educ mgmt EMC

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</div><div><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6875rem;">White Paper</h3>Alford, who’s also <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.uschamber.com/about/board-directors" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">on the board</a> of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, branched out into other issues. In 2011, he campaigned against a proposed Department of Education <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/obama-administration-announces-final-rules-protect-students-poor-performing-career-college-programs" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">rule</a> that would cut off student aid at schools that saddle graduates with too much debt relative to earnings.Alford released a <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/images/stories/NBCC_The%20Keystone%20Kops%20FINAL%204%2028%2011.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">white paper</a>, held media <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/images/stories/audio/5.9.11%20Conference%20Call.mp3" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">conference calls</a>, started a website and <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/images/stories/Alford%20Testimony%20July%208%202011%20FINAL.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">testified before Congress</a>, arguing that the rule would diminish opportunities for minority students. Education Management Corp., one of the schools affected by the rule and a DCI client, was listed as a sponsor of the National Black Chamber’s annual convention in <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://nationalbcc.org/news/progress-reports/2107-recap-of-22nd-annual-conference" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">2014</a> and <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-black-chamber-of-commerce-convenes-in-hollywood-fl-300113813.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">2015</a>.Another convention sponsor was Penn National Gaming Inc. In 2012, the company <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/lgbt-groups-gambling-mailer-funded-by-casino-grou?utm_term=.ixB0gBD01#.xqNRZPAR1" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">hired DCI</a> to torpedo a ballot measure that would expand gambling in Maryland, threatening Penn casinos. The measure passed despite Alford’s <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/ballot-proposition-increases-corporate-welfare/article_c0dd8eaf-5b93-58bd-95e8-acee3c20dbe4.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">syndicated column</a> in black newspapers urging a “no” vote. A spokesman for Penn said the gambling company has been a member of the chamber since 2008.In recent years, Alford has taken an interest in the rights of investors in securities, an emerging DCI specialty. In 2009, he <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-black-chamber-of-commerce-supports-congressional-efforts-to-remedy-argentine-debt-62044662.html?$G1Ref" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">urged Congress</a> to punish Argentina for refusing to repay bonds whose owners included hedge fund manager Paul Singer. And last year, he <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://nationalbcc.org/news/latest-news/2702-puerto-rico-debt-crisis" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">wrote</a> a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan asking him to consider the rights of holders of Puerto Rican bonds.Alford filed legal briefs in two court cases that indirectly helped shareholders of the mortgage company Fannie Mae, another DCI cause. They are among more than a dozen the chamber has filed as a friend of the court in the past decade on issues ranging from retirement advice to labor unions. They include two that supported another DCI client, the family of Texas billionaire J. Howard Marshall II, in feuds with his widow Anna Nicole Smith and the Internal Revenue Service.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6875rem;">Feeding Lines</h3>Sometimes, Alford’s public statements leave clues that someone else is feeding him lines. The Huffington Post <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/edmc-op-ed-fake-name_us_565dfd56e4b079b2818c100b" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">pointed out</a> that his 2015 op-ed in the Hill defending Education Management contained a parenthetical note to Alford from the piece’s actual author that hadn’t been removed.A 2010 chamber <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/images/stories/RELEASE%20NBCC%20amicus%20brief.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">press release</a> about the Marshalls’ battle with Smith was written by a junior DCI employee, whose name appears as the electronic document’s author. The same goes for a 2013 Alford letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission defending Samsung in the patent dispute with Apple.Alford’s campaigns haven’t always meshed with DCI’s. He’s a <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.mastercard.com/us/company/en/newsroom/durbin_amendment_passing.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">critic</a> of the Durbin Amendment, which limits debit-card swipe fees. DCI’s <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/grass_roots_lobbying_tactics_evade_public_eye-223372-1.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">retailer clients</a> support it. In 2014, Visa Inc., one of the biggest opponents of Durbin, <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://www.nationalbcc.org/news/latest-news/2084-national-black-chamber-of-commerce-convention-kicks-off-in-chicago-with-desiree-rogers-alphonso-jackson-j-alexander-martin-david-otunga-claudia-jordan-and-chef-roble-headlining" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">sponsored</a> a reception at the chamber’s convention in Chicago.DCI was founded in 1996 by three public relations executives who had <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/UCSexxon_report.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">worked for</a> R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. They’d pioneered the use of smokers’ rights groups to promote the industry’s message. At DCI, their client base expanded to include companies such as AT&T Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.The chamber isn’t the only nonprofit that has frequently worked alongside DCI. The public-affairs firm <a class="dvz-t-disable" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/us/politics/puerto-rico-money-debt.html?r=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(43, 0, 247);">recruited</a> the 60 Plus Association, which bills itself as a conservative answer to the AARP, to lead a campaign in favor of holders of Puerto Rican bonds, according to the New York Times. The Center for Individual Freedom, created by a tobacco operative in 1998, has taken positions on behalf of Fannie Mae shareholders, Puerto Rico bondholders and the Marshall family.</div>