| Paul J. Manafort | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 1, 1949 New Britain, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Lobbyist, consultant |
Paul J. Manafort is an American lobbyist and political consultant. A former adviser to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush, Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford, he is a senior partner in the firm Davis, Manafort and Freedman.
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Manafort was born in New Britain, Connecticut on April 1, 1949.[1] He graduated from Georgetown University (B.S., B.A., 1971) and Georgetown University Law School (J.D., 1974).
In 1977–1980 he was an attorney with the firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Washington, D.C.
In 1976 he served as a delegate-hunt coordinator for eight States for the President Ford Committee. In 1978–1980 Manafort was southern coordinator for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign, and deputy political director, Republican National Committee. After Reagan's election he was appointed Associate Director of the Presidential Personnel Office at the White House, ad in 1981 he was nominated to the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
He was a director of Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions (1985).
He joined the presidential campaign of John McCain as an advisor in 2008.
Manafort was founding partner of Washington, DC-based lobbying powerhouse Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly. In 1996 he left BMSK to join Richard H. Davis in forming Davis, Manafort.
He also worked in Ukraine on the presidential campaign of Viktor Yanukovych[2] even as the U.S. government (and McCain) opposed him because of his ties to Russia's Vladimir Putin.[3] He was sacked in 2005 after Yanukovych's electoral defeat which was marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud. The party fell to third place in party rankings following the 2004 election after results were overturned through the Orange Revolution.[4] According to a 2008 U.S. Justice Department annual report, Manafort’s company received $63,750 from Yanukovych's Party of Regions over a six-month period ending on March 31, 2008, for consulting services.[5]
Manafort would come under fire[6] for using his connections at HUD to ensure funding for an unwanted $43 million rehabilitation of dilapidated housing in Seabrook, N.J. As a partner in the development firm involved on the project, but he also received $326,000 in fees for his trouble.