Kirk Blalock

Kirk Blalock, a former Bush administration official and adviser to Philip Morris, is a partner in the Washington D.C.-based lobbying firm, Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock. He joined the lobbying firm in November of 2002 and became a name partner in October of 2003.

Working for Philip Morris
Blalock was an employee of Philip Morris Corporate Affairs Department (PM). In February 1999 he was Manager of Public Affairs for PM.

Kirk Blalock was involved with PM's corporate contributions with think tanks sending funding requests -- typically in the range of $50,000 to $200,000 -- to Blalock. Organizations PM favored needed only write a one or two-line letter requesting the funding they sought and send it to Kirk Blalock for approval.

Biography
A biographical note states that Blalock was a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy Director, White House Office of Public Liaison. "At the White House, Blalock managed and coordinated all White House public affairs, outreach and coalition development activities for the Executive Office of the President with the Business Community. He also worked closely with the President’s Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Strategic Initiatives and Office of Political Affairs to promote and support Presidential Initiatives on a local, state and national basis. In addition, Blalock coordinated with the National Economic Council, the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Department of Treasury, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of Policy Development on all Presidential Initiatives related to business and the economy," it states.

In 2001, when Blalock was Deputy Director of the Office of Public Liaison in the Bush administration, and he was an aide to Bush's political advisor Karl Rove. Blalock was paid $70,000/year in salary.

Affiliations
Prior to working for the Bush administration Blalock was :
 * Chairman, Republican National Committee "when Haley Barbour was chairman";
 * Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education "when Lamar Alexander was Education Secretary".

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Tobacco industry

External Resources

 * T Hamburger, L. McGinley and D.S. Cloud, "Corporate Donors Seek Return On Investment In Bush Campaign: Philip Morris has numerous ties to the Bush administration", Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2001.
 * "Bush Aides Take the K Street Exit", National Journal, May 24, 2003.
 * P.H. Stone, "Bush officials make the leap to lobbying firms", National Journal May 28, 2003.
 * Federal Page, Washington Post, October 23, 2003.
 * Ed Henry, "Locking Up a Big Title", Roll Call, October 23, 2003.
 * Alex Knott, "Lobbying the White House: Campaign donors and former government officials help 4,600 companies influence the executive branch", Center for Public Integrity, September 21, 2005.
 * "The New Sheriffs in Town", The Hill, April 25, 2007.
 * Gregg Sangillo, "The New Washington", National Journal, November 17, 2007.

search_term=Kirk Blalock