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Offices in Washington, DC
and Vienna, VA
703.629.8552
February 17, 2012
 Washington’s salons have long known that on matters of environmental regulation, the gentleman at left is without peer. Robert K. Dawson, former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works during the Reagan Administration, founded the eponymous Dawson & Associates in 1998 and during the past decade, the firm has established a reputation as Washington’s premier experts in natural resources regulation, environmental permitting, energy, defense, infrastructure, and government contracting..
With ten former Flag Officers, mostly drawn from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Dawson team offers a wealth of expertise that no other firm in Washington can match. That is why I am proud to offer the following announcement today in concert with Mr. Dawson and the top-notch team at his company:
Dawson & Associates Welcomes
Peter Arnold as Senior Advisor
(Washington, D.C.) – Peter Arnold, a former White House and Capitol Hill staffer who has run several major lobbying coalitions for the telecommunications and high-tech industries during the past decade, has joined Dawson & Associates as a Senior Advisor, the firm announced today.
You can read more here.
I will continue to lead Arnold Consulting Group, as I have since 1998. But I will now also be responsible for overseeing Dawson & Associates’ public affairs and crisis communications efforts on behalf of its clients. In a sense, this is (apologies to Bono) a “sort of homecoming” since I first worked with Mr. Dawson in the early 1990s during my time with Jody Powell and Sheila Tate. Twenty years later, things have come full circle and for that, I extend a tremendous feeling of gratitude to this gentleman for his faith in me.
– Peter Arnold
January 2, 2012
 Anyone wondering if remarkable people still rise to the top in Washington, D.C. should take a moment and read the email below. Sheila Tate, former press secretary to Nancy Reagan and spokesman for the 1988 George Bush Presidential campaign, is retiring after a remarkable career proving that Alan Alda was half-right when he said, “It’s better to be wise than smart.” In Sheila’s case, she was both.
Nearly 20 years ago, the Washington intelligensia was rocked with the news that Sheila and former White House press secretary Jody Powell had created an eponymous firm, Powell Tate. It was the summer of 1991 and the firm quickly established itself as “the” place for corporations in need of crisis help.
Sheila brought me into Powell Tate about six weeks after the company started which only goes to show that her judgment even in those glory years was remarkably fallible. I had had the privilege of working with her on the 1988 Bush campaign, where she was chief spokesman though it should be noted that I did not write a certain line about the California raisins.
Everyone who ever worked with Sheila has favorite anecdotes and this writer is no exception:
- At a surprise birthday party for Sheila in 1991, a senior Powell Tate consultant gently ribbed her during a toast about a client problem that happened when the two worked at a different PR shop. When the toast was over, Sheila smilingly replied, “Michelle, we always hated you back then.”
- After the first President Bush had an unfortunate stomach incident during a state visit to Japan, Sheila went on CNN and was asked if this represented a “burp” on the Bush Presidency. Not missing a beat, she replied that “I think it’s more of a ‘yurp’ than a ‘burp.’”
- My favorite: a photo taken shortly after the rather bitter 1988 Presidential election showing Sheila standing between George H.W. Bush and Mike Dukakis. As I recall, the incoming Prez wrote underneath it, “To Sheila, Only you could referee this one.”
Sheila, if you’re reading this, there are two things you should know. First, you and Jody were a remarkable influence on me that I will never forget. Second, I was underpaid.
As I sit at my computer on a very cold Christmas Eve day, I can’t help think about the fact that when Jody and I started Powell Tate in 1991 we didn’t have computers. Nor did we have cell phones or blackberries; social media would have sounded like a disease. Hmm. Maybe not a bad definition.
Powell Tate started with about 10 employees and far fewer clients. We were in very cramped quarters in the Metropolitan Square Building. The great part was we got to design our new space at 700 Thirteenth Street from scratch. And now, a mere 20 years later, you’re leaving it!
Back in the “early days”, I was an early bird, usually at work about 7:30am. Jody showed up about 10am. I left by 6pm and he worked into the evening hours which was great for West Coast clients and a few European clients as well. We grew rapidly and we all worked as hard as we needed to, even overnight on occasion, and created great memories while doing great work for our clients.
On January 1st I will be erased from the IPG systems and my new address will be: ______. The company has allowed me to slide slowly into retirement and I now embrace it with enthusiasm! Before that happens, I need to wish each of you a wonderful Powell Tate experience, a long and rewarding career and great memories. Don’t lose the essence of our culture where the individual and hard work is valued and the team is valued more; and above all, stay loyal to your clients and give them your very best. I hope each of you can look back when you are about to retire and know you did your best, you loved your work and you truly admire your colleagues. And, if you want me to be really happy, vote Republican.
Sheila Tate
January 8, 2010
January 5, 2010
 (New York) Two articles this morning show the fun to be had with number-tossing.
First, there’s a new mobile phone survey from ChangeWave Research that touts a “250 percent increase” in mobile users’ opting for Google’s Android OS. Of those planning on buying a smartphone, 21 percent said they expected to purchase one using Android compared with 6 percent in September. It’s a solid gain but not nearly as impressive as ChangeWave hype:
“Monstrous… [The] change rivals anything that we’ve seen in the last three years of the smartphone market,” said Paul Carton, ChangeWave’s director of research, adding that the sudden surge in consumer interest in Android had “roiled” the market.
By “last three years,” Carton presumably means “since the iPhone.” Anyway, what’s so amusing – coming from a “director of research,” no less – is the way he spins a decent-but-expected growth rate. The company’s survey comes on the heels of the estimated $100 million that Verizon and Motorola spent promoting the Droid. So going from a small base of 6 percent to 21 percent hardly seems “monstrous.” Moreover, the “250 percent” figure is what happens when you begin with such a small number.
And “roiled” the market? Note to ChangeWave’s PR Department: Stop the hyperventilating. No one who understands the industry believes you.
This brings back memories of the Internet’s biggest sham from the late 1990s – that data traffic was supposedly doubling every quarter. It happened once or twice around 1996 when AOL had 1+M subscribers and was ramping up quickly. But after that, the ability to doubling off of a large base became a fantasy.
Next up is Suzanne Vranica’s article in the Wall Street Journal, “Dr Pepper Buys Its First Super Bowl Spot,” which begins, “In an effort to drum up more interest in its recently launched Dr Pepper Cherry, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. has bought advertising time during Super Bowl XLIV.” The purchase marks the first time in the company’s 125-year history that Dr Pepper will advertise during the National Football League championship, which will be broadcast by CBS Corp. on Feb 7.
First time in 125 years? Nice, except that the NFL didn’t come into existence until about 1920. Anyway, here’s the commercial, which is pretty funny.
December 27, 2009
 Before bidding 2009 a bon voyage, it’s worth noting two recent media commentaries. First, Francis Wilkinson has a warm and wonderful portrayal of the great Jody Powell in today’s New York Times. His portrayal brought back the usual flood of Powell memories (for more, click here and here) as well as reconfirming that while Washington hosts more than its share of phonies, it also catapults to success some truly outstanding, wonderful people.
Next up is Andy Kessler’s oped in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. Kessler’s usually pretty sharp on technology and telecom which is why this column is so disappointing. For starters, his idea of setting up a nationwide wireless system by linking transmitters to street lights is fanciful. AT&T tried it in St. Louis and backed out in 2007 because the technology just didn’t work.
Moreover, Kessler’s comment about the telecos and employment is just plain absurd. AT&T is the nation’s largest private sector employer of union workers. While Google has a larger market cap than AT&T it employs 10 times fewer people and has a capex budget less than one-eighth as large. So which one seems more likely to start hiring?
That’s it for 2009. Thanks for reading and feel free to sign up for my RSS feed. See you in 2010!
November 9, 2009
(Washington) The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago today. I was a White House speechwriter for Vice President Bush when Ronald Reagan gave his famous “Tear down this wall” speech in 1987. Presidential speechwriter Peter Robinson, a fellow Dartmouth mafioso, wrote the speech that became the hallmark of the President’s second term. Ironically, though, that signature line came remarkably close to going in the ash bin of history. If anyone’s interested in the internal tong fight, here’s a good summary.
October 21, 2009
From the Associated Press today:
Democrats launched a drive at both ends of the Capitol on Wednesday to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws, part of an increasingly bare-knuckled struggle over landmark health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama.
(Washington) The old adage about the perils of watching laws and sausages made seems especially appropriate for antitrust law. Case in point: how the National Football League got its antitrust exemption in 1970, when the old AFL merged with the NFL. At the time, two of Congress’ most powerful leaders were Majority Whip Hale Boggs and Sen. Russell Long, both from Louisiana. With NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle desperate to get the antitrust exemption approved prior to the season opening, he agreed to make New Orleans the first city to get a franchise when the league expanded. That brought the support of Boggs and Long, who were able to attach the exemption to a foreign aid tax bill (no, really). Of course, the effort was not without bumps such as when Long called Rozelle right before the Senate’s floor action to reconfirm that New Orleans would receive the franchise. When Rozelle hesitated, Long allegedly told Rozelle that there would be plenty of time to think this over, as the exemption was no longer going to see Senate action. Sure enough, Rozelle got back to Long later that night with the message: Yes, it’s New Orleans.
There’s more information on this amusing anecdote in Robert Mann’s excellent book on Long, Legacy to Power.
October 12, 2009
(Washington, DC) Anyone who had the luck to watch Secretariat’s Belmont win carries a remarkable memory. The late Chic Anderson could barely contain himself, yelling, “He is moving like a tremendous machine” at the 3/5 pole. So amid Washington’s dismaying tomfoolery and worse — don’t even get me started about the nuttiness of the FCC trying to apply Net neutrality to a EVDO cell tower which, even if it’s powered by a DS-1, would crash on a half-dozen Sling streams — it’s good to see that Disney will remind the world of Secretariat’s utterly astounding accomplishments.
Incidentally, for the record, my view is Big Red’s most amazing feat wasn’t at the Belmont. It was when he swooped the field on the first turn at the Preakness, going from almost dead last to first in a little more than a furlong.
Here’s a link to the Belmont: Enjoy!
September 21, 2009
(New York) A week has passed and the outpouring of fond reminiscences about Jody Powell continues. It should. From Sam Donaldson, we learned that Jody once poured a glass of red wine over his head in response to an ABC News segment. Did Jody have malice aforethought? Knowing Jody, there’s only one possible answer.
Personally, my favorite anecdote involving Jody happened on election night 1992: It was the loudest I ever heard him laugh. The networks had made a point of declaring that they wouldn’t predict a winner in the Presidential contest until the polls had closed in California. That was 10 PM EST. But at 9:30, Ross Perot came out and declared that Bill Clinton would be the next President. I was at the Powell Tate election party at the Willard in DC. There were about a dozen of us and Jody burst into the room laughing furiously and saying (approximately), “Did you just see how Ross stuck it to the networks?!?!”
Of course, there were the memorable “Jody-isms”:
“Getting pissed off is not a strategy.”
“Sometimes what the client thinks is a PR problem isn’t.”
“Don’t tell us what to say. Tell us what happened.” When I joined Powell Tate in 1991, shortly after its founding, there were about 30 of us, of which perhaps five were red-state types. But to Jody, we were all part of the family. No question about it. When God made Jody, He broke the mold.
September 14, 2009
(Washington) My friend and mentor Jody Powell has passed on. In the coming days, the press will be filled with stories about how this thirty-something from Georgia revolutionized the role of White House press secretary. But leaving that aside, the real value of Jody was his willingness to treat everyone with whom he worked as part of his extended family. I joined Powell Tate in 1991 as one of its first hires (Thank you, Sheila Tate). I’d been at the company no more than a few weeks — and had met Jody only in passing — when he stopped me on my way out of the office one Friday evening and asked me to join him and his lovely wife Nan for dinner. It was the first of many such acts, not to mention his years of wise counsel. R.I.P., my mentor.
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With everyone gushing ‘Bama crimson today, someone needs to