Top Government Affairs Strategists Chuck McMullen and Tharon Johnson Join McKenna Long & Aldridge

Aug. 17, 2011 - PRLog -- ATLANTA — McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (MLA) is pleased to announce that Chuck McMullen and Tharon Johnson will join the firm’s Government Affairs practice in Atlanta.

“Chuck and Tharon will be tremendous assets to our government affairs efforts in Georgia and across the country,” said MLA Government Affairs head Eric Tanenblatt, chief of staff to former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and longtime advisor to the late U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell.  “Their knowledge and ability to navigate between the public and private sectors will be extremely valuable to our clients and the firm.”

McMullen, who will join the firm as a managing director, is an experienced and highly successful public policy strategist, having served as chief of staff to Georgia’s first Republican Senate Majority Leader, Congressman Tom Price, MD.  Prior to serving the Georgia Senate, he was a policy advisor to the Medical Association of Georgia and served as the director of the association’s political action committee, GAMPAC. McMullen also worked in Washington, DC as a regional political director for the American Medical Association covering 12 states.  He began his career with the Medical Society of Virginia before moving to Atlanta.  He is currently the vice chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Council’s Education Committee.  He joins MLA from his previous role as managing partner at Piedmont Public Affairs.

Johnson, who will join MLA as a senior strategic advisor and independent consultant, has served at the highest levels of federal, state, and local campaigns and governments by advising senior members of Congress and leaders in city and state government. He served as Senior Advisor to current Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, having previously run the Mayor’s campaign in 2009. He also ran successful campaigns for such notable officials as Congressman John Lewis, Congressman John Barrow, and Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. He is a former deputy chief of staff for Congressman Barrow and district director for Congressman Lewis.  Politics Magazine named Johnson among the “Top 10 Democrats in Georgia” and the only African-American to be named a “Campaign & Elections 2010 Rising Star.”  He is the youngest and first African American to be named “Campaign Manager of the Year” by the American Association of Political Consultants.  He serves on the executive committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia.  He joins MLA from his previous role as partner at Piedmont Public Affairs.

In Atlanta, McMullen and Johnson will join former Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker; former Speaker and Speaker Pro Tempore of the Georgia House of Representatives Mark Burkhalter; former Georgia Governor and Senator Zell Miller; former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Gordon Giffin; former Congressman Buddy Darden; former State Representative Matt Towery; former assistant to President William J. Clinton, Keith Mason; former City of Atlanta officials Steven Labovitz, Sharon Gay, Hakim Hilliard, and Rosalind Rubens Newell; Georgia state government affairs team members Bo Moore, Ben Vinson, Dan Baskerville, and Rollin Downs.

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About McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP: McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP is an international law firm with 475 attorneys and public policy advisors. The firm provides business solutions in the areas of complex litigation, corporate, government contracts, health care, intellectual property, technology, environment and energy regulations, climate change, finance, international law, public policy, and real estate. To learn more about the firm and its services, go to http://www.mckennalong.com.