BGR Group explained

BGR Group (previously Barbour, Griffith & Rogers) is a lobbying and communications firm based in Washington, D.C., with offices in London, Beijing and Austin, Texas.[1] Founded in 1991 by former White House aides Ed Rogers and Haley Barbour, the firm was joined by Lanny Griffith to form Barbour Griffith & Rogers (BGR Group).[2] In 2019, BGR was recognized by both The Hill and Bloomberg as a "Top Performing Lobbying Firm".[3] [4]

History

The firm was founded in 1991 by Haley Barbour and Ed Rogers, who had worked with each other in the administration of Ronald Reagan. Lanny Griffith joined the following year, and the firm was named Barbour Griffith & Rogers.[5] [6]

The firm had close ties to the Republican political establishment[5] and by 1998 had been named by Fortune Magazine as one of the most influential lobbying firms in Washington.[7]

Barbour publicly stated that he had divested himself of his stake in the company after his election as governor of Mississippi in 2004. The New Republic, however, received a copy of the blind trust he set up, which revealed shares in the parent company that owned BGR at the time. TNR reporters stated they observed Barbour entering the DC offices of BGR in June 2007.[8] Bloomberg reported that Barbour was set to receive $300,000 per year from the trust.[9] Several of the firms involved in cleanup of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi were also clients of BGR.[9] Barbour still retained the trust, which regulatory filings revealed had grown to a market value of $3.3 million by 2008/2009.[10] He returned to the firm full time in 2012.[11]

The firm rebranded from Barbour, Griffith & Rogers to BGR Group in the early years of the Barack Obama administration because it wanted to portray itself as bipartisan.[11] According to Rogers, the firm's revenue had declined after Obama's election as clients perceived it would lose influence.[11]

The firm employs various former political figures including Kurt Volker, Jeffrey Birnbaum, and Gov. Haley Barbour.[12] In 2019, Republican politician Sean Duffy started to work for the firm.[13]

Notable clients

In 2001, BGR represented Microsoft in its antitrust battle with the U.S. Department of Justice and Fortune Magazine ranked it Washington's most-influential lobbying firm.[14]

In 2013 the firm was paid $13.7 million for lobbying and its three largest clients were the Republic of India, Ukraine, Chevron Corp., and the State of Kazakhstan.[15] In 2014, BGR supported Republican senator Thad Cochran, while he fought a tight primary election race against Tea Party candidate, Chris McDaniel.[16] In April 2015, the Government of South Korea retained BGR for public relations and image building.[17] [18] Since 2015, BGR has worked for American Ethane.[19] [20] [21]

BGR has worked for numerous Russian firms to the Vladimir Putin regime and Russian oligarchs. In 2016, BGR worked for Alfa-Bank and hired Mandiant to support Alfa-Bank.[22] [23] [24] In 2021, BGR Group received $600,000 from LetterOne, an investment company associated with the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia.[25]

BGR has lobbied on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2016, BGR Group signed a contract worth $500,000 to provide "public relations and media management services for The Center [for Studies and Media Affairs at [[Saudi Arabia|The Saudi]] Royal Court], which includes both traditional and social media forums".[26] BGR dropped Saudi Arabia as a client following the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. BGR was being paid $80,000 monthly for "public relations and media management services".[27] Chairman Ed Rogers had been notified by The Washington Post (Khashoggi's employer) that if BGR continued to do business with Saudi Arabia, the paper would no longer run his column.[28]

Since 2019, BGR has lobbied on behalf of the government of Hong Kong.[29] [30]

External links

Notes and References

  1. BGR About page, https://bgrdc.com/about-bgr/
  2. Web site: 2020-04-16. About BGR BGR Group. 2020-10-22. en-US. 2020-10-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20201026174752/https://bgrdc.com/about-bgr/. live.
  3. Web site: Perks. Ashley. 2019-12-12. The Hill's Top Lobbyists 2019. 2020-10-22. TheHill. en. 2020-10-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20201024193631/https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/474162-the-hills-top-lobbyists-2019. live.
  4. Web site: Lead and Succeed: 2019 Top Performing Lobbying Firms. 2020-10-22. Bloomberg Government. en-US. 2020-10-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20201024093041/https://about.bgov.com/top-lobbying-firms/. live.
  5. News: Zeleny . Jeff . Governor of Mississippi Won't Run for President . 10 April 2022 . The New York Times . 26 April 2011 . 10 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220410191845/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/us/politics/26barbour.html . live .
  6. Web site: BGR History . 16 April 2020 . BGR Group . 10 April 2022 . 20 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220520234928/https://bgrdc.com/about-bgr/#bgr-history . live .
  7. News: Birnbaum . Jeffrey H. . Maroney . Tyler . Smith . Dustin . The Influence Merchants Lobbyists are a permanent establishment in Washington, and FORTUNE's Power 25 ranking is its undisputed "A" list. New to this year's survey: the best of the hired guns. . 10 April 2022 . CNN Money . 7 December 1998 . 26 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201026091341/https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/12/07/252152/index.htm . live .
  8. Scheiber . Noam . Barbourism . 12 March 2022 . The New Republic . 24 September 2007.
  9. News: Sullivan . Andrew . Impeach. . . Haley Barbour . 22 June 2022 . The Atlantic . 29 August 2007 . 22 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220622212503/https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2007/08/impeach-haley-barbour-steve-clemons/225770/ . live .
  10. Web site: Smith . Ben . Barbour's blind trust . POLITICO . 22 June 2022 . en . 25 January 2011 . 22 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220622212546/https://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2011/01/barbours-blind-trust-032770 . live .
  11. News: Grim . Ryan . Obama's Perception As 'Dictator' Cost GOP Lobby Shop Cash, Says Founder . 10 April 2022 . HuffPost . 3 May 2012 . en . 10 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220410190824/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obama-lobbying-dictator-gop-lobbyist_n_1474492 . live .
  12. Web site: BGR Group About. BGR Group. BGR. 2014-06-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20140605183351/http://www.bgrdc.com/about.html. 2014-06-05. dead.
  13. Web site: Hananoki . Eric . CNN's Sean Duffy joins leading lobbying firm, creating untold conflicts of interest for the network . 2020-02-25 . Media Matters for America . 12 November 2019 . en . 2020-03-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200306045805/https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnns-sean-duffy-joins-leading-lobbying-firm-creating-untold-conflicts-interest-network . live .
  14. Web site: Fat & Happy in D.C. Republicans are busting out all over, not just in Congress and the White House but also on FORTUNE's latest list of the capital's most powerful lobbyists. - May 28, 2001. 2020-10-22. archive.fortune.com.
  15. News: BGR Group. Barbour Griffith & Rogers. OpenSecrets. 2014-06-04. 2014-06-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20140606205200/http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=D000021679&year=2013. live.
  16. News: Blumenthal . Paul . 18 Jun 2014 . Washington Lobbyists Pour Money Into Mississippi Senate Race To Fend Off Tea Party . Huffington Post . 18 February 2020 . 4 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071407/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/18/thad-cochran-lobbyists_n_5505467.html . live .
  17. News: Pace . Richard . 21 Apr 2015 . BGR Public Relations Firm Hired By South Korea . everything-pr.com . EverythingPR . 12 October 2015 . 7 November 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151107055301/http://everything-pr.com/bgr-public-relations-south-korea/57617/ . live .
  18. News: Gale . Alistair . 21 Apr 2015 . South Korea Hires PR Agency Ahead of Abe Speech . Wall Street Journal . 4 August 2017 . 27 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161127220210/http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2015/04/21/south-korea-hires-pr-agency-ahead-of-abe-speech/ . live .
  19. News: Луизианская сага Абрамовича, Волошина, Николаева и Юрьева. Russian. Louisiana saga of Abramovich, Voloshin, Nikolayev and Yuriev. August 6, 2018. RosPress. November 19, 2018. November 29, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181129054340/https://www.rospres.com/hearsay/25023/. dead.
  20. News: Как лоббировали газовый бизнес Александра Волошина в Луизиане и Техасе. Russian. How did the lobbying occur for the gas business of Alexander Voloshin in Louisiana and Texas. August 2, 2018. Добровольская. Лили (Центр «ТИ — Р»). Хаммер. Дэвид (WWLTV Channel 4). Transparency International - Russia: Russians in America. November 19, 2018. November 29, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181129054344/https://lobbying.transparency.org.ru/voloshin/. live.
  21. Web site: Lobbying Registration for American Ethane. April 15, 2014. Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (Section 4). November 19, 2018.
  22. Filkins . Dexter . Dexter Filkins . Was There a Connection Between a Russian Bank and the Trump Campaign? A team of computer scientists sifted through records of unusual Web traffic in search of answers . . 8 October 2018 . 12 October 2018.
  23. News: Foer. Franklin. Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?. Slate. 31 October 2016. 23 June 2021. 17 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190817145936/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/was_a_server_registered_to_the_trump_organization_communicating_with_russia.html. live.
  24. News: Bertrand. Natasha. The FBI is reportedly examining why a Russian bank with ties to Putin wanted to reach the Trump Organization during the campaign. Business Insider. 10 March 2017. 23 June 2021. 28 June 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210628003130/https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-alfa-bank-trump-organization-servers-2017-3. live.
  25. Web site: Business groups quickly take down their Russian oligarch ties . 2022-03-15 . POLITICO . March 2022 . en . 2022-03-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220315110844/https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/01/business-groups-russia-oligarch-ties-00012826 . live .
  26. https://efile.fara.gov/docs/2165-Exhibit-AB-20160920-67.pdf FARA registration
  27. News: Lippman . Daniel . Meyer . Theodoric . Levine . Marianne . Glover Park Group and BGR Group drop Saudi Arabia . 10 March 2022 . POLITICO . 15 October 2018 . en . 10 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220310041741/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/15/glover-park-group-bgr-group-saudi-arabia-901364 . live .
  28. News: Meyer . Theodoric . Washington Post told lobbyist: Quit working for Saudis or stop writing for us . 10 March 2022 . POLITICO . 16 October 2018 . en . 10 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220310042024/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/16/washington-post-lobbyist-writer-909881 . live .
  29. Web site: July 6, 2023 . Hong Kong government 'spends millions' to advance Beijing's interests in Washington . 2023-07-08 . . en . 2023-07-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230706185741/https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/hong-kong-us-lobby-07062023143845.html . live .
  30. Web site: The Counter-lobby Confidential . 2023-07-08 . . en . 2023-07-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230706215958/https://www.hkdc.us/the-counter-lobby-confidential . live .

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