Barbour Griffith and Rogers International

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Barbour Griffith & Rogers, LLC (BGR) is a Washington, DC-based lobbying company that boasts that it is "performance based: a proactive, creative approach to solving problems and aggressively seeking results". [1]

History

The company was founded in 1991. On its website it states "our firm is actively involved in the shaping of public policy issues that dominate the American political and corporate agenda. We serve as advocates in federal government relations, a vital link to state governments, and an ally in business development anywhere in the U.S. and in markets around the world." [2].

In a profile on the company and its strong connections with the Republican Party, Thomas B. Edsall wrote in the Washington Post that "in less than a decade, the BGR lobbying shop has become one of the most profitable operations in Washington".[3]

According to Haley Barbour, who was sworn in as the Governor of Mississippi in January 2004, the firm was sold to the Interpublic Group of Companies in 1999. Part of the sale deal was that the name remain the same even though Barbour no longer had a financial stake in the company. [4]

However in June 2004 O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that BG&R was discussing buying a controlling interest in itself back from Interpublic. It reported that "the former Republican National Committee chairman has put his stake in BG&R into a blind trust. He has said that he isn't sure whether he will return to BG&R after he leaves office."[5]

In a September 2003 article on his blogsite, Josh Marshall wrote that New Bridge Strategies - a company established to help clients win Iraq reconstruction contracts - "looks an awful lot like an outgrowth of Barbour Griffith and Rogers".[6]

In June 2004, O'Dwyers PR Daily reported BG&R recorded $1.6M in fees in 2003, according to Roll Call.[7]

Clients

Domestic (U.S.)

In May 2002, BG&R indicated that on behalf of Virginia-based United Defense it would lobby in favour of the Crusader $11 billion artillery system. Despite attending a strategy session in mid-May 2002, BG&R subsequently decided to drop the account. "The White House contacted BG&R when it heard that the firm was going to represent the Crusader. That contact resulted in BG&R dropping the account," O'Dwyers reported.[8]

In October 2002, Haley Barbour headed up a team "on corporate governance issues" for Citigroup, with assistance with Jennifer Larkin, Dan Murphy and Loren Monroe. "Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney brokerage house faces various probes concerning potential analysts' conflict of interest and how it allocated shares in initial public offerings. On October 14, Citicorp denied charges in a lawsuit filed by New York State Comptroller Carl McCall - who is also running for Governor - that its Travelers insurance unit made improper loans to Bernie Ebbers, the former CEO of WorldCom," O'Dwyers reported. [9]

International

In June 2002, 'O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that BG&R had gained a $30,000-a-month contract with the Embassy of Bolivia "to deal with tactical planning, trade and appropriations matters." The BG&R team was headed by Barbour and also included Keith Schuette, "a former president of the International Republican Institute, and Scott Barnhart. "Bolivia scored a coup on the trade front as Congress agreed to reduce tariffs on canned tuna, textiles and cut flowers to encourage it, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to fight the drug trade," reported O'Dwyer's. [10]

In July 2004, the Kurdish Democratic Party retained BG&R, "to ensure that Iraqi Kurdistan maintains its autonomy from Baghdad in the new Iraq Government" and for the "return of oil-rich Kirkuk, which Saddam Hussein had "Arabized" as the capital of the region, to Kurdistan." [11]

In February 2005, O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that the government of Qatar had "hired Barbour Griffith & Rogers to a $300K pact to smooth relations with the Bush Administration." [12]

In August 2006, the Washington Post reported that BG&R was working for the "National Dialogue Party of Lebanon and its chairman, Fouad Makhzoumi. The Republican shop registered to lobby for the Lebanese party in mid-June, with an effective start date of April 15." After armed hostilities between the Israeli government and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia began in July 2006, BG&R started promoting "Makhzoumi's message of support for a cease-fire and a diplomatic solution to policymakers in Washington." The contract totaled $300,000 over six months. [13]

BG&R had also registered with the State Department "to 'provide guidance and counsel' on foreign policy to the embassy of Eritrea. That contract, which paid $65,000 a month for six months, or a total of $390,000, expired last month," the Washington Post reported in August 2006.[14]

BG&R landed a $60,000 a month contract to represent Serbia. The contract, which was signed by Serbia's Minister for International Economic Relations, Milan Parivodic, runs until January 2009. Serbia has been criticised for being half-hearted in its coperation with investigations into war crimes committed during the 1990's.[15]

Lobbying for India

The Washington Post on 30 September 2007 reports:

The nuclear deal has been pushed aggressively by well-funded groups representing industry in both countries. At the center of the lobbying effort has been Robert D. Blackwill, a former U.S. ambassador to India and deputy national security adviser who's now with a well-connected Republican lobbying firm, Barbour, Griffith & Rogers LLC. The firm's Web site touts Blackwill as a pillar of its "India Practice," along with a more recent hire, Philip D. Zelikow, a former top adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who was also one of the architects of the Bush administration's tilt toward India. The Confederation of Indian Industry paid Blackwill to lobby various U.S. government entities, according to the Boston Globe. And India is also paying a major Beltway law firm, Venable LLP.[16]

Clients

Akindale Farms Alliance For Quality Nursing Home Care American Maritime Congress
American Network Of Community Resources Antonov Aircraft Corporation BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.
Better World Campaign Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Broadcast Music, Inc.
Brown & Williamson Corporation Canadian National Railway Camp Dresser & Mckee
Cobalt Corporation CollectCorp, Inc Commonwealth of Kentucky
Consolidated Contracting Company Darden Corporation Delta Air Lines
Embassy of Honduras Embassy of Eritrea [15] FM Policy Focus
GlaxoSmithKline Grocery Manufacturers Association Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation
I Can Learn, Inc. JohnsonDiversey Illinois State Board Of Education
Intelsat International Building Systems, LLC Lakeworth Drainage District
Lockheed Martin Lorillard Tobacco Company Lucent
MassMutual Financial Group MedCath The National Dialogue Party of Lebanon
Mortgage Insurance Companies of America Norilsk Nickel Orlando Regional Healthcare
Oxygenated Fuels Association PhRMA Pfizer, Inc.
Public Broadcasting Service [17] SAP Public Services, Inc. Serbia [18]
Southern Company State Street Corporation Triad
UnitedHealth Group University Of Mississippi University of Mississippi Medical Center
University of Southern Mississippi   
As listed on the company website January 2004, except where referenced: [19]

Former Clients

  • Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs [16] In April 2007, O'Dwyer's PR Daily reported that "Taiwan has ended its PR contract with Barbour Griffith & Rogers, a year before the three-year pact was set to expire." [17]

Political contributions

Lanny Griffith, Chief Executive Officer of Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, is a Bush Ranger having raised at least $200,000 for Bush in the 2004 presidential election. [20]

Barbour, Griffith and Rogers gave $73,603 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 100% to Republicans. [21]

Personnel

Current staff: [22]

Former staff

References, Resources and Contact

Contact information

Barbour Griffith & Rogers
Tenth Floor 1275 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20004
Tel: (202)333 4936
Fax: (202)833 9392
Email: information@bgrdc.com
Web: www.bgrdc.com

References

  1. ↑ Profile Approach (Accessed: 3 October 2007 NB: the statement quoted is no longer on its current website)
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ [2] (No longer accessibel online)
  4. ↑ [3] (No longer accessible online)
  5. ↑ [4], O'Dwyers PR Daily, June 2004
  6. ↑ [5], Talking Points Memo, September 2003.
  7. ↑ [6], O'Dwyers PR Daily, June 2004.
  8. ↑ [7],O'Dwyers PR Daily, May 2002
  9. ↑ [8], O'Dwyers PR Daily, October 2002.
  10. ↑ [9], O'Dwyers PR Daily, June 2002.
  11. ↑ [10], O'Dwyers PR Daily, July 2004.
  12. ↑ [11], O'Dwyers PR Daily, February 2005.
  13. ↑ Judy Sarasohn, Clients Don't Come Much Hotter, Washington Post, 3 August 2006. (Accessed: 3 October 2007)
  14. ↑ Sarasohn, ibid.
  15. ↑ [12] (subscription required)
  16. ↑ Mira Kamdar, Forget the Israel Lobby. The Hill's Next Big Player Is Made in India, 30 September 2007
  17. ↑ [13]
  18. ↑ [14] (subscription required)
  19. ↑ Clients
  20. ↑ Lanny Griffith, Texans for Public Justice, accessed August 2007.
  21. ↑ 2006 PAC Summary Data, Open Secrets, accessed August 2007.
  22. ↑ Bios, Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, accessed August 2007.

Resources

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