Gerald "Gerry" Cassidy is a prominent lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

  He is the co-founder and CEO of Cassidy & Associates

Cassidy & Associates

Cassidy & Associates is a government-relations firm based in Washington, D.C., known for pioneering the use of congressional earmarks as a method of obtaining grants for university clients. It was founded in 1975 as Schlossberg-Cassidy Associates by Gerald Cassidy and Kenneth Schlossberg, both...

. He is a graduate of Villanova University

Villanova University

Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...

 (B.S. 1963) and Cornell Law (J.D. 1967).

Cassidy & Associates pioneered the use of congressional earmarks

Earmark (politics)

In United States politics, an earmark is a legislative provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees...

, used to obtain grants for university clients; Cassidy himself sits on the board of Villanova University

Villanova University

Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...

 and Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

. Cassidy was also an aide to Sen. George McGovern

George McGovern

George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....

 and general counsel of the Democratic National Committee

Democratic National Committee

The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...

's Party Reform Commission.

In March 2000, Cassidy was named #52 on the Forbes "The Power 100." In early 2007, he became the subject of an extensive Washington Post series, addressing details of his personal life and professional success.

Cassidy is the central figure in Robert G. Kaiser's 2009 book on lobbying, So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government (Knopf, 2009: ISBN 0307266540).

External links

• Gerry Cassidy
• Villanova Magazine press release
• Washington Post series index