Philosophy

We are the firm that recognizes that the era of disclosure has marginalized the old boy, horse trading, “access” model of lobbying. We are led by substantive experts and follow a business process that generates superior client results through a rigorous focus on innovation, goals, execution and accountability.

We believe in well-researched issue debate and advocacy, utilizing support from either party where appropriate. We seek to affect policy and educate policy makers with arguments based on provable facts.

We regard access as one of many key factors in the complex array of a lobbying campaign. We enjoy the access of experts with a reputation for achieving results.

Lobbying vs Law
Many of the capital’s lobbying concerns are housed in law firms. These are valuable resources if your issues will likely involve litigation. If you don’t require litigation, you should consider a pure lobbying solution first. Lobbying seeks to achieve objectives inclusively, in creative ways that provide a win not just for the client, but for communities and Members as well. At the end of the day, your last recourse may be

litigation, but exhaust other solutions before you enter that adversarial, zero sum arena where the long, expensive process detracts from whatever is achieved.

Working with Us
Clients have internal constituencies and agendas to manage and often lack detailed understanding of government policy and procedures. Carmen Group provides structural perspective to help clients make an informed decision:

• We take clients through our articulated process, identifying key steps and providing a cost-benefit analysis. We freely discuss what issues clients can resolve for themselves.
• A key part of our process is Victory Definition: multiple, credible paths that can achieve the client’s goal. If changes in the political cast and the world and national backdrop render the goal unreasonable, we proactively cease activity—and billing. This practice cuts our short-term revenue, but has made us many clients and friends for life.

Carmen Group believes clients need to know specifically how we can help address their problem or opportunity, what steps will be involved, how long it will take, what is the probability of success and what costs are involved. It’s simply good business.