Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly

History

As Black, Manafort & Stone, the firm was one of the first political consulting groups to work for Ronald Reagan's presidential candidacy in 1980, and would later also have extensive connections to the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Donald Trump was the firm's first client.

In 1984 it was renamed to Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly (BMSK) & associates after Peter G. Kelly was recruited.

The firm advised, represented, and lobbied the US Congress on behalf of, numerous foreign governments and heads of state from both representative democracies and unelected dictatorships including dictator Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Mohamed Siad Barre of Somalia, dictator Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, and Jonas Savimbi of Angola. According to "The Torturers' Lobby", a report published by The Center for Public Integrity, by 1991-1992 their work with dictators brought in $3.3 million in those 2 years.

During the 1988 presidential campaign in the United States, it was disclosed that BMSK retained the island nation of the Bahamas as a client at a time its leadership was being attacked for alleged ties to drug traffickers. BMSK officials insisted that they intended only to help the Bahamas obtain more United States aid for efforts to curb drug smugglers.

Domestically the firm represented Bethlehem Steel, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the Tobacco Institute, and helped elect Senators Phil Gramm, Jesse Helms, Charles McCurdy Mathias Jr., Arlen Specter, Paula Hawkins and David F. Durenberger—and worked on legislation that benefitted the firm's clients.

On January 1, 1991, BMSK was acquired by Burson-Marsteller who between 1989 and 1994 had acquired Gold & Liebengood which was founded by Martin B. Gold and Howard Scholer Liebengood in 1984. Manafort left in 1995 to start a new firm. BMSK merged with Gold & Liebengood to form BKSH & Associates in 1996.

According to Mustafa Nayyem in 2007, the Saint Petersburg office of BMSK was headed by Leonid Avrashov () who, according to Serhiy Leshchenko in 2017, also had a credit card with oligarch Rinat Akhmetov's First Ukrainian International Bank (PUMB) ().

Personnel

Principals

• Charles R. Black Jr.
• Paul Manafort
• Roger Stone
• Peter G. Kelly
• R. Scott Pastrick
• James C. Healey, Jr.

Others

• Lee Atwater became a senior partner in the political-consulting function of the firm (the partners claimed the firm kept political and lobbying functions separate) the day after President Reagan defeated Walter F. Mondale in 1984.Partners in Political PR Firm Typify Republican New Breed, Thomas B. Edsall, April 7, 1985

References

References

1. (November 29, 2018). "How Manafort and Stone created the mess Trump said he'd drain". The Washington Post.
2. [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/21/us/a-political-power-broker.html "A Political Power Broker"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 21, 1989
3. Steve Burkholder. (1993). "On the town with Jonas Savimbi - huge U.S. lobbying expenditures by Angola". Common Cause magazine.
4. Brannen, Kate. (October 30, 2017). "A Timeline of Paul Manafort's Relationship with the Trump World". [[Justsecurity.org]].
5. Brenner, Marie. (June 28, 2017). "How Donald Trump and Roy Cohn's Ruthless Symbiosis Changed America". [[Vanity Fair (magazine).
6. Choate, Pat. (1990). "Agents of Influence". Simon and Schuster.
7. "Paul Manafort's Wild and Lucrative Philippine Adventure".
8. "Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly, Public Affairs Company document for U.S. Department of Justice".
9. "Mobutu in Search of an Image Boost". Washington Post.
10. (2020-02-19). "Explainer: Who is Roger Stone and why does he face prison?". Reuters.
11. Scharpf, Adam. (2025). "Dictatorships and Western Public Relations Firms: Evidence from the United States". Security Studies.
12. Brogan, Pamela. (1992). "The Torturer's Lobby: How Human Rights-Abusing Nations Are Represented in Washington". Center for Public Integrity.
13. Vogel, Kenneth P.. "Paul Manafort's Wild and Lucrative Philippine Adventure".
14. [https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1995/1/6/senate-section/article/s529-5?s=1&r=425 THE CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 1995; Congressional Record Vol. 141, No. 3 (Senate - January 06, 1995)]
15. Schwartz, Maralee. (January 3, 1991). "PR Firm Acquires Black, Manafort". Washington Post.
16. (2018-02-22). "Paul Manafort, American Hustler - The Atlantic".
17. Найєм, Мустафа (Nayyem, Mustafa). (March 19, 2007). "Американські технологи на службі у Януковича". [[Ukrayinska Pravda]] (pravda.ua).
18. Лещенко, Сергей (Leshchenko, Serhiy). (March 23, 2017). "Коррупционная ось Януковича-Манафорта". [[:uk:НВ.
19. Thomas, Evan. (1986-03-03). "The Slickest Shop in Town".