DCI Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DCI Group is an American lobbying and public relations firm. Its client list includes some of the largest US corporations, including several Dow Jones Industrial companies. Services include communication campaigns to solicit public action on legislative issues, web sites to present a client's position, and management of campaign databases.
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[edit] Personnel
The DCI Leadership page lists six people as the leadership of DCI, each of whom has worked in some official capacity the Republican party.
- Tom Synhorst, Chairman — worked for Republican senators for sixteen years and held key roles in the political floor operations of the 1996 and 2000 Republican conventions, as well as being an advisor to Bush-Cheney campaign of 2000.
- Douglas M. Goodyear, CEO — managed a Republican Senate campaign and was Political Director of the Colorado Republican Party from 1985 to 1987.[1]
- Jim Murphy, President — worked on Capitol Hill for four years for former U.S. Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH), held senior positions in Bob Dole’s 1988 and 1996 presidential campaigns, managed floor operations at the last three National Republican Conventions, [and] served two years on the staff of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
- Doug Davenport, founding partner.
Of the other three partners, one is current chairman of the Republican Unity Coalition, another was Coalitions Director for the Dole/Kemp Presidential Campaign in 1996 and Deputy Director and Field Representative of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and spent nine years doing PR for a major tobacco company, and the last one was staff of the 2000 Republican National Convention and serving as Deputy Political Director of the 1996 Republican National Convention. He has served on the political staff of Republican Presidential candidate and US Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, and in the re-election campaign of George H. W. Bush. No one in DCI's leadership has any ties to Democrats, Libertarians, or Independents.
Other notable DCI Group employee include James Tobin, convicted in 2005 for his role in the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal,[2] along with GOP activists Brian McCabe and Chris LaCivita.
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Myanmar representation
In 2002 and 2003 DCI was paid $348,000 to represent Myanmar's junta. The firm allegedly drafted news releases praising Myanmar's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing claims by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses.[3]
On May 10, 2008, Davenport and Goodyear resigned from the John McCain presidential campaign on May 10, 2008, when it was revealed that DCI had been paid $348,000 to represent Myanmar's repressive military junta in 2002.[4] Davenport, the regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar in 2002. Goodyear was asked to become convention CEO after campaign manager Rick Davis's lobbying firm partner, Paul Manafort, was nixed because of his own close ties to foreign governments and controversial companies.[5]
[edit] YouTube astroturfing scandal
In August 2006, a person self-described as a "29-year old from Beverly Hills" posted a YouTube video disparaging Al Gore and the global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The Wall Street Journal described the video as having a "home-made, humorous quality". However, in corresponding with the author, the Wall Street Journal discovered that the routing information in the author's e-mails could be traced back to a computer registered to the DCI Group.[6][7]. When asked if they created the video, DCI Group responded "We do not disclose the names of our clients, nor do we discuss the work we do on behalf of our clients."[8] Advertisements to the "home-made" Al Gore video had been placed on Google, but were taken down after the Wall Street Journal story was published. The identity of the party who paid for the advertisements remained unknown.[9]
[edit] Clients
Notable clients have included[citation needed] Aqua Sciences, AT&T, Avue Technologies, Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil, General Motors Corporation,Google, Intel, McDonalds, Merck, Microsoft, the Myanmar junta, NAQ, PhRMA, Qualcomm, and Freddie Mac.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Douglas M. Goodyear - SourceWatch
- ^ UnionLeader.com - New Hampshire news, business and sports - RNC has paid Tobin's legal bills since indictment - Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005
- ^ A Convention Quandary
- ^ Mother Jones: The Weird McCain-Dictator Money Connection. May 12, 2008
- ^ A Second McCain Aide Resigns, The Atlantic, May 11 2008
- ^ Slick lobbying is behind penguin spoof of Al Gore
- ^ Where did that video spoofing Gore's film come from?
- ^ ABC News: Al Gore YouTube Spoof Not So Amateurish
- ^ Slick lobbying is behind penguin spoof of Al Gore - World - Times Online
