D'Amore, Hillsman, Oliver & Barkley Will Provide Campaign and Election

Services to Open Up America's Political System

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Americans today live in a
 closed political system. Despite the fact that nearly 40 percent of
 registered voters identify themselves as independents, and self-identified
 Democratic and Republican voters are shrinking drastically, the two major
 parties still maintain a stranglehold on public office, making it nearly
 impossible for Independent candidates to have a legitimate chance at
 getting elected -- or even getting on the ballot.
     Today, established political consultants Thomas D'Amore, Bill Hillsman,
 Laureen Oliver and Dean Barkley announced they have formed the independent
 political consultancy D'Amore, Hillsman, Oliver & Barkley (DHOB), to open
 up the American political system and make it easier for independents to
 compete.
     "Independents or candidates who want to challenge the system quickly
 find out that the electoral deck is stacked against them," says Bill
 Hillsman, one of the DHOB partners. "Democrats or Republicans who wish to
 challenge incumbents or party-anointed candidates in a primary are
 discouraged from running and receive little or no support from the parties
 and their consultants. Independents who want to run for office rapidly
 discover that there is no support system to help them, and that most
 party-affiliated political consultants will not work with them. We're here
 to bridge the gap."
     At a time when the number of independent voters is growing
 exponentially, and when independent voters make up the swing vote in every
 closely contested election, they find themselves faced with fewer and fewer
 candidate options and points-of-view.
     The partners in DHOB have, for the past two decades, understood what is
 transpiring in U.S. politics, and in many cases precipitated it. DHOB will
 provide a full array of campaign services, including campaign organization,
 ballot access, and strategic direction, in addition to online, earned media
 and paid media communications.
     "The two major parties, by keeping out or marginalizing more voices,
 are doing a disservice to the voting public," says Hillsman. "The largest
 plurality of voters are rapidly losing patience with the partisan bickering
 between the two parties and their inability to solve the important everyday
 problems that Americans face. We believe there are plenty of good people
 out there with concrete ideas on how to improve our country and a real
 desire to run for office and serve the public, but until now, there's been
 no support system and no way for them to compete professionally."
     "This is not about creating a new political party. You can coalesce
 independent voters around a candidate, a cause or an issue, but most
 independent voters are not interested in being part of a third political
 party-that's why they're independents," Hillsman continued. "DHOB was
 created to help open up the American political system to present voters
 with more voices and more choices."
     DHOB has identified four specific client groups where the firm will be
 most effective:
     1.  Independent candidates for public office across the political spectrum
         -- from fiscal conservatives to progressives -- with the potential to
         be competitive.
     2.  Challenger candidates who wish to compete within each major party's
         primary system.
     3.  Independent expenditure groups, issue and advocacy campaigns,
         non-profits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who understand
         the importance of reaching and persuading self-identified independent
         voters.
     4.  Ballot propositions and initiative and referenda campaigns which
         require concentrated expertise in persuading independent swing voters.
     About the partners.
     Dean Barkley is an attorney in the law practice of Barkley Law Office
 and the former Independent U.S. Senator from Minnesota. Senator Barkley
 chaired Jesse Ventura's successful third-party campaign for Governor of
 Minnesota, and directed Governor-Elect Ventura's transition team. He served
 four years as Director of Planning for the State of Minnesota, and has been
 a candidate for both the U.S. House and Senate in Minnesota. Senator
 Barkley was instrumental in the formation of the Minnesota Independence
 Party.
     Senator Barkley teamed with DHOB partner Tom D'Amore in putting
 together former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm's candidacy to challenge Ross
 Perot's Reform Party presidential nomination in 1996. He has worked with
 DHOB partner Bill Hillsman on Governor Ventura's campaign and on
 independent Arianna Huffington's campaign for governor in California. Most
 recently, he teamed with DHOB partners Laureen Oliver and Bill Hillsman on
 Kinky Friedman's independent gubernatorial campaign in Texas.
     Thomas D'Amore, Jr. is a partner in the Hartford public affairs
 consulting firm Doyle, D'Amore and Balducci (which will continue to operate
 independently of DHOB). He has more than 30 years of experience in local,
 state and national government and politics. Mr. D'Amore is the former
 chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party, and served as campaign
 manager and chief of staff for Connecticut U.S. Senator and Independent
 Governor Lowell Weicker. He was also named a Resident Fellow at The
 Institute Of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
     Mr. D'Amore joined forces with DHOB partner Dean Barkley in putting
 together former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm's challenge to Ross Perot's
 Reform Party presidential nomination in 1996. He has worked with DHOB
 partners Laureen Oliver and Bill Hillsman on independent campaigns for
 governor in Massachusetts and Virginia, and with DHOB partner Bill Hillsman
 on Ned Lamont's recent victory in the Connecticut Democratic U.S. Senate
 primary. D'Amore and Hillsman have also teamed up on public policy
 campaigns for the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut.
     Bill Hillsman is the founder of North Woods Advertising in Minneapolis
 (which will continue to operate independently of DHOB) and is one of the
 nation's premier marketing communications and political strategists. He has
 served as media consultant to the challenger campaigns of Paul Wellstone,
 Ned Lamont, Ralph Nader, Jesse Ventura and Kinky Friedman. Hillsman is the
 founder of the Independent Voters of America, and author of the book Run
 the Other Way: Fixing the Two-Party System, One Campaign at a Time,
 published by The Free Press in 2004. He was also named a Resident Fellow at
 Harvard University's Institute of Politics.
     Mr. Hillsman has teamed up with DHOB partner Dean Barkley on Jesse
 Ventura's and Arianna Huffington's independent campaigns for governor. He
 has worked with DHOB partners Laureen Oliver and Dean Barkley on Kinky
 Friedman's independent gubernatorial campaign in Texas. He and DHOB
 partners Tom D'Amore and Laureen Oliver have worked on independent
 campaigns for governor in Massachusetts and Virginia, and Hillsman and
 D'Amore were essential to Ned Lamont's recent victory in the Connecticut
 Democratic U.S. Senate primary. D'Amore and Hillsman have also teamed up on
 public policy campaigns for the Universal Health Care Foundation of
 Connecticut, and Hillsman has also created campaigns for Independent Voters
 of America and Independent Voters for Choice.
     Laureen Oliver is one of the nation's leading authorities on ballot
 access law and one of the country's most successful ballot access
 practitioners. A co-founder of the New York State Independence Party along
 with B. Thomas Golisano (the founder of Paychex Corporation), she was Mr.
 Golisano's running mate as the Independence Party candidate for lieutenant
 governor during the 1998 New York gubernatorial election.
     Ms. Oliver has worked with DHOB partners Tom D'Amore and Bill Hillsman
 on independent candidate Russ Potts' campaign for governor of Virginia and
 independent candidate Christy Mihos' campaign for governor of
 Massachusetts. Most recently, she worked with DHOB partners Dean Barkley
 and Bill Hillsman on Kinky Friedman's independent gubernatorial campaign in
 Texas.
     About D'Amore Hillsman Oliver & Barkley
     D'Amore Hillsman Oliver & Barkley (DHOB) is a Washington, D.C.-based
 political consultancy created to provide campaign and election services to
 help open up the American political system and make it easier for
 independents and primary challengers to enter and compete professionally
 within the electoral system. For more information, visit
 http://www.indcampaigns.com or call 1-202-289-4241.
 
 

SOURCE D'Amore, Hillsman, Oliver & Barkley