lobbying and public relations founded 1988 headquarters washington d.c. key people anthony t. podesta chairman kimberley fritts ceo products government relations revenue n a number of employees 70 website podestagroup.com the podesta group is a lobbying and public affairs firm based in washington d.c. . it was founded in 1988 by brothers john podesta and tony podesta and has previously been known as podesta associates podesta.com and podestamattoon . 1 2 3 the firm most recently reorganized in january 2007 after current chairman tony podesta split with former business partner dan mattoon . 3 podesta group represents u.s. corporations as well as non profits associations and governments . 4 it has close ties to the democratic party and the obama administration 5 although its ceo kimberley fritts is identified by the group as a fixture in republican politics having worked for former florida governor jeb bush . 6 the firm reported earning 27.4 million in lobbying fees in 2011 . 7 in 2007 chairman tony podesta was ranked by his peers as the third most influential lobbyist in washington . 8 lobbying and public affairs activities edit tony podesta with senator kay hagan and husband chip at a 2009 party hosted by podesta group the podesta group has been retained by wal mart bp and lockheed martin . 5 other clients include abdisalam omer the american coalition for clean coal electricity amgen bank of america cherokee nation casinos cintas covidien duke energy egypt genentech general dynamics harrah s entertainment heineken merck michelin national association of broadcasters nab national public radio npr nestle novartis orange county florida raytheon reed elsevier republic of albania republic of georgia sallie mae sunoco synthetic genomics tjx companies tyco electronics republic of kenya and united technologies . 9 10 11 in addition the podesta group acts as a lobbyist for egypt on u.s. policies of concern activities in congress and the executive branch and developments on the u.s. political scene generally according to forms filed with the justice department in 2009 . 5 12 they also received revenue of 900 000 over the last two years from the european centre for a modern ukraine a brussels based organization sympathetic to viktor yanukovych and his political party . 13 the podesta group also carries out public relations work for the government of azerbaijan for a monthly fee of usd 60 000 plus expenses . 14 according to human rights watchdog organizations the government of azerbaijan in mid 2014 has intensified its already authoritarian crackdown on independent political and other public voices and has imprisoned at least 40 political activists human rights defenders journalists and others on various trumped up charges including drug possession tax evasion and even treason . 15 16 similarly the former government of albania led by former prime minister sali berisha a leader with autocratic tendencies is another in the list of questionable clients for whom the podesta group has lobbied in washington dc . references edit pear robert and john broder . in a lobby happy washington politics can be even thicker than blood the new york times 5 september 2000 . retrieved on 18 november 2007 . bio of john podesta on american progress website a b sarasohn judy . podestamattoon by any other name ... the washington post 2 november 2006 . retrieved on 18 november 2007 lobbying spending database podesta group summary 2007 the center for responsive politics . retrieved 18 november 2007 a b c elliott justin 2011 01 28 who s doing mubarak s bidding in washington salon.com kimberley fritts bio podesta group . archived 5 april 2015 . 1 the hill.retrieved 15 february 2012 . eisler kim . hired guns the city s 50 top lobbyists . washingtonian 1 june 2007 . retrieved 18 november 2007 . opensecrets.org civil georgia . civil.ge georgia hires podesta lobbying firm . retrieved 8 april 2016 . wilson megan r. september 25 2013 . somali bank embroiled in scandal inks contract with lobby firm . the hill . retrieved september 29 2013 . arab unrest puts their lobbyists in uneasy spot . the new york times . 2 march 2011 . retrieved 8 april 2016 . mark hosenball and warren strobel 20 december 2013 . with cash ukraine s political foes bring fight to washington . reuters . retrieved 8 april 2016 . united states department of justice disclosure form received by nsd fara registration unit 04 30 2014 retrieved 3 september 2014 williamson hugh . germany should bring azerbaijan down to earth human rights watch retrieved 3 september 2014 . european stability initiative standing up for european values in azerbaijan retrieved 3 september 2014 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to podesta group . podesta.com official website wired magazine article on tony podesta washington post article retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title podesta group & oldid 743573125 categories privately held companies based in washington d.c.companies established in 19881988 establishments in washington d.c.lobbying firmshidden categories commons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 07 10 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of 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