They’re the liberal Mad Men of political consulting and Anson Kaye is their Don Draper. A public relations powerhouse, GMMB famously helped put President Barack Obama in office and now Kaye is quietly helping the Left try to kick President Trump out.
But that hasn’t stopped the ad agency of the “Resistance” from taking government contracts. Since Republicans won the White House, GMMB has done more than $1 million worth of work for the federal government.
According to government contract disclosures, GMMB secured 14 lucrative contracts with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Corporation for National and Community Service worth almost $1.2 million. Most recently on May 2, the CFPB hired the agency to do some advertising work for $258,887.
Neither the CFPB or GMMB returned request for comment by press time. But the hiring seems more than questionable because in liberal consulting circles, GMMB is the best. They took in more Democratic Party cash during the 2008, 2012, and 2016 presidential cycles than any other vendor.
As partner at the firm, Kaye played an oversized role. He was a senior member of Clinton’s presidential paid media team, writing, directing, and producing cinema-quality political commercials. While Democrats couldn’t make the sale, none can blame Kaye.
Reviews of his political ads read like Broadway reviews punctuated with superlatives like “masterful,” “powerful,” and “brilliant.” By comparison, that messaging makes Ben Rhodes’ efforts look like an intern.
And now Kaye is plying his trade against the Trump administration. The operative broadcasts on Twitter that he’s an active member of the Resistance, that loose collection of politicos working to undermine the administration. How Kaye plans to make that happen isn’t clear.
It’s not immediately obvious whether or not Kaye himself has worked on government contracts since Obama left office. Regardless of whether he’s personally involved though, this isn’t the first time GMMB’s business practices have been questioned.
Last June the Cause of Action Institute filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the CFPB after the partisan political shop scored a $14 million contract. A non-profit good-government group, Cause of Action filed the FOIA to discover whether or not “appropriate firewalls” were in place to ensure taxpayers weren’t subsidizing political coordination.
While there’s little chance for collusion with the Trump administration, taxpayer dollars are clearly padding GMMB’s bottom line.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
