Charlie Black
Prime Policy Group (formerly BKSH, formerly Black Manafort Stone)
Who they are.
Veteran Republican lobbyist and political consultant. Co-founder of Black Manafort Stone (with Paul Manafort and Roger Stone) in 1980 — one of the original modern K Street firms and a defining example of the operative-to-lobbyist pipeline. The firm later became BKSH and then merged into Prime Policy Group. Black has advised every Republican presidential nominee from Reagan through McCain in 2008.
The clients.
Sources.
Questions about Charlie Black.
What was Black Manafort Stone?
Black Manafort Stone was a Republican lobbying and political-consulting firm founded in 1980 by Charlie Black, Paul Manafort, and Roger Stone. It became famous — and infamous — for representing authoritarian foreign governments (Marcos's Philippines, Mobutu's Zaire, Savimbi's Angola), earning it the nickname 'the Torturers' Lobby' in 1990s reporting.
What does Charlie Black do now?
Black is a senior figure at Prime Policy Group, the successor firm to BKSH and to Black Manafort Stone after a series of mergers. He has continued to advise Republican presidential campaigns and to handle a corporate lobbying book.
Why is Black a historical reference point?
Black is one of the original architects of the modern fusion of political consulting and federal lobbying. The Black Manafort Stone model — selling access to incumbent power and representing controversial foreign regimes simultaneously — set the template for decades of K Street firm structures that followed.