Tony Podesta
| Tony Podesta | |
|---|---|
Podesta in 2009
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| Born |
October 24, 1943 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Residence | Washington, D.C. |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Chicago (BA 1967) MIT (MA, political science)Georgetown University Law Center (JD) |
| Occupation | Lobbyist |
| Known for | Co-founded the Podesta Group |
| Spouse(s) | Heather Podesta (former) |
| Website | Tony Podesta bio at the Podesta Group website |
Anthony T. Podesta (born October 24, 1943), commonly known as Tony Podesta, is an American lobbyist best known for founding the Podesta Group. Podesta has lobbied for a variety of groups, including Bank of America, BP, and Egypt in addition to political campaigns such as Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, Michael Dukakis, and Bill Clinton. More recently, he has worked for Pennsylvania Democratic representatives Joe Sestak, Chris Carney, and Patrick Murphy, and chaired former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's reelection campaign. He is closely connected with the Barack Obama White House and has repeatedly been named one of Washington's most powerful lobbyists and fundraisers.
Podesta grew up in Chicago with his Greek-American mother Mary, first-generation Italian immigrant father John Sr., and his brother John Podesta Jr. He studied political science both in college, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and in graduate school at MIT. While studying at MIT in 1968, Podesta left to work on the presidential campaign of Senator Eugene McCarthy, for whom he did field work and ran the scheduling advance operation in California and other states. After McCarthy lost the Democratic nomination to Hubert Humphrey, Podesta organized students on behalf of the Humphrey-Muskie campaign.
McCarthy was the first of several losing Democratic politicians that Podesta campaigned for. Others included Joe Duffy for the Senate in Connecticut in 1970, Ed Muskie and then George McGovern for president in 1972, Ted Kennedy in 1980, Walter Mondale's presidential campaign in 1984, and Michael Dukakis in 1988, the same year that the Podesta brothers founded their lobbying firm.
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