Many of our clients derive great value from telling their stories to public sector decision makers at the federal, state and local levels. From a major retailer who spends over $100 million a year on community service programs and initiatives, to a well-known cable network that creates curricula for students of all ages, companies seek our assistance in promoting their brand and corporate efforts within the public sector. We encourage our clients to have many and diverse relationships within government, and our public relations practice provides yet another avenue toward engagement in the public policy process. Over the years, our innovative campaigns have helped forge longstanding relationships and partnerships with Members of Congress, the White House, and regulatory agencies. These campaigns build political capital and strengthen the strategic position of a wide range of organizations.

		Berlex Laboratories, Inc.		Berlex Laboratories Inc., the U.S. affiliate of Schering A.G. Berlex, is a pharmaceutical company that has developed new diagnostic imaging techniques and specialized medicines used in treating multiple sclerosis (MS), dermatological disorders, female health concerns and cancer. Among the most important drugs produced by the company is BETASERON® (Interferon beta-1b) used to treat patients with relapsing forms of MS.
		Johnson Controls Inc.		Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) is a global market leader specializing in creating and managing quality building environments, automotive seating systems and automotive batteries. Since 1885, the Controls Group of Johnson Controls has focused on making non-residential facilities perform better, resulting in improved comfort, safety, energy efficiency and employee productivity. Operating in more than 40 countries, JCI’s customers includes the Pentagon and DoD, major corporations, municipalities and state governments and more than 10,000 U.S. school districts and hospitals.
		The Case for a New National Tobacco Policy		In the 1930s, the U.S. federal government instituted a quota and price support program to assist U.S. tobacco farmers. Most tobacco was grown in the U.S. at that time. The quota is a government-created asset, and is leased among growers, furnishes the value in many retirement plans, and otherwise has created economic dependence. The economy generated from tobacco production likewise has created tobacco-dependent communities, going back to the colonial period. With today’s new competition from cheap foreign-grown tobacco, and the focus on adverse effects of using tobacco products, quota holders and growers of tobacco suffer current and severe future economic hardship. Demand for U.S. tobacco has steadily declined because tobacco production has been sent offshore. Jobs are lost in the tobacco sector and throughout non-tobacco sectors such as retail, banking, manufacturing, and others. Growers were unable to compete because of the quota and price support system.