Rietz, K
<h1 class="firstHeading">Ken Rietz</h1>
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<p><strong class="selflink">Ken Rietz</strong> is a senior counselor at the Washington-based political campaign and commercial advertising firm <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=360advantage&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="360advantage (not yet written)">360advantage</a> a joint venture of the powerful consulting firms of <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Quinn_Gillespie%26_Associates" title="Quinn Gillespie & Associates">Quinn Gillespie & Associates</a>, <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Burson-Marsteller" title="Burson-Marsteller">Burson-Marsteller</a>, <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/BKSH%26_Associates" title="BKSH & Associates">BKSH & Associates</a> and <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Direct_Impact&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Direct Impact (not yet written)">Direct Impact</a><span class="reference"><sup id="ref_1" class="plainlinksneverexpand"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_1" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_1" rel="nofollow">[1]</a></sup></span>. He was formerly US vice Chairman, President and CEO for <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Burson-Marsteller" title="Burson-Marsteller">Burson-Marsteller</a>, but was replaced in the President and CEO role in 2006 by <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Patrick_Ford&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Patrick Ford (not yet written)">Patrick Ford</a><span class="reference"><sup id="ref_2" class="plainlinksneverexpand"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_2" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_2" rel="nofollow">[2]</a></sup></span>. Rietz has held other positions at the company including President and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, CEO of the Western Region, Global Public Affairs Practice Chair and President and CEO of the Washington Region.</p>
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Before joining Burson-Marsteller in Rietz was a <b>chief legislative adviser</b> to a senior member of the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=US_Congress&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="US Congress (not yet written)">US Congress</a> and the strategic and media adviser to dozen members of the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=U.S.House_of_Representatives&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="U.S. House of Representatives (not yet written)">U.S. House of Representatives</a> and the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=U.S.Senate&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="U.S. Senate (not yet written)">U.S. Senate</a><span class="reference"><sup id="ref_3" class="plainlinksneverexpand"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_3" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_3" rel="nofollow">[3]</a></sup></span>. He has experience in four Republican presidential campaigns and was implicated in Nixon’s scandalous 1972 re-election campaign, for hiring agents provocateurs for demonstrations<span class="reference"><sup id="ref_4" class="plainlinksneverexpand"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_4" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_4" rel="nofollow">[4]</a></sup></span>.
Reitz recently welcomed particpants at a conference for the Republican Presidential Candidate 2008, Fred Thomson<span class="reference"><sup id="ref_5" class="plainlinksneverexpand"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_5" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_5" rel="nofollow">[5]</a></sup></span> and has been tagged as on board the campaign<span class="reference"><sup id="ref_6" class="plainlinksneverexpand"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_6" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_6" rel="nofollow">[6]</a></sup></span>.
== Career and Affiliations == <span class="reference"><sup id="ref_7" class="plainlinksneverexpand"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_7" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#endnote_7" rel="nofollow">[7]</a></sup></span></p>
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<li><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Republican_National_Committee&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Republican National Committee (not yet written)">Republican National Committee</a> Deputy Chairman and Political Director</li>
<li><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=MGM_Records&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="MGM Records (not yet written)">MGM Records</a> Executive Vice President</li>
<li><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Mike_Curb_Productions&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Mike Curb Productions (not yet written)">Mike Curb Productions</a> Founding Partner</li>
<li><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Burson-Marsteller" title="Burson-Marsteller">Burson-Marsteller</a> Executive Board</li>
<li><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Young_%26_Rubicam_Brands&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Young & Rubicam Brands (not yet written)">Young & Rubicam Brands</a> Partnership Board</li>
<li><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Federal_City_Council&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Federal City Council (not yet written)">Federal City Council</a> Executive Committee</li>
<li><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Fund_for_American_Studies&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Fund for American Studies (not yet written)">Fund for American Studies</a> Board of Regents</li>
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<a id="References" name="References"> </a>
<h2><span class="mw-headline">References</span></h2>
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<li><cite id="endnote_1" style=" font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#ref_1" title=""><b></b></a></cite>Nashville Post, 6 June 2007; News; <a href="http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/6/1/the_inner_fred" class="external text" title="http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/6/1/the_inner_fred" rel="nofollow">The 'Inner Fred'</a> Ken Whitehouse</li>
<li><cite id="endnote_2" style=" font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#ref_2" title=""><b></b></a></cite>PR Week <a href="http://offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/misc/SRP/Supplements-Documents/AgencyBusinessReport2007.pdf" class="external text" title="http://offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/misc/SRP/Supplements-Documents/AgencyBusinessReport2007.pdf" rel="nofollow">Agency Business Report 2007</a> p.7</li>
<li><cite id="endnote_3" style=" font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#ref_3" title=""><b></b></a></cite>360advantage, 2005, <a href="http://www.360advantage.com/About360_rietz.php" class="external text" title="http://www.360advantage.com/About360_rietz.php" rel="nofollow">About 360advantage</a></li>
<li><cite id="endnote_4" style=" font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#ref_4" title=""><b></b></a></cite>Campaign for America's Future 30 May, 2007 <a href="http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/did_i_mention_blogs_name_literal" class="external text" title="http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/did_i_mention_blogs_name_literal" rel="nofollow">Did I mention that the blog's name is literal?</a> Rick Perlstein</li>
<li><cite id="endnote_5" style=" font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#ref_5" title=""><b></b></a></cite>The Daily Standard, 20 May, 2007 <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/707jubmq.asp" class="external text" title="http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/707jubmq.asp" rel="nofollow">Testing the Waters: Fred Thomson is Running</a> Stephen F Hayes</li>
<li><cite id="endnote_6" style=" font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#ref_6" title=""><b></b></a></cite>Nashville Post, 6 June 2007; News; <a href="http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/6/1/the_inner_fred" class="external text" title="http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/6/1/the_inner_fred" rel="nofollow">The 'Inner Fred'</a> Ken Whitehouse</li>
<li><cite id="endnote_7" style=" font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Ken_Rietz#ref_7" title=""><b></b></a></cite>360advantage, 2005, <a href="http://www.360advantage.com/About360_rietz.php" class="external text" title="http://www.360advantage.com/About360_rietz.php" rel="nofollow">About 360advantage</a></li>
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thompson campaign imploded</p>
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The architect of the group was Ken Rietz, a longtime Thompson pal and former operative for <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Richard+Nixon?tid=informline" target="">Richard M. Nixon</a> who has spent two decades as a prominent Washington image-maker. Working with Thompson's wife, Jeri, he recruited <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Republican+Party?tid=informline" target="">GOP</a> strategist <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Mary+Matalin?tid=informline" target="">Mary Matalin</a>; Ed McFadden, a speechwriter for <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/John+Ashcroft?tid=informline" target="">John D. Ashcroft</a> when Ashcroft was attorney general; Mark <b>Corallo</b>, a well-known Washington press specialist; pollsters John and Jim McLaughlin; and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Tom+Collamore?tid=informline" target="">Tom Collamore</a>, a former <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Altria+Group+Inc.?tid=informline" target="">Altria</a> executive whom Rietz put in charge of operations. Nelson Warfield, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Robert+J.+Dole?tid=informline" target="">Robert J. Dole</a>'s former spokesman and Rietz's neighbor, was there, too.
...
In 1972, Rietz, then a 30-year-old political operative, flew down to Key Biscayne to meet with President Richard M. Nixon and John Mitchell, the director of the Committee to Re-Elect the President, armed with an audacious proposal.</p>
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Never mind the anti-Vietnam War protests on college campuses across the country, the dashing Rietz told them. Spend a few million dollars, and we can win the youth vote. The skeptical president and former attorney general signed off on the plan, and within weeks, the new head of Young Voters for the President had set up a storefront office at 17th and Pennsylvania, staffed with a dozen eager young activists.
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<p><b>By year's end, Rietz's army of under-30 volunteers (which included a college-age <span style=" color: #ED1C24;">Karl Rove </span>and a cadre of women called Nixonettes) had swelled to the thousands and helped deliver Nixon the election. Rietz was named the deputy chairman at the Republican National Committee, until he became entangled in Watergate.</b></p>
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<b>Interviewed by the FBI, he admitted hiring a student to infiltrate a peace group,</b> but he denied leading a "kiddie spy corps," as news reports had alleged. He was never charged with anything, but he resigned his RNC position and went into political hibernation in California, emerging occasionally to run campaigns over the next 30 years.
"I basically put that all behind me and went out to California and went into the record business, thinking I would never be involved in politics again," Rietz said.
Eventually he returned to Washington. He rose to become a senior executive at Burson-Marsteller, one of the city's biggest public relations firms, <b>despite retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that claims eyesight from the outside in, leaving a shrinking tunnel of vision that eventually closes.</b></p>
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<p>Rietz had largely retired to his home in Virginia when Thompson offered him the chance to work his trade in a national campaign again. "What Ken has is this wealth of experience. He has seen how the game is played," said Tom Nides, a Democrat who was chief executive at Burson-Marsteller and is now a<b> senior executive at Morgan Stanley.</b>
But critics said the campaign's current struggles reflect the presence of too many Rietz friends from political eras long gone by. Most of the people he lured to Thompson's side either had no experience on a presidential campaign or were years out of date.</p>
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And their departures continue. Atlanta developer Tom Bell, who first met Rietz while running the campaign that ousted Sen. Al Gore Sr. (D-Tenn.) in 1970, resigned as one of Thompson's finance chiefs in late October.
But Rietz's supporters, including Lacy, say he gives relevant advice drawn on four decades of experience. "He's just extraordinarily well connected," Lacy said. "He knows most of the others who you would lump into a guru category."
===</p>
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<h1 class="title">Tobacco Dole (cont'd)</h1>
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<p class="byline byline-byline">—By <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/authors/sheila-kaplan" rel="author">Sheila Kaplan</a></p>
<div id="dateline">| <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/toc/1996/05">May/June 1996 Issue</a></div></div>
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<p>This particular tie between tobacco and the Dole campaign ended in February when Dole fired McInturff because of his failure to predict the majority leader's embarrassing loss to Steve Forbes in the Delaware primary--not because of his tobacco connections.
Dole and the tobacco industry share the need to win at all costs, which has forged a mutually beneficial relationship. By March, nearly every major media outlet reported the increase in Big Tobacco's contributions to the Republican Party: from $546,224 in "soft" donations in 1993 to $2.4 million in 1995. But few have investigated Dole's current ties to the industry. As one of tobacco's top congressional allies, the powerful Kansas senator has helped the industry broaden its overseas markets and battle domestic foes, such as Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler.</p>
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<p>Now, as Dole wages his campaign for the presidency, many of the tobacco industry's biggest hitters are whispering in his ear.
Lobbyists for businesses, trade groups, and other special interests often attach themselves to presidential campaigns, seeking future jobs and political chits. Tobacco operatives are no exception. But the sheer number of tobacco lobbyists, lawyers, and pollsters working for the Dole team sets a new standard. For example:</p>
<ul type="disc">
<li>Roderick DeArment, a former Dole chief of staff, is chairman of Lawyers for Dole, a group of about 700 lawyers raising funds for Dole's campaign. DeArment is a law partner at Covington & Burling, which represents the major tobacco companies (Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, and Brown & Williamson), as well as The Tobacco Institute. Covington & Burling spent more than $1 million in Philip Morris money to fund <i>Healthy Buildings</i>, an international magazine using phony science to promote the tobacco industry's idea that indoor smoking bans are unnecessary. Covington & Burling also commissioned a dubious 1996 study purporting federal tobacco restrictions could cost the nation 92,000 jobs and $7.9 billion in lost output. Another Covington & Burling partner, Keith Teel, commissioned the push-poll used to threaten Morales, and is traveling the country trying to strong-arm other attorneys general . (see <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/stone1.html">"Our Good Friend, the Governor"</a>)</li><li>
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<li>Paul Manafort, Dole's convention manager, was co-founder of the Washington lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone, and Kelly, which represents Philip Morris. Black, Manafort is a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, the public relations firm for Philip Morris and the headquarters for the National Smokers Alliance. Last year, Manafort launched DMS, a consulting firm in Virginia, with Rick Davis, also from Black, Manafort and a Dole convention official.</li>
<li>Tom Collamore, a Dole campaign fundraiser and assistant secretary of commerce during the Bush presidency, is vice president of corporate affairs for Philip Morris. "Mr. Collamore," confirms Philip Morris spokeswoman Darienne Dennis, "is an avid supporter of Sen. Dole, and I know that on his personal time he has done work with the Dole campaign."</li>
<li>Jeanie Austin, one of Dole's national co-chairs, is an active member of the National Smokers Alliance advisory board.</li>
</ul>
<p>Others working for Dole are less well-known within the Beltway, but play important roles in the tobacco industry's emerging national strategy. Steve Merksamer, for example, joined the Dole campaign last fall as a senior adviser and California strategist. His Sacramento law firm, Nielson, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, has collected $1.9 million from the industry since 1988, more than any other California firm.
In 1994, Nielson, Merksamer was paid an additional $350,000 to write Proposition 188, called the Tobacco Control Act. The proposition promised tough statewide restrictions, but its language actually weakened state law by acting as a "pre-emption law" to kill dozens of tougher local restrictions throughout the state. When the media exposed Proposition 188 as a tobacco industry ploy, voters defeated it.
But the tobacco industry's behind-the-scenes maneuvers in California may well be the model for a national strategy under a Dole presidency and a Republican Congress: Defeat popular grassroots anti-smoking measures with secret legislative and executive overrides, pre-emptions, and subversions. For example, the tobacco industry is using California Gov. Pete Wilson and the Republican California Assembly to gut anti-smoking education efforts financed by the state's 25-cent-per-pack cigarette tax. Tobacco companies, in a convenient alliance with the California Medical Association, lobbied legislators to divert money out of California's anti-smoking efforts (which activists call the single greatest threat to the tobacco industry) and into low-income health care programs--effectively using financially needy programs as a cover to derail anti-smoking campaigns.
Other operatives link Dole to the tobacco industry's secretive grassroots campaign, specifically, Midwest strategist Tom Synhorst and Alaska campaign coordinator Frank Bickford, who were both field coordinators for RJR's "grassroots" efforts in the states.
<b>Synhorst</b> has particularly close ties to Dole. A star in the majority leader's 1988 presidential campaign, Synhorst masterminded Dole's primary win in Iowa. In between stints for Dole's two presidential campaigns, Synhorst has been a grassroots organizer for RJR. He co-founded his telemarketing firm, Direct Connect, with top RJR lobbyist Read deButts.
Direct Connect is the Dole campaign's telemarketing firm of choice, with monthly billings exceeding $60,000. Dole's former leadership PAC, Campaign America, also paid Direct Connect more than $20,000 a month last year.
Synhorst and Bickford illustrate an important aspect of the tobacco industry's survival plan: Create grassroots front groups to make pro-tobacco legislation handed down by state and national politicians appear to be the public's will. These groups, many posing as "anti-tax" organizations, are key to the tobacco industry's efforts to win over the anti-big government segment of the electorate. This is also a crucial audience for Dole, who writes in his campaign brochure's "personal message": "My mandate as President would be to rein in the Federal government in order to set free the spirit of the American people."
Tobacco doesn't seem an obvious benefactor for a senator from Kansas, where there are plenty of wheat fields but few tobacco farms. Still, Dole has received more than $330,000 directly from RJR, Philip Morris, and U.S. Tobacco during his career, in addition to untold tobacco soft money through the Republican National Committee. Meanwhile, Dole has consistently fought tobacco tax increases--even when proposed by fellow Republicans.
During this presidential campaign, Dole has gone after FDA Commissioner David Kessler, promising an audience of pharmaceutical giants at a GOP fundraiser last September that Kessler would be out of a job if Dole were elected. Three months later, Dole was one of 32 senators who signed a letter to the FDA protesting its proposed crackdown on tobacco advertising. Dole also spoke out against Kessler's plans to limit cigarette advertising at sporting events. Before an appreciative crowd at a NASCAR auto race in Darlington, S.C., he waved a T-shirt that read, "Let Winston Cup make the rules for NASCAR, not the FDA."
In less dramatic fashion, Elizabeth Dole has also earned Big Tobacco's appreciation. In 1987, while serving as secretary of transportation, she refused to ban smoking on airplanes, ignoring recommendations from Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and the National Academy of Sciences. Perhaps coincidentally, tobacco contributions to the American Red Cross, which she heads, have escalated. Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson, and RJR gave the charity a combined $265,530 in 1995, compared to a total over the previous five years of $231,427.
But Bob Dole's friendship with the tobacco companies is not limited to the industry's domestic battles. With tobacco's popularity dying in the United States, companies must hook foreign populations. For this, the industry needs unfettered access to large global markets. Dole has been crucial in helping them get it.
In 1985, Reagan trade representatives focused their attention on Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, threatening retaliatory tariffs on their exports if they declined to open their tobacco markets. Tobacco lobbyists actually sat in on the official trade negotiations.
During talks with South Korea in 1987, Brown & Williamson's lobbyist, Thomas Humber (now the chief of Philip Morris' National Smokers Alliance), wrote the office of the U.S. trade representative corporate liaison Sandy Kristoff to inform her of a favorable meeting between South Korea's U.S. ambassador, Dole, Sen. Jesse Helms, and senators from four other tobacco states. According to the letter, the senators expressed "their support for fair market conditions in Korea" during the meeting. The ambassador, in return, thanked Dole and Helms for voting against threatened trade sanctions against Korea. Then, Humber wrote, "[The ambassador] assured the Senators of Ôbest efforts' toward market expansion" for U.S. tobacco companies.
Trade agreements on tobacco have shifted under Clinton. Last year, U.S. trade representatives allowed South Korea to enact tobacco advertising restrictions after approval from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency. Officials from both agencies now sit in on trade proceedings to decide whether tobacco restrictions reflect health and environmental concerns.
Under a Dole presidency, this would probably change. Helms would play a dominant role in foreign trade policy, as would Robert Lighthizer, a former top Dole aide and Dole's rumored choice for his chief of staff or U.S. trade representative. Lighthizer, currently an attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, used to work for Covington & Burling and served as deputy U.S. trade representative from 1983 to 1985. During that period, the United States began bullying countries to open their tobacco markets. Should Lighthizer have a prominent trade role, he might turn back the clock to a time when tobacco lobbyists, not health officials, sat in on trade negotiations.
The GOP convention in San Diego this August promises to be even more of a tobacco-fest than the 1992 convention. Ken Rietz, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C., office of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, is a vice chairman of this year's convention host committee. Rietz oversaw the California chapter of the National Smokers Alliance, which worked against tobacco control ordinances in Los Angeles and San Diego.
Rietz candidly admits convention sponsors get opportunities for private meetings with political bigwigs. But he calls the high number of tobacco lobbyists involved with the convention and the Dole campaign pure coincidence. "If you look at Burson-Marsteller, [tobacco is] only one of thousands of clients," Rietz says. But of those thousands, Philip Morris and NSA sit comfortably among the firm's top five Washington clients.
As <i>Mother Jones</i> went to press, GOP convention plans were still being negotiated, but Philip Morris had already scored one coup, signing a letter of intent to rent the sought-after space at the San Diego Museum of Art, and was reportedly trying to book the San Diego Zoo for another event. The company has yet to decide on specific receptions but is likely to sponsor the high-profile reception for the GOP's Team 100 (party contributors who give $100,000 or more) and the reception for the Republican Governors Association.
But ultimately, if the tobacco industry achieves what it wants, these festivities will be only a warm-up. The real tobacco party will come in January, at Bob Dole's inauguration.
<i>Sheila Kaplan is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist.</i></p>
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<p> ===</p><p><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">But now there’s another groundbreaker: the first lobbyist candidate — Fred Thompson.</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Thompson was a lobbyist for 20 years before he was elected to the Senate, representing the Tennessee Savings and Loan Association, the deposed Haitian President Aristed and the National Planning & Reproductive Health Association.</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Although Fred bills himself as strongly against government interference and handouts, he also lobbied for Westinghouse in its bid for government subsidies for a nuclear power plant in Oak Ridge. After retiring from the Senate in 2002, Thompson went back to lobbying, earning $750,000 since then from Equitas, the British insurance company that wants to limit payments to the families of those who died due to asbestos exposure.</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Now Fred’s campaign is attracting other lobbyists, who are bundlers and donors to the Thompson campaign.</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Most Americans feel strongly that a presidential candidate should not accept any money from lobbyists. According to a recent Gallup Poll, 75 percent of Americans find it unacceptable for candidates to finance their campaigns with contributions from lobbyists — and 80 percent want candidates to return any contributions they do receive from lobbyists.</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">But Fred definitely doesn’t agree with them. His promising campaign is positively overflowing with advisers and donors who are lobbyists, former lobbyists or employees of lobbying firms. Aside from Thompson, there’s his wife, Jeri, who worked for the PR/lobbying giant Burson-Marsteller and law firm/lobbyists DLA Piper after she met Fred. Then there’s Ken Reitz, a senior campaign adviser, who works for 360Advantage — owned by two lobbying firms Burson-Marsteller and Quinn Gillespie & Associates. Reitz is the former CEO of Burson and became famous for creating the National Smokers Alliance — a faux grassroots group opposing tobacco regulation that was funded by the tobacco companies.</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Fred’s first campaign manager, Tom Collamore, was a former tobacco lobbyist. He is one of the many Thompson staffers who was shown the door after disagreeing with Mrs. Thompson. Fred’s chief counselor is Michael Toner, an adviser to Bryan Cave Strategies, which represents Shell Oil and other corporations. Then there’s Tom Daffron, COO of the Jefferson Consulting Group that lobbies on homeland security issues. Ed Gillespie, co-founder of the Quinn Gillespie & Associates lobbying firm is also a close adviser.</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Then there are the bundlers and donors. Public Citizen identified six Thompson bundlers as registered lobbyists, but the number associated with lobbyists significantly increases when the names of employees of lobbying firm, who are not necessarily registered lobbyists, are added:</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Bundler/Lobbyists (amounts collected are not available)</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Richard F.Hohlt, a lobbyist for tobacco, nuclear energy, Chevron, and Fannie Mae</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Rachael Jones Hensler, lobbyist for the Nickles Group</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• William Hilleary, lobbyist, Sommerstein, Nasy & Rosenthal</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Robert L. Livingston, lobbyist, The Livingston Group</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• W. Timothy Loche, lobbyist, Smith-Free Group</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• David Lugar, lobbyist, Quinn Gillespie</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Mach F. Mattingly, lobbyist</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Tom Collamore</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Michael Toner</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Registered Lobbyist Contributors:</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Katie Huffard</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Chris Lamond</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Jeffrey Bloemaker</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• Patrick O’Donnell</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• William Timmons</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">• William Hilleary</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);">Sources: Washington Magazine, Center for Responsive Politics</span><br style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px;" /></p>
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