twitter</a>”</div>

</blockquote>

<div id="cke_pastebin">Evan Yost, Deputy Communications Director and Research Director:</div>

<div>“(June 2011) M.B.A. in finance, accounting from Rice University, 2011. A director at DCI Group, 2007-09. Deputy director of research on John McCain 2008 in 2007. Special assistant for strategic initiatives in the Office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, 2005-06. B.A. in English literature from The Johns Hopkins University, 2000.”</div>

</blockquote>

<div>

</div>

</div>