Outside the Beltway

Republican Media Adviser Greg Stevens Found Dead

James Joyner · Friday, March 4, 2005 · 2 comments

Republican media adviser found dead (WaTi)

Republican media adviser R. Gregory Stevens, who recently served as co-chairman of the Bush/Cheney Entertainment Task Force, was found dead Saturday in the Hollywood home of actress Carrie Fisher. “He passed away here, and in a place where he was loved,” Miss Fisher said yesterday from her home in Los Angeles.

Mr. Stevens, 42, was scheduled to attend the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night and was staying with Miss Fisher at the time of his death. The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said yesterday that the cause of death was unknown, pending results of toxicology tests.

[…]

Mr. Stevens, who was an associate of the Washington powerhouse lobbying group Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, also helped orchestrate the firm’s star-studded party for watching the inaugural parade and was known to have deep roots in the Hollywood community.

Sad and bizarre.

Update (3-5): No Foul Play in Death of Lobbyist (LAT)

The death of Republican media advisor R. Gregory Stevens, whose body was found in a guest room at the Los Angeles home of friend and actress Carrie Fisher, did not involve foul play, an official said Friday. “No foul play is suspected,” said Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman David Campbell. Stevens, 42, had served as co-chairman of the Bush/Cheney Entertainment Task Force during the 2004 campaign. He was found dead last Saturday.

An autopsy has been conducted, but a cause of death won’t be determined until further tests are conducted, Campbell said. According to a colleague at the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm of Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, preliminary results suggested that the 42-year-old’s heart failed. “It’s pointing toward just a heart failure and, unfortunately, a tragic incident,” said Loren Monroe, chief operating officer of Barbour, Griffith. “He just had gone to bed that evening, and they found him the next morning.”

[…]

Stevens, who also served on the 2001 presidential inaugural committee, was known as a flamboyant contrarian in the capital’s socially conservative political circles. “In Washington, we tend to take ourselves way too seriously,” Monroe said while on his way to Stevens’ funeral. “He always reminded us to have fun. He just was someone who always made people laugh and helped people enjoy things instead of being always stressed out like people often are in Washington,” Monroe added.

The San Clemente native rose from involvement in the California Republican Party to the Bush-Quayle campaign of 1988 and served as White House liaison to the Department of Housing and Urban Development under the elder Bush.

42.

Barbour, Griffith, & Rogers have a bio on Stevens linked from their People page.

Greg Stevens specializes in foreign campaign consulting and has advised candidates in twenty-four international elections; successfully electing sixteen Presidents and Prime Ministers around the world.

During the George W. Bush for President campaign, Greg served as co-chairman of the Bush/Cheney Entertainment Task Force. In this capacity, Mr. Stevens developed and managed the campaign’s relationships with key entertainment industry leaders and film, television and music celebrities. Greg Stevens then served as Director of the Entertainment Outreach for the 2001 Presidential Inaugural Committee, where he recruited and directed all celebrity performances and involvement on behalf of the newly-elected President and Vice President of the United States.

Since November 1992, Greg has focused on developing a broad-based foreign campaign practice and, to date, he has consulted on political operations in countries, including Costa Rica, Hungary, Kenya, Macedonia, Montenegro, Nigeria, South Korea, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand and Togo.

From 1992 to 1994, Greg was an Associate with Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, an international public affairs and lobbying firm. While at Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, Greg designed government relations, political and lobbying strategies for the firms’ foreign and domestic clients and advised clients on national candidacies in presidential elections in Angola, Kenya, Nigeria, Thailand, and the Philippines.

During the Bush Administration, Greg served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Jack Kemp. In this capacity, he managed the field operations of ten HUD Regional Administrators and coordinated the Secretary’s involvement in department programs throughout these regions.

In 1990, Greg served as Deputy Executive Director for the California Republican Party where he directed the Party’s financial operations for the successful Pete Wilson Gubernatorial Campaign.

Greg served as Director of the Surrogate Satellite program and Political Operations for the Bush Platform Team during the 1988 Bush-Quayle Presidential Campaign. Following President Bush’s election, Greg was appointed White House Liaison to HUD where he managed all White House transition issues.

Greg was Assistant to Drew Lewis, Chairman and CEO of Warner-Amex Cable Communications, Inc. from 1984 to 1987. During his tenure, he was appointed by President Reagan to assist Drew Lewis efforts as to the Special Envoy to Canada for Acid Rain and served on the Reagan-Bush ’84 re-election campaign as an assistant to Drew Lewis, Chairman of National Strategy and the Reagan-Bush Platform Team.

A native of San Clemente, California, Greg received his Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the University of Southern California.