2009
December 30, 2009
NPR Article on New Focus For Airport Screening: Strange Behavior
"There's the balance where you have to be careful," Blank says. "In this day and age, in the post-9/11 atmosphere, to be error-free is a pretty high bar with regard to behavior assessment."
December 28, 2009
CNN NewsRoom - 'The threat's real'
Vice Chairman, Tom Blank
Wexler & Walker Vice Chairman and Former TSA Deputy Administrator Tom Blank discusses what needs to be done to strenghen airport security.
December 23, 2009
The New York Times Magazine "The Lives They Lived, 2009"
Anne Wexler: Superlobbyist
The young idealists of both the McGovernite left and the Goldwater right had arrived in Washington vowing to reform it, but by the time Anne Wexler died, they had become, instead, their own kind of establishment — a ruling class of consultants and lobbyists and celebrity pundits every bit as immovable as the machine bosses and Brahmin lawyers of another era. As Wexler herself might have pointed out, she didn’t do anything her male contemporaries hadn’t done. She was simply better at it.
November 11, 2009
The Hill's "K Street Insiders" by Bud Cramer
While I weighed my decision on whether to retire from Congress, I talked to a variety of people who made similar transitions. I wasn't sure where I'd end up, but I knew it needed to be somewhere that respected my bipartisan approach. One of my early conversations was with Anne Wexler, a dynamic businesswoman and policy expert from the Carter administration who founded the Wexler Group in 1981. Anne's view of lobbying and public policy advocacy aligned perfectly with mine - namely, that one cannot rely on personal ties to convince, but rather must be able to make a strong case based on facts. It's not whom you know but what you know that produces good policy, which is a valuable lesson for us all.
November 2, 2009
K Street Files: Weight Watchers Bulks Up
A diet company known around the country for helping people slim down is making a name for itself inside the Beltway by hiring Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates. Weight Watchers International Inc. is focusing its efforts on obesity prevention provisions in the health care bills, according to Timothy Hannegan, the lead lobbyist on the account.
October 20, 2009
Anne Wexler's Memorial Service
On Thursday, October 20, 2009, hundreds of friends, family members and colleagues gathered at the Eisenhower Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate the life of Anne Levy Wexler.
The event featured remarks from Anne's closest friends and confidants, who spanned the decades of Anne's illustrious life and political career. Notable speakers included President Bill Clinton and Senator Barbara Mikulski. President Clinton credited Anne with giving both he and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton their first jobs in politics; she hired him to work on Joe Duffey's U.S. Senate campaign in 1970, and her to work on the McGovern Campaign in Texas in 1972. Anne remained a trusted advisor to both throughout their careers.
Present Clinton spoke about his deep friendship with Anne who was the first woman he ever worked for and "who had lived with genuine integrity and energy and love." Senator Mikulski spoke of Anne's efforts to empower women in the political world. Senator Mikulski and Anne shared a strong belief that women should not only be represented, but could thrive at the highest echelons of government. Both of them stayed true to that belief.
Senator Mikulski remarked that Anne had "passion and know how in putting her values into action...because first of all for Anne the whole point was people. She may have been a power-broker but she was never a glory-seeker."
June 17, 2009
Roll Call Article on Early Obama Loyalist Tim Hannegan
People who supported Obama live by the same rules as everybody else, and they are challenging,” said Tim Hannegan, president of Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates. Hannegan threw his support behind Obama in early 2007. A transplant from Missouri, Hannegan has long held ties to the Illinois delegation. While all lobbyists have had their wings clipped to some degree, Hannegan acknowledges that long-held friendships with administration officials do help. “By the same token, there’s a group of us who have been there since the beginning, and there is a higher level of trust there,” he said.
For Immediate Release
August 8, 2009
Contact: Deanna Congileo, Press Secretary
Statement from former United States President Jimmy Carter on Anne Wexler
Atlanta, Ga. Anne Wexler was a remarkably effective public servant. She had a wonderful ability to understand a multitude of different ethnic or other special groups and to deal with them in a beneficial and enlightened way. She served our nation in an exemplary way, and after leaving the White House Anne continued to use her special talents as one of the most successful lobbyists in Washington. Her integrity brought a good image to her often criticized profession.
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