The husband of Alison McSlarrow and a long-time Capitol Hill staffer, Kyle McSlarrow was chief of staff to the late Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-GA), was deputy chief of staff and chief counsel to Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole (R-KS) and Trent Lott (R-MS), and served as deputy secretary of Energy under Spencer Abraham. He made two unsuccessful attempts for a Virginia congressional seat.[1]
In 1994, following McSlarrow's second failed run for Congress, which left him in debt, he was hired by Dole to help him shepherd the Comprehensive Regulatory Reform Act, a business-friendly bill that would have required a cost-benefit analysis for every regulation costing over $100 million, through the Senate. Before he began the job, he paid off his campaign debt by raising $16,000 from the very corporate interests, including tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds, that had a stake in the legislation. The bill later died in the Senate.[2]
His career in the private sector has included stints as vice president of political and government affairs for Grassroots Enterprise Inc., a political-services marketing firm headed by former Clinton White House press secretary Mike McCurry.[3] Most recently he has been working as CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, where he has been working hard to advance the cable industry's opposition to new indecency regulations, a la carte cable offerings, and net neutrality.[4] As a bundler, he has raised at least $100,000 for McCain's presidential campaign, according to information released by the campaign.[5]
For a complete look at Kyle McSlarrow's lobbying activities, please visit the non-partisan Center For Responsive Politics' money-in-politics database,
[1] Jim Snyder, "The Cable Industry's Energy Man," The Hill, June 20, 2006.
[2] John B. Judis, "The Bill," The New Republic, June 3, 1996.
[3] Snyder, 2006.
[4] Drew Clark, "Lobbying: Energy Official Tapped To Head Cable, Telecom Group," National Journal's Technology Daily, January 25, 2005.
[5] McCain campaign Web site, accessed July 16, 2008.