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Russo Marsh and Rogers

Revision as of 17:00, 11 August 2005 by 208.171.49.198 (adding Berkowitz story on RM&R's Kurdistan work)

Russo Marsh and Rogers (RM+R) is a political public relations firm based in Sacramento, California.

RM+R also appears to trade under the name King Media Group. The website of King Media Group shows a nearly identical list of principals to that of RM+R, and it operates from the same postal address.

On its website, RM+R is unequivocal about its area of expertise: "When it comes to winning elections, few firms can match the success of Russo Marsh + Rogers, Inc... At RM+R we think outside the box and we don't stop until you win."

Contents

Campaigns

In June 2004, RM+R formed a front organization called Move America Forward. Its stated aim was to "to stand up and support the brave men and women of our Armed Forces" [1]. However its chief preoccupation seemed to be a campaign against the showing of Fahrenheit 9/11 (movie 2004) in movie theaters.

In July 2005 O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that "the Kurdistan Regional Government has hired Republican lobby firm Russo Marsh & Rogers to get 'free media' to promote the interests of the Kurds in the post-Saddam Hussein Iraq."

One goal of the Kurdish leaders is "the return of Kirkuk," an oil-rich northern Iraqi city populated by Kurdish and Turkmen people. O'Dwyer's notes that the head of RM&R, Sal Russo, is no stranger to international politics, having "worked on the campaign of Violetta Chamorro in Nicaragua." The Kurdish contract was announced as Move America Forward, a group RM&R helped found and whose "chief strategist" is Russo, is going to Iraq. Move America Forward's "Truth Tour" is bringing conservative talk radio hosts to Iraq, to "report the good news on Operation Iraqi Freedom you're not hearing from the old line news media." [2]

Principals

Politicians with ties to Russo Marsh and Rogers

As outlined below, in the period between March 2000 and February 2003, Russo Marsh and Copsey, and later Russo Marsh Copsey and Scott, were part of the same company as RM+R. It is therefore legitimate to attribute the 2001-2002 electoral cycle contributions listed here to RM+R. It is unclear what if any association now exists between RM+R and Marsh Copsey and Scott, therefore the 2003-2004 contributions are not given on this page.

2001/2002 cycle

Name of politician, and amount paid to RM+R or variants thereof:

  • Mark Foley (R-FL): $104,507 (as Russo Marsh and Associates) [3]
  • Tom Latham (R-IA): $18,074 (as Russo Marsh and Copsey) [4]
  • Thad McCotter (R-MI): $821,344 (as Russo Marsh Consulting Services) [5]
  • Denny Rehberg (R-MT): $31,650 (as Russo Marsh and Copsey) [6]
  • John M. Shimkus (R-IL): $1,499,648 (as Russo Marsh and Copsey) [7]

The total take from Republican politicans for the 01/02 cycle is thus $2,475,223. RM+R does not appear to have been paid money by any Democrat politicans in the same cycle.

History

As is typical of public relations companies, the name and ownership of RM+R have changed over the years, as principals have joined and left. An understanding of the rather convoluted history of the company is necessary in order to be able to make statements with confidence about which politicians have retained the services of RM+R over the last few years. The following account is based on the archive of the current RM+R website http://www.rmrweb.com in the Internet Archive [8].

Dec 98-Jan 99: Russo Marsh and Raper

Between December 1st 1998 [9] and January 28 1999 [10], the domain rmrweb.com belonged to Russo Marsh and Raper, which had offices in both Washington, DC and Sacramento, CA. The DC office was run by Todd Burns, Lance Copsey, and Tony Marsh. The Sacramento office was run by Gregory Maw, Ron Petrich, Gene Raper, and Sal Russo [11].

Mar 00-Aug 02: RM+R/RM+C partnership

Between at least March 2nd 2000 [12] and May 17th 2001 [13], the homepage of www.rmrweb.com carries the logos of two sister companies: RM+R (based in Sacramento CA) and Russo Marsh and Copsey (RM+C) (based in DC). By July 21st 2001 [14], www.rmrweb.com redirects to www.russomarsh.com. However, an examination of the archived versions of the employees page [15] shows that on Aug 3 2001 [16], the partnership between RM+R and RM+C is still in place, as the page carries both their logos with accompanying lists of their employees. Russo, Rogers, and Jeff Flint are now heading up RM+R, and Marsh, Copsey, and Leif Larson are heading up RM+C.

Aug 02 - Feb 03: RM+R/RMC+S partnership

By August 6 2002 [17], RM+C has become Russo Marsh Copsey and Scott (RMC+S), and has relocated to Landover, MD. However, both companies are still listed as sister companies on the employees page of russomarsh.com. The last instance of this version of the page is Feb 15 2003 [18].

From May 03 on: RM+R

Then on May 28 2003, http://www.marshcopsey.com/ appears in the Internet Archive. Tony Marsh and Lance Copsey appear to have parted company with Sal Russo and Ron Rogers, and are now describing their operation as Marsh Copsey and Scott (MCS). The RM+R and RMC+S partnership appears to have split up. This is consistent with the appearance in the archive of the current Russo Marsh and Rogers website on June 5th 2003 [19]. Note that although the name still contains 'Marsh', Marsh is no longer listed as an employee or principal of RM+R.

Contact information

Russo Marsh + Rogers, Inc.
770 L Street, #950
Sacramento, CA 95814 Telephone: (916) 441-3734
Fax: (916) 441-6057
http://www.rmrweb.com/

SourceWatch resources

External links

Retrieved from "https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Russo_Marsh_and_Rogers&oldid=76965"

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