Reply #20: Sal Russo (Move America Forward) is playing the same game

[BrotherBuzz]

Follow the money. DU detectives need to jump on this glob of pond scum and expose him for what he is..

Bill Berkowitz
July 23, 2005

At Russo Marsh & Rogers the "truth" is always on tour


Helping Move America Forward report the good news from its "Truth Tour" in Iraq, and working on PR for the Kurdistan Regional Government, has given the California-based firm an opportunity to shape public opinion one story at a time

The so-called "war on terrorism" has been good to Russo Marsh & Rogers (RM&R), the Sacramento, California-based conservative lobbying and public relations firm. These days, it has a lot on its plate, including the recently completed "Truth Tour," and a new contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government.

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.

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http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=78