Open in TheBrain

North Dakota Pol Cncl

defunct? &nbsp;why wd that ever happen?<div>
</div><div>=</div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">OMG</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/20/emails-bush-iraq-war-pr-delve-off-the-record-strategies-dakota-access-pipeline">https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/20/emails-bush-iraq-war-pr-delve-off-the-record-strategies-dakota-access-pipeline</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="min-height: 280px;"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><em><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">By Steve Horn and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.muckrock.com/accounts/profile/chwaltman/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Curtis Waltman</a>,</span>&nbsp;MuckRock</font></strong></em></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Behind the scenes, as&nbsp;law enforcement officials tried to stem protests against the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-transfer-partners-bakken-oil-pipeline-through-iowa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Dakota Access pipeline</a>, alumni from the George W. Bush White House were leading&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">a crisis communications effort to discredit pipeline protesters</span>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Emails show that the firms Delve and Off the Record Strategies,&nbsp;</span>apparently working on contract with the&nbsp;<b>National Sheriffs’ Association</b>, worked in secret on&nbsp;talking points, media outreach, and communications training for law enforcement dealing with&nbsp;Dakota Access opponents mobilized at the Standing Rock Sioux&nbsp;Reservation in Cannon Ball,</span>&nbsp;North Dakota.&nbsp;This revelation comes from&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">documents obtained via an open records request&nbsp;</span>from the Laramie County Sheriff's Department in Wyoming.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As previously reported by DeSmog, the&nbsp;<span class="caps">GOP</span>-connected&nbsp;firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/dci-group" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="caps">DCI</span>&nbsp;Group</a>&nbsp;led the forward-facing public relations efforts for Dakota Access via a front group called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/15/dakota-access-pipeline-fake-twitter-accounts-dci-group" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now&nbsp;(<span class="caps">MAIN</span>)</a>. Today&nbsp;<span class="caps">MAIN</span>&nbsp;has morphed into&nbsp;a&nbsp;national effort known as&nbsp;<a href="http://gainnow.org/about-us/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (<span class="caps">GAIN</span>)</a>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><a href="https://delvedc.com/about/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Delve</a>&nbsp;is</span>&nbsp;an opposition research firm run by&nbsp;Jeff Berkowitz, former Republican National Committee research director and&nbsp;official in the George W. Bush White House. His company led research efforts on behalf of the National Sheriffs'&nbsp;Association.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.otrstrategies.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Off the Record Strategies</a>, meanwhile, guided the sheriffs’&nbsp;behind-the-scenes communications strategy.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Mark%20Pfeifle%20%20LinkedIn.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Pfeifle</a>&nbsp;runs the secretive firm, Off the Record Strategies, and served as communications advisor in the George&nbsp;W. Bush administration, leading&nbsp;<span class="caps">PR</span>&nbsp;efforts for the wars in Iraq and&nbsp;Afghanistan.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">The National Sheriffs’ Association,&nbsp;</span>a trade group for sheriffs,&nbsp;has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/27/dakota-access-sheriffs-lobbying-military-gear" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lobbying the federal government</a>&nbsp;for additional surplus military gear from the Department of Defense under the auspices of its 1033 program</b>. The association was also the central organizing vehicle&nbsp;which brought&nbsp;hundreds of out-of-state cops to Standing Rock via the&nbsp;<b><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/27/emergency-assistance-law-dakota-access-pipeline-out-state-cops" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Emergency Management Assistance Compact (<span class="caps">EMAC</span>)</a>.</b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Law enforcement present at Standing Rock under<b>&nbsp;<span class="caps">EMAC</span>&nbsp;came under fire for a heavy-handed and overtly military-like response to pipeline&nbsp;protesters.&nbsp;</b></font></p><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'Guns, Knives,&nbsp;Etc.'</font></span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">According to an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Fwd%20ND%20Talking%20Points.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">October 4, 2016 email</a>&nbsp;sent by Chelsea Rider, content strategist for the sheriffs’ association, Pfeifle&nbsp;drafted the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Draft%20talking%20points.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">talking points</a>&nbsp;used by law enforcement in an attempt to discredit the anti-Dakota Access movement. Representatives of that</span>&nbsp;movement&nbsp;referred to themselves as&nbsp;“water protectors” because they opposed the pipeline crossing Lake Oahe and the Missouri River, a source of drinking water&nbsp;for the Standing Rock Sioux and others&nbsp;downriver.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">The document attached to that email, according to its metadata, indicates it was indeed&nbsp;written by Pfeifle, and then given&nbsp;to the&nbsp;</span>acting public information officer,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ndaco.org/about-ndaco/staff/27892/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Donnell Hushka</a>&nbsp;of the North Dakota Association of Counties, who&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">handled information related to&nbsp;the protests at Standing Rock</span>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The talking points purported that the movement was led by “out-of-state agitators” with gang and drug-dealing ties, had connections to “anarchists” and “Palestinian activists,” used&nbsp;violence,&nbsp;and possessed&nbsp;“guns, knives, etc.</span>”<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;In addition, the messaging&nbsp;included calls to “follow the money” in pursuit of potential funding support from liberal elites such as George Soros and Tom&nbsp;Steyer.</span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202017-07-18%20at%2012.48.16%20AM.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: 395px; width: 550px;" />
<em>Credit: Laramie County Sheriffs'&nbsp;Department</em></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On October 5, Pfeifle sent a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Mark%20Pfeifle%20Email.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">follow-up email</a>&nbsp;to Hushka and other sheriffs’ association staff, including its executive director Jonathan Thompson, in response to an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Press%20Conference%20Script%20Email.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">email sent by Thompson</a>. Thompson’s email recommended changes for&nbsp;a press conference script drafted by&nbsp;Hushka.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>Importantly, we need to make sure we are pushing the primary message before the actual press conference begins, we want questions asked about who is [sic]&nbsp;protesters,” wrote Thompson in his email.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Must focus on the why this happening. This not for altruistic reasons, but nothing less than a desire to ‘occupy, threaten and intimidate,’ not peaceful protest. There those that want nothing more than using thug-like tactics, rumors and outright&nbsp;lights to distort what is really&nbsp;happening.”</span></font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pfeifle agreed in his email, and suggested&nbsp;following the press conference with outreach to friendly media outlets to amplify the&nbsp;message.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202017-07-19%20at%202.25.07%20AM.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: 225px; width: 833px;" />
<em>Credit: Laramie County Sheriffs'&nbsp;Department</em></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">One of those outlets was the Say Anything Blog, run by Rob Port, who the next day,&nbsp;October 6, ran a blog post featuring many of the themes found in the talking points: “</span><a href="https://www.sayanythingblog.com/entry/85-percent-arrested-nodapl-protesters-outside-north-dakota/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Over 85 Percent of Arrested #NoDAPL Protesters Are From Outside of North Dakota</a>.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In his email,&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Pfeifle had suggested reaching out to Port, who also&nbsp;<a href="http://www.inforum.com/news/4112097-rob-port-begin-daily-one-hour-show-wday-radio" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">hosts a radio show</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<span class="caps">WDAY</span>&nbsp;<span class="caps">AM</span>-970 and regularly wrote blog posts in support of Dakota Access during the Standing Rock stand-off. When Port's piece went&nbsp;online, Pfeifle wrote an email that same day to the Delve team, sheriffs' association staff, Hushka, and others asking&nbsp;an association staffer to share the piece on social&nbsp;media.</span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202017-07-19%20at%209.27.05%20PM.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: 521px; width: 550px;" />
<em>Credit: Laramie County Sheriffs'&nbsp;Department</em></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Though since removed from his blog, the Web Archive shows that Port formerly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Say%20Anything%20Site%20Announcement%20Joining%20The%20North%20Dakota%20Policy%20Council.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">served as a policy fellow</a>&nbsp;for the North Dakota Policy Council, a defunct think-tank that was part of the conservative and corporate-funded&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/state-policy-network" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">State Policy Network (<span class="caps">SPN</span>)</a>.&nbsp;<span class="caps">SPN</span>, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2013/12/09/stink-tanks-historical-records-reveal-state-policy-network-created-alec" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reported in 2013 by DeSmog</a>, was actually created as a message-force-multiplier by and for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-legislative-exchange-council" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council (<span class="caps">ALEC</span>)</a>, another conservative and corporate-backed group which produces&nbsp;model legislation that is&nbsp;disseminated to predominantly Republican&nbsp;state legislators&nbsp;nationwide.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott Hennen, another conservative radio show host Pfeifle suggested&nbsp;the sheriffs' association target for outreach, actually copied and pasted the association's memo into a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/scotthennen/posts/10154409005297254" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Facebook post</a>, which was then&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Nationalsheriffsassociation/posts/10154664513509623" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">shared by the association</a>. In prefacing the talking points, Hennen also posted a photo of a Palestinian flag which was on the protest site&nbsp;depicted.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“For those who still believe the #NoDAPL protests are all peaceful and prayerful…read this,” read&nbsp;Hennen's Facebook post. “It will help you awaken to smell the coffee. And note the Palestine flag in the&nbsp;photo.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On&nbsp;October 7, Hennen also invited Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier on&nbsp;his show to disseminate a similar set of talking points as those conveyed in Hennen's Facebook&nbsp;post.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;">[img]</p><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Iraq War 'Damage&nbsp;Control'</font></span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><b>Pfeifle, who heads&nbsp;Off the Record Strategies</b>, specializes&nbsp;in “damage control,” according to a 2005 Baltimore Sun story profiling the Bush White House communications strategy to fend off domestic</span>&nbsp;critics of the Iraq&nbsp;War.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>Pfeifle's specialty is damage control. And at the moment, there is more than enough damage surrounding Bush,” The Sun wrote&nbsp;</span>of the campaign Pfeifle co-ran with the host of&nbsp;<span class="caps">MSNBC</span>’s “Deadline: White House,”&nbsp;<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-live/nicolle-wallace-biography" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Nicolle Wallace</a>, who then was a top communications advisor to President Bush. “With public alarm about the war mounting and public trust of Bush plummeting, the White House has gone on the defensive [sic OFFENSE] with a public relations push designed to discredit his opponents. The operation has all the trappings of a political campaign&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">—</span>&nbsp;including rapid-response statements targeted at opponents, using carefully compiled&nbsp;research.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Pfeifle isn’t the only person with ties to the Iraq War&nbsp;</span>who did public relations for Dakota Access.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/05/dakota-access-tigerswan-james-spider-marks-los-angeles-riots" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">James “Spider” Marks</a>&nbsp;led intelligence-gathering for the 2003 “shock and awe” campaign for Operation Iraqi Liberation. Today, he&nbsp;serves as a consultant to&nbsp;<b>Energy Transfer Partners and sits on the advisory board of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/28/private-security-firm-dakota-access-iraq-afghanistan-blackwater" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">TigerSwan</a></b>, the company’s private security firm and a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/04/27/dakota-access-sheriffs-lobbying-military-gear" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">funder of the National Sheriffs’ Association</a>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With a tagline of “Private Council/Public Results,” Off the Record Strategies does all of its business behind the scenes and rarely issues public&nbsp;comments.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>If we told you exactly what we do, we’d have to go on the record,” reads its website. “We’re strategic counselors with decades of high-level experience and a no-holds-barred approach to meeting —</span>&nbsp;and exceeding&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">—</span>&nbsp;our client’s needs through personal and confidential&nbsp;service.”</font></p><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Off the Record Strategies&nbsp;</span>'Here to&nbsp;Help'</font></h3><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">In a May 7 webinar convened by the sheriffs’ association, Sheriff Laney and Pfeifle</span>&nbsp;pointed to the October 2016 press conference as an instance of going on the offensive and turning the tables on the “North Dakota nice” attitude.&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Their webinar was titled “</span><a href="https://nsa.adobeconnect.com/p3zo4qjvdyjr/?proto=true" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Protest on the Prairie: Law Enforcement Response and Lessons Learned</a>.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Laney&nbsp;appears to be a prominent figure within the&nbsp;National Sheriffs’ Association. He&nbsp;sits on its Board of Directors,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wdaz.com/content/cass-county-sheriff-selected-head-national-group-0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">formerly served</a>&nbsp;on its Special Operations Committee<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">, and won&nbsp;association awards&nbsp;<a href="http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2017/jun/28/sheriff-laney-receives-2017-nsa-presidents-award/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">in 2017</a>&nbsp;and</span><a href="http://www.policemag.com/channel/patrol/news/2012/01/25/n-d-sheriff-named-sheriff-of-the-year-for-2012.aspx" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;2012</a>. Within his more than hour-long webinar speech last May, Laney also gave a 17-point “<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/DAPL%20Lessons%20Learned.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="caps">DAPL</span>&nbsp;Lessons Learned</a>”&nbsp;presentation.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On top of his other affiliations, Sheriff Laney is a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ndaco.org/about-ndaco/board-of-directors/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">member of&nbsp;the Board of Directors</a>&nbsp;for the North Dakota Association of Counties, which received the talking points from Off the Record Strategies and the sheriffs’ association in the October 4&nbsp;email.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">[vid]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">In October 10 last year, Morton County, North Dakota —</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;center of the pipeline protests&nbsp;</span><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">—&nbsp;</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">sent out a&nbsp;request under</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;</span><span class="caps" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">EMAC</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;for 40 additional law enforcement officers to come to Standing Rock. Laney, and not Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, is</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3515782/Morton-County-Civil-Unrest-Situation-EMAC-Request.pdf" target="blank" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">listed as the point of contact</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;on that request. An October 13 article in the Billings Gazette, taking note of how</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://billingsgazette.com/business/north-dakota-sheriff-out-of-town-almost-constantly-as-pipeline/article_3e0fb15d-dfda-5045-a08b-287b99745334.html" target="blank" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">little time Laney had been spending at home</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">in Cass County, refers to Laney as the Dakota Access “operations chief” in Morton&nbsp;County.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The National Sheriffs’ Association and Off the Record Strategies also show notable ties among&nbsp;personnel.</b></font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Patrick Royal, a media strategist who was director of media affairs for the Republican National Committee in the 2008 election, is actually listed as an employee by both the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sheriffs.org/about-nsa/nsa-staff" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sheriffs’ association</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/OTR%20Strategies%20%20TEAM.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Off the Record Strategies</a>. Further,&nbsp;<a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/bios/Thompson_John_Bio.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Jonathan Thompson</a>, executive director of the National Sheriffs’ Association, formerly worked in the Bush White House with Pfeifle. They both&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2345374.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">went on to work together</a>&nbsp;at a public relations firm named&nbsp;<span class="caps">S4</span>&nbsp;Inc.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/P.%20Edward%20Leffler%20LinkedIn.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">P. Edward Leffler</a>&nbsp;— listed on his LinkedIn page as the director of presidential transition project for the sheriffs’ association — also lists himself as a communication and media relations specialist for Off the Record&nbsp;Strategies.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Royal, Thompson, and Pfeifle&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/2016/04/28/sheriff-got-pr-help-after-avery-documentary/83537512/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">also worked together</a>&nbsp;on a crisis communications reaction to the popular Netflix documentary series,&nbsp;<em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_a_Murderer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Making a Murderer</a></em>. According to an email obtained by&nbsp;<span class="caps">USA</span>&nbsp;Today, Manitowoc County Sheriff Rob Hermann consulted with the three of them on best practice response ideas to the hit 10-part series. Neither&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Royal, Thompson, nor Pfeifle&nbsp;responded to multiple requests for&nbsp;comment.</span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an interview with Royal in May about the sheriffs’ association’s coordination of the Standing Rock law enforcement response, Royal responded, “I wouldn’t quite characterize it that way [and] I would say that what we tried to do was work with the local sheriffs to coordinate for them, to get people who would make themselves&nbsp;available.”</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the sheriffs' association website, Royal was invited to speak alongside Pfeifle at the association's recent&nbsp;annual meeting held in Reno, Nevada, where they were slated to give two three-hour seminars titled, “<a href="http://www.sheriffs.org/sites/default/files/2017%20Annual%20Agenda%20-%204-10-17.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Communicating in a<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Crisis</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.”</span>&nbsp;Eventually, the agenda changed and it appears the two did not end up speaking at the meeting, replaced instead by Sheriff Kirchmeier, Sheriff Laney, and a representative from TigerSwan in a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sheriffs.org/sites/default/files/2017%20Annual%20Agenda%2020170615.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">seminar bearing the same title</a>&nbsp;as the May one given by Laney&nbsp;and&nbsp;Pfeifle.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his May 7 webinar presentation, Pfeifle told those listening to consider his firm a “resource” to be tapped&nbsp;if necessary during prospective future pipeline&nbsp;battles.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;">[img]</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>Consider us a resource of the National Sheriff’s Association.&nbsp;</span>This is not the end of our activities to help and support law enforcement in areas where the pipelines could be under protest attack in the next days, months and years. But it’s a continuing activity that we will be available to support you in ways necessary and learn what we learned in North Dakota for areas that might be seeing protesters coming in doing much the same thing across the country,” said Pfeifle. “So, use us as a&nbsp;resource. We’re here to&nbsp;help.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Pfeifle, in fact, has remained a resource for other pipeline fights, including&nbsp;the long-contested&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5857" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Keystone&nbsp;<span class="caps">XL</span></a>. According to Laney’s May 7 webinar presentation, he, Pfeifle, and Thompson all traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, on April 14 to meet with the state’s&nbsp;<b>Attorney General, Doug Peterson. Keystone&nbsp;<span class="caps">XL</span></b>, if constructed, would pass through the Cornhusker&nbsp;State.</font></p><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Research&nbsp;“Delve”</font></span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">In the October 4 talking points email, several Delve employees were also included in the email chain, though it is unclear how or if they responded. The email only arose through the records request because it was forwarded to&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.laramiecounty.com/officials/Sheriff/Bio.aspx" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Laramie County Sheriff Danny Glick</a>, who did not respond to a request for comment for this story.&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">Delve principals in the email included</span>&nbsp;<a href="https://delvedc.com/bio-matt/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Matt Moon</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Jeff%20Berkowitz%20%20LinkedIn.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Jeff Berkowitz</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://delvedc.com/bio-foster/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Foster Morss</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Lloyd%20Miller%20%20LinkedIn.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Lloyd Miller</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Daniel%20Mintz%20%20LinkedIn.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Dan Mintz</a>. Moon is the former deputy research director for the Republican National Committee (<span class="caps">RNC</span>), where he worked with Berkowitz. Morss led the research and policy team for 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and&nbsp;formerly served as deputy research director for the&nbsp;<span class="caps">RNC</span>&nbsp;under Berkowitz. Berkowitz and Morss also worked together on Rudy Giuliani’s run for president during the 2008 election&nbsp;cycle.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202017-07-19%20at%209.19.13%20PM.png" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: 532px; width: 550px;" />

</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><b>Miller worked as a research consultant for the&nbsp;<span class="caps">GOP</span>&nbsp;Super-<span class="caps">PAC</span>&nbsp;American Crossroads, founded by former President George W. Bush's chief of staff Karl Rove,</b>while Mintz has since transitioned into a new job and works as the speechwriter for&nbsp;<span class="caps">U.S.</span>Sen. Jeff Flake (R-<span class="caps">AZ</span>). The Daily Beast reported that Berkowitz also ghostwrote some of the campaign policy positions for&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/donald-trump%5C" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a>’s 2016 run for the White House, doing so through another firm he runs named&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-super-secret-policy-ghostwriter" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="caps">JBC</span>&nbsp;Research&nbsp;<span class="caps">LLC</span></a>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>Delve provides breakthrough insights for winning causes through competitive intelligence, opposition research, media and subject monitoring, policy analysis, and issue management,”&nbsp;</span><a href="https://delvedc.com/about/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Delve says on its website</a>. “Our clients include fortune-listed corporations, major industry associations, Republican political campaigns, independent expenditure groups, and advocacy and educational&nbsp;groups.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3">For Delve’s work on Dakota Access — which is owned by&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/19688" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Energy Transfer Partners</a>&nbsp;founder and&nbsp;<span class="caps">CEO</span>&nbsp;Kelcy Warren, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facingsouth.org/2016/09/meet-texas-billionaire-and-gop-donor-behind-north-dakota-pipeline-controversy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">major Republican Party donor</a>&nbsp;— the firm maintained a special email address, “<a href="mailto:pipeline@delvedc.com" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">pipeline@delvedc.com</a>.” Representatives from Delve did not respond to a request for comment for this&nbsp;story.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Delve’s “delve” into helping the National Sheriffs’ Association at Standing Rock appears to have paid off, though, at least according to Sheriff Laney’s May webinar&nbsp;presentation.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>It wasn’t until we had Mark and his people, Matt and Dan [of Delve] and Chelsea [of the National Sheriffs’ Association], [who] all came [and] spent probably way more time than they thought they ever would in their lives in North Dakota, but they spent months with us,” said&nbsp;Laney.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-67d97633-591b-f404-93f3-defc34dd7fe3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>And they were a godsend for us because we were finally about to fight them. You know, their professional media service we know was coming out of Seattle and it was highly funded. And to combat that with our own experts and I don’t have the time to go into all of that, but I can tell you without them, we would’ve been in serious&nbsp;trouble.”</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dakota Access, pending an&nbsp;<a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/APFN_US_OIL_PIPELINE_NDOL-?SITE=IASPN&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ongoing federal court review</a>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;<span class="caps">U.S.</span>&nbsp;Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental review process for the pipeline’s Missouri River crossing and potential spill impacts on the Standing Rock Tribe, is now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/06/oil-is-flowing-through-the-dakota-access-pipeline/529707/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">open for business</a>. Obtained from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)</a>&nbsp;from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7174" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Bakken Shale</a>&nbsp;basin, the oil contained within Dakota Access is now&nbsp;<a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2017-07-18-APFN-US--Oil%20Pipeline/id-ba7d06b85e20436c8bc9b14b3291c150" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">moving at a rate of half</a>&nbsp;of North Dakota's entire&nbsp;production supply chain to market.
&nbsp;</font></p></div></div></div><div class="icopyright-article-tools-horizontal icopyright-article-tools-left"><div class="icx-toolbar" style="max-width: 264px;"><div class="icx-toolbar-inner" static.icopyright.net="static.icopyright.net" rights="rights" images="images" toolbar="toolbar" wrapper_bg_right_end_classic.gif="wrapper_bg_right_end_CLASSIC.gif" background-position="background-position" right="right" bottom="bottom" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" height="height" px="px" margin="margin" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" padding-right="padding-right" style="background-image: url("");"><div class="icx-tool-wrapper" static.icopyright.net="static.icopyright.net" rights="rights" images="images" toolbar="toolbar" wrapper_bg_narrow_classic.gif="wrapper_bg_narrow_CLASSIC.gif" background-position="background-position" left="left" bottom="bottom" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" height="height" px="px" margin-left="margin-left" padding-left="padding-left" style="background-image: url("");"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above" style="padding: 1.5em 0px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font><div class="field-label" style="text-transform: uppercase; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TAGS:&nbsp;</font></font></font></font></font></div><div class="field-items" style="display: inline;"><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/4866">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/tags/dci-group">DCI group</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/16664">Rob Port</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/6853">ALEC</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/6907">american legislative exchange council</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/8656">SPN</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7681">State Policy Network</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/midwest-alliance-infrastructure-now">Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7174">Bakken Shale</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/17099">Cass County</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/morton-county">Morton County</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/1088">North Dakota</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/1198">george w bush</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/20841">Dakota Access</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/emergency-management-assistance-compact">emergency management assistance compact</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/emac">EMAC</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/19688">Energy Transfer Partners</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/19696">Kelcy Warren</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/national-sheriffs-association">National Sheriffs' Association</a></div></div></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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