Who is Sal Russo?

Posted by Lakshmi Chaudhry at 11:08 AM on August 18, 2005.

In response to a query from a reader, I did some research on the man who is producing the anti-Sheehan attack ads -- okay, so I googled the man. Here's the most interesting stuff I ran across.

Bill Berkovwitz's research on MediaTransparency.com that documents the sleazy history of his PR firm, Russo, Marsh & Rogers, which includes coordinating smear campaigns against Barbara Lee, Michael Moore and Dick Durbin, and the media blitz in favor of Prop 209 outlawing state affirmative action programs. Berkowitz also ties Russo to the front group a la Swiftboat Vets that is heading the anti-Sheehan offensive, Move America Forward:

The "Truth Tour" -- a seven-day carefully calibrated trip to Iraq by a group of conservative talk-show hosts -- was intended to spread the "good" news about what is happening on the ground. The tour was organized by Move America Forward (MAF - website), an organization that, according to the Washington Post, owes much of its existence to the good offices of Russo Marsh & Rogers.

SpinWatch reported that the "Truth Tour" was also in part sponsored by "the newly created Office of Media Outreach, a taxpayer-funded publicity arm of the Department of Defense."

According to an entry at SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media & Democracy (website), in June 2004, RM&R "formed a front organization called Move America Forward… 'to stand up and support the brave men and women of our Armed Forces.'" Sal Russo, who began his political career as a special assistant to then-California Governor Ronald Reagan in the late 1960s and who later founded his own political consulting firm called California Capitol Consultants in 1976, is a member of Move America Forward's board of directors and is listed as "Chief Strategist" at the MAF web site. ...

According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, in 2004, whatreallyhappened.com discovered that Russo Marsh & Rogers was closely involved with Move America Forward: "Using a domain name look-up service," whatreallyhappened.com found the RM&R "established the MAF website. Siobhan Guiney, Executive Director of Move America Forward, admitted that Russo Marsh & Rogers did register the site for them and that the two groups shared a building and a phone receptionist. Not long after the exposé Move America Forward purged all references to Russo Marsh & Rogers from its domain registration, going to so far as to list a Sacramento bar as its registrant phone number at one point."

In a telephone interview with Media Transparency, Joe Wierzbicki, an account executive at Russo Marsh & Rogers, laughingly denied that there was ever any attempt to be secretive about the firm's association with Move America Forward: "There is nothing secret about our relationship with Move America Forward. From the very beginning, it has been Howard [Kaloogian] and Melanie [Morgan's] project and Sal Russo -- a close friend of theirs -- helped set it in motion."

Wierzbicki allowed that Russo Marsh & Rogers has done "all of the [group's] public relations stuff, press releases, and radio and television ads that have been aired to date." He added that Move America Forward "also uses Douglas Lorenz, the webmaster at RM&R as their webmaster." In addition, Wierzbicki pointed out, "RM&R doesn't charge Move America Forward any consulting fees and doesn't receive any retainer from the organization." MAF does "pay for the advertising placements from money they receive from small donors."

When asked whether MAF has received any funding from conservative foundations or political action groups, Wierzbicki said that to the best of his knowledge, "all of MAF's money is generated through their own solicitations, both online and through the mail."[LINK]

Lakshmi Chaudhry is the former senior editor of AlterNet. You can write to her at lakshmi@alternet.org.