Who is Sal Russo?

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. ...