Roger Stone
Encyclopedia
Roger J. Stone, Jr. is an American political consultant and lobbyist who specializes in opposition research
for the Republican National Committee
in the United States.
In 1990, The New York Times
described him as a "renowned infighter" and during the 2004 United States Presidential Campaign, CBS News
described Stone as a "veteran Republican strategist." His own view of himself is as "a GOP hitman."
, in 1952 Stone grew up in Lewisboro, New York
in an Italo-Hungarian family. His mother was a small-town reporter, his father a well driller who owned his own business. He has described his family as middle-class, blue-collar Catholic
s.
In the first grade, Stone claims, he broke into politics to further John F. Kennedy
's presidential campaign: "I remember going through the cafeteria line and telling every kid that Nixon
was in favor of school on Saturdays," Stone says. "It was my first political trick." When he was a junior and vice president of the student government at a high school in northern Westchester County, New York
, he manipulated the ouster of the president and succeeded him. When he ran for election as president for his senior year, he later said, he "built alliances and put all my serious challengers on my ticket. Then I recruited the most unpopular guy in the school to run against me. You think that's mean? No, it's smart. "
Given a copy of Barry Goldwater
's Conscience of a Conservative, Stone became a convert to conservatism
as a child and a volunteer in Goldwater's 1964 campaign. (As of 2007, Stone said he was a staunch conservative with libertarian
leanings.)
As a student at The George Washington University in 1972, he invited Jeb Magruder to speak at a Young Republicans Club, then successfully hit up Magruder for a job with Richard Nixon
's storied Committee to Re-elect the President
. Stone's political career began in earnest with activities such as contributing money to a possible rival of Nixon in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance
— then slipping the receipt to the Manchester Union-Leader. He also got a spy hired by the Hubert Humphrey
campaign who became Humphrey's driver. By day, Stone was officially a scheduler in the Nixon campaign. "By night, I'm trafficking in the black arts. Nixon's people were obsessed with intelligence."
After Nixon won the 1972 presidential election
, Stone worked for the administration in the Office of Economic Opportunity
. After Nixon resigned, Stone went to work for Bob Dole
, then was fired after columnist Jack Anderson publicly identified Stone as a Nixon dirty trickster. In 1976 he worked in Ronald Reagan
's campaign for president, and in 1977 became national chairman of the Young Republicans
.
Stone, the "keeper of the Nixon flame," was an adviser to the former President in his post-presidential years, serving as "Nixon's man in Washington." Stone was a protégé of former Connecticut Governor John Davis Lodge
, who introduced the young Stone to then former Vice President Nixon in 1967.
Jon Sears recruited Stone to work in Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980 and 1984, in which he served as Eastern Regional Political Director. Stone said that former McCarthyist
Roy Cohn
helped him arrange for John B. Anderson
to get the nomination of the Liberal Party of New York
, a move that would help split the opposition to Reagan in the state. Stone said Cohn gave him a suitcase that Stone avoided opening and, as instructed by Cohn, dropped it off at the office of a lawyer influential in Liberal Party circles. Reagan carried the state with 46 percent of the vote. Speaking after the statute of limitations
for bribery
had expired, Stone later said, "I paid his law firm. Legal fees. I don't know what he did for the money, but whatever it was, the Liberal party reached its right conclusion out of a matter of principle."
With partners Charlie Black and Paul Manafort, he formed Black, Manafort, and Stone, a political consulting firm, described as "instrumental in the success of Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign." Republican political strategist Lee Atwater
later joined the firm.
According to Time
, in George H. W. Bush
's 1988 presidential campaign, Stone was involved with the controversial Willie Horton
advertisements targeted against Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis
. Stone has said that he urged Republican political strategist Lee Atwater
not to include Horton in the ad. Stone denied making or distributing the advertisement, and said that was Atwater's doing.
Stone and his wife Ann found the group Republicans for Choice
in 1989.
In 1995, Stone was the president of Republican
Senator
Arlen Specter
's campaign for the 1996 Republican Presidential nomination. Specter withdrew early in the campaign season with less than two percent support.
Stone was for many years a lobbyist for Donald Trump
on behalf of his casino
business and was also involved in opposing expanded casino gambling in New York State, a position that brought him into conflict with Governor George Pataki
.
In 1996, Stone resigned from a post as a volunteer spokesman in Robert Dole's campaign for president after The National Enquirer
wrote that Stone had placed ads and pictures in racy swingers publications and a website seeking sexual partners for himself and his second wife, Nydia. While he does enjoy frequenting "Miami Velvet," a swingers club in Miami, Stone initially denied the report. On the Good Morning America
program he said: "An exhaustive investigation now indicates that a domestic employee who I discharged for substance abuse on the second time that we learned that he had a drug problem is the perpetrator who had access to my home, access to my computer, access to my password, access to my postage meter, access to my post-office box key." In a 2008 interview with The New Yorker Stone admitted that the ads were authentic.
Stone claimed Secretary of State James Baker
recruited him to oversee the Miami-Dade County recount in the disputed 2000 Presidential election. Stone has been credited with setting up street demonstrations in Florida
to protest the recounts held after the 2000 presidential election
; he was also accused of organizing the so-called "Brooks Brothers riot
" where Republican congressional staff members protested outside an office where ballots were being recounted, a claim Stone denies.
In 2002, Stone was associated with the campaign of businessman Thomas Golisano for Governor of New York State.
, Al Sharpton
responded to accusations that Stone was working on his campaign, stating "I've been talking to Roger Stone for a long time. That doesn't mean that he's calling the shots for me. Don't forget that Bill Clinton
was doing more than talking to Dick Morris
" Critics suggested that Stone was only working with Sharpton as a way to undermine the Democratic Party's chances of winning the election. Sharpton denies that Stone had any influence over his campaign.
In the spring and summer of 2004, two 527 group
s associated with Stone sent out mailings attacking Winston-Salem City Councilman Vernon Robinson
during the primary race. Other mailings from one of the 527 groups promoted then-State Senator Virginia Foxx
, who ultimately won the race.
In this election, a blogger accused Stone of responsibility for the "Kerry
-Specter
" campaign materials that were circulated in Pennsylvania
. Such signs were considered controversial because they were seen as an effort to get Democrats who supported Kerry to vote for then Republican Senator Arlen Specter in heavily Democratic Philadelphia.
(the majority leader of the New York State Senate), was forced to resign by Bruno after allegations that Stone had threatened then gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer
. Stone was accused on an episode of Hardball with Chris Matthews
on August 22, 2007 of being the voice on an expletive-laden voicemail
threatening Bernard Spitzer
, father of Eliot, with subpoenas.
Stone has consistently denied the reports. Thereafter, however, he resigned from his position as a consultant to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, at Bruno's request.
In January 2008, Stone founded Citizens United Not Timid, an anti–Hillary Clinton 527 group
with an intentionally obscene acronym.
In February 2010, Stone became campaign manager for Kristin Davis
, a madam
linked with the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal
, in her bid for the Libertarian Party
nomination for Governor of New York
in the 2010 election
. Stone says that the campaign "is not a hoax, a prank or a publicity stunt. I want to get her a half-million votes." However, he was later spotted at a campaign rally for another gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino
; of whom Stone has spoken favorably. Stone has admittedly been providing support and advice to both campaigns, on the grounds that the two campaigns have different goals: Davis is seeking to gain permanent ballot access for her party, while Paladino is in the race to win (and is Stone's preferred candidate). As such, Stone does not believe he has a conflict of interest
in supporting both candidates. While working for the Davis campaign, he corroborated with a group entitled "People for a Safer New York" to send a flyer labeling Libertarian Party candidate Warren Redlich
a "sexual predator" based on a blog post Redlich had made in April 2008. The move backfired, and Davis finished in last place with roughly half the votes Redlich did while Redlich finished with the highest vote total of any Libertarian gubernatorial candidate in the state's history. Stone continues to hold ill will against the Libertarian Party of New York
.
Stone is featured in the 2008 award-winning documentary on Lee Atwater, Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
. He was also featured in the 2010 documentary of the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
.
Stone is currently the campaign manager for Steve Berke, a comedian, for the City of Miami Beach mayoral office.
Examples:
and The New York Observer.
The notability of his personal style has extended to his fashion choices. As another article from The New York Times put it, he "has a reputation for sartorial elegance". (The same New York Times article also reported that when Stone stopped wearing socks during "Ronald Reagan's 1980 Presidential campaign, Nancy Reagan
fastidiously brought this to her husband's attention.") His flashy style partly involves good food and good clothes. "A dandy by disposition who boasts of having not bought off-the-rack since he was 17 ... [Stone has] taught reporters how to achieve perfect double-dimples underneath their tie knots", according to Labash. Washington journalist Victor Gold
has noted Stone's reputation as "one of the capital's smartest dressers."
His longtime tailor is Alan Flusser
, author of Style and the Man. A Flusser associate has said Stone knows enough about men's clothing to work in Flusser's establishment. As of 2007, Stone declared single-vent jackets the sign of a "heathen" and flat-front pants an atrocity: "Pants today are like a little church in the valley — no ballroom". Stone says he owns 100 silver-colored neckties and has 100 suits in storage. He despises cowboy boots worn with suits. Fashion stories have been written about him in GQ and Penthouse
.
As of 1999, according to a New York Times article that year, "[H]e always wears suspenders, but never red ones. 'People with blond hair do not look good in red,' he said. 'And you shouldn't call them suspenders. It's more accurate to call them braces.'" At that time he was sporting a "silver watch fob, spread-collar shirt and wide-striped double-breasted suit tailored to accentuate his bodybuilder's silhouette". He had only started wearing blue jeans when he met his second wife, he said. He credited his youthful good looks to "decades of following a regimen of Chinese herbs, breathing therapies, tai chi and acupuncture," according to the Times. Others have noted that he wears a diamond pinkie ring in the shape of a horseshoe, in 2007 he had Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his back, he owned five Jaguars as of 2007, and he also owns five Yorkshire Terrier
s. He has said of himself: "I like English tailoring, I like Italian shoes. I like French wine," he told a reporter for Newsday
. "I like vodka martinis with an olive, please. I like to keep physically fit." His office in Florida has been described as a "Hall of Nixonia" with framed pictures, posters and letters associated with Richard Nixon. Exceptions are a poster of a stripper and a photo of him standing by a pool with porn star Nina Hartley
, both in bikinis.
Opposition research
Opposition research is:# The term used to classify and describe efforts of supporters or paid consultants of a political candidate to legally investigate the biographical, legal or criminal, medical, educational, financial, public and private administrative and or voting records of the opposing...
for the Republican National Committee
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
in the United States.
In 1990, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described him as a "renowned infighter" and during the 2004 United States Presidential Campaign, CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
described Stone as a "veteran Republican strategist." His own view of himself is as "a GOP hitman."
Youth and early career
Born in Norwalk, ConnecticutNorwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...
, in 1952 Stone grew up in Lewisboro, New York
Lewisboro, New York
Lewisboro is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 12,411 at the 2010 census. The town is named after John Lewis.- History :...
in an Italo-Hungarian family. His mother was a small-town reporter, his father a well driller who owned his own business. He has described his family as middle-class, blue-collar Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
s.
In the first grade, Stone claims, he broke into politics to further John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's presidential campaign: "I remember going through the cafeteria line and telling every kid that Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
was in favor of school on Saturdays," Stone says. "It was my first political trick." When he was a junior and vice president of the student government at a high school in northern Westchester County, New York
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
, he manipulated the ouster of the president and succeeded him. When he ran for election as president for his senior year, he later said, he "built alliances and put all my serious challengers on my ticket. Then I recruited the most unpopular guy in the school to run against me. You think that's mean? No, it's smart. "
Given a copy of Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
's Conscience of a Conservative, Stone became a convert to conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
as a child and a volunteer in Goldwater's 1964 campaign. (As of 2007, Stone said he was a staunch conservative with libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
leanings.)
As a student at The George Washington University in 1972, he invited Jeb Magruder to speak at a Young Republicans Club, then successfully hit up Magruder for a job with Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's storied Committee to Re-elect the President
Committee to Re-elect the President
The Committee for the Re-Election of the President, abbreviated CRP but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nixon's administration...
. Stone's political career began in earnest with activities such as contributing money to a possible rival of Nixon in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance
Young Socialist Alliance
The Young Socialist Alliance was a Trotskyist youth group of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States of America. It was founded in 1960, although it had roots going back several years earlier. It was dissolved in 1992...
— then slipping the receipt to the Manchester Union-Leader. He also got a spy hired by the Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
campaign who became Humphrey's driver. By day, Stone was officially a scheduler in the Nixon campaign. "By night, I'm trafficking in the black arts. Nixon's people were obsessed with intelligence."
After Nixon won the 1972 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1972
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
, Stone worked for the administration in the Office of Economic Opportunity
Office of Economic Opportunity
The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created as part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda.- History :...
. After Nixon resigned, Stone went to work for Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
, then was fired after columnist Jack Anderson publicly identified Stone as a Nixon dirty trickster. In 1976 he worked in Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's campaign for president, and in 1977 became national chairman of the Young Republicans
Young Republicans
The Young Republicans is an organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization and chapters in individual states....
.
Career, 1980-1992
Stone went on to serve as chief strategist for Governor Tom Kean's campaign for Governor of New Jersey in 1981 and for his re-election campaign in 1985.Stone, the "keeper of the Nixon flame," was an adviser to the former President in his post-presidential years, serving as "Nixon's man in Washington." Stone was a protégé of former Connecticut Governor John Davis Lodge
John Davis Lodge
John Davis Lodge , was an American politician, and 79th Governor of Connecticut from 1951 to 1955. He was also an actor and U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Argentina and Switzerland.-Early life:Lodge was born in Washington, D.C....
, who introduced the young Stone to then former Vice President Nixon in 1967.
Jon Sears recruited Stone to work in Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980 and 1984, in which he served as Eastern Regional Political Director. Stone said that former McCarthyist
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
Roy Cohn
Roy Cohn
Roy Marcus Cohn was an American attorney who became famous during Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations into Communist activity in the United States during the Second Red Scare. Cohn gained special prominence during the Army–McCarthy hearings. He was also an important member of the U.S...
helped him arrange for John B. Anderson
John B. Anderson
John Bayard Anderson is a former United States Congressman and Presidential candidate from Illinois. He was a U.S. Representative from the 16th Congressional District of Illinois for ten terms from 1961 through 1981 and an Independent candidate in the 1980 presidential election. He was previously...
to get the nomination of the Liberal Party of New York
Liberal Party of New York
The Liberal Party of New York is a minor American political party that has been active only in the state of New York. Its platform supports a standard set of social liberal policies: it supports right to abortion, increased spending on education, and universal health care.As of 2007, the Liberal...
, a move that would help split the opposition to Reagan in the state. Stone said Cohn gave him a suitcase that Stone avoided opening and, as instructed by Cohn, dropped it off at the office of a lawyer influential in Liberal Party circles. Reagan carried the state with 46 percent of the vote. Speaking after the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
for bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
had expired, Stone later said, "I paid his law firm. Legal fees. I don't know what he did for the money, but whatever it was, the Liberal party reached its right conclusion out of a matter of principle."
With partners Charlie Black and Paul Manafort, he formed Black, Manafort, and Stone, a political consulting firm, described as "instrumental in the success of Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign." Republican political strategist Lee Atwater
Lee Atwater
Harvey LeRoy "Lee" Atwater was an American political consultant and strategist to the Republican Party. He was an advisor of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and Chairman of the Republican National Committee.-Childhood and early life:...
later joined the firm.
According to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, in George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
's 1988 presidential campaign, Stone was involved with the controversial Willie Horton
Willie Horton
William R. "Willie" Horton is an American convicted felon who, while serving a life sentence for murder, without the possibility of parole, was the beneficiary of a Massachusetts weekend furlough program...
advertisements targeted against Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...
. Stone has said that he urged Republican political strategist Lee Atwater
Lee Atwater
Harvey LeRoy "Lee" Atwater was an American political consultant and strategist to the Republican Party. He was an advisor of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and Chairman of the Republican National Committee.-Childhood and early life:...
not to include Horton in the ad. Stone denied making or distributing the advertisement, and said that was Atwater's doing.
Stone and his wife Ann found the group Republicans for Choice
Republicans for Choice
Republicans for Choice, an organization based in the Washington, D.C. area is a political action committee composed of members of the United States Republican Party who support legalized abortion.-History of Republicans for Choice:Republicans for Choice was founded in 1989 by Ann Stone...
in 1989.
Life and career, 1993-2003
Stone and his wife Ann Stone divorced in 1991.In 1995, Stone was the president of Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
's campaign for the 1996 Republican Presidential nomination. Specter withdrew early in the campaign season with less than two percent support.
Stone was for many years a lobbyist for Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
on behalf of his casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
business and was also involved in opposing expanded casino gambling in New York State, a position that brought him into conflict with Governor George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
.
In 1996, Stone resigned from a post as a volunteer spokesman in Robert Dole's campaign for president after The National Enquirer
The National Enquirer
The National Enquirer is an American supermarket tabloid now published by American Media Inc . Founded in 1926, the tabloid has gone through a variety of changes over the years....
wrote that Stone had placed ads and pictures in racy swingers publications and a website seeking sexual partners for himself and his second wife, Nydia. While he does enjoy frequenting "Miami Velvet," a swingers club in Miami, Stone initially denied the report. On the Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
program he said: "An exhaustive investigation now indicates that a domestic employee who I discharged for substance abuse on the second time that we learned that he had a drug problem is the perpetrator who had access to my home, access to my computer, access to my password, access to my postage meter, access to my post-office box key." In a 2008 interview with The New Yorker Stone admitted that the ads were authentic.
Stone claimed Secretary of State James Baker
James Baker
James Addison Baker, III is an American attorney, politician and political advisor.Baker served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush...
recruited him to oversee the Miami-Dade County recount in the disputed 2000 Presidential election. Stone has been credited with setting up street demonstrations in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to protest the recounts held after the 2000 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
; he was also accused of organizing the so-called "Brooks Brothers riot
Brooks Brothers riot
The Brooks Brothers riot is the term coined to describe the demonstration at a meeting of election canvassers in Miami-Dade County, Florida on November 19, 2000, during a recount of votes made during the 2000 United States presidential election...
" where Republican congressional staff members protested outside an office where ballots were being recounted, a claim Stone denies.
In 2002, Stone was associated with the campaign of businessman Thomas Golisano for Governor of New York State.
2004 elections
During the 2004 US Presidential campaignUnited States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, Al Sharpton
Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...
responded to accusations that Stone was working on his campaign, stating "I've been talking to Roger Stone for a long time. That doesn't mean that he's calling the shots for me. Don't forget that Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
was doing more than talking to Dick Morris
Dick Morris
Dick Morris is an American political author and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant....
" Critics suggested that Stone was only working with Sharpton as a way to undermine the Democratic Party's chances of winning the election. Sharpton denies that Stone had any influence over his campaign.
In the spring and summer of 2004, two 527 group
527 group
A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of American tax-exempt organization named after "Section 527" of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code...
s associated with Stone sent out mailings attacking Winston-Salem City Councilman Vernon Robinson
Vernon Robinson
Vernon Lucius Robinson is an American candidate for U.S. Congress and former Winston Salem City Council member. He is known for two unsuccessful Congressional campaigns...
during the primary race. Other mailings from one of the 527 groups promoted then-State Senator Virginia Foxx
Virginia Foxx
Virginia Foxx is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. She is a member of the Republican Party. The district takes in much of the northwestern portion of the state and a portion of Winston-Salem....
, who ultimately won the race.
In this election, a blogger accused Stone of responsibility for the "Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
-Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
" campaign materials that were circulated in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Such signs were considered controversial because they were seen as an effort to get Democrats who supported Kerry to vote for then Republican Senator Arlen Specter in heavily Democratic Philadelphia.
Career since 2004
In 2007 Stone, a top adviser at the time to Joseph BrunoJoseph Bruno
Joseph L. Bruno is an American businessman, and Republican politician. He was the Temporary President of the New York State Senate and its majority leader. Most recently he also served as Lieutenant Governor of New York ....
(the majority leader of the New York State Senate), was forced to resign by Bruno after allegations that Stone had threatened then gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
. Stone was accused on an episode of Hardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews is a talk show on MSNBC, broadcast weekdays at 5 and 7 PM hosted by Chris Matthews. It originally aired on now-defunct America's Talking and later CNBC. The current title was derived from a book Matthews wrote in 1988, Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who...
on August 22, 2007 of being the voice on an expletive-laden voicemail
Voicemail
Voicemail is a computer based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to individuals, organizations, products and services, using an ordinary telephone...
threatening Bernard Spitzer
Bernard Spitzer
Bernard Spitzer is an American real estate developer and philanthropist in New York City who built several landmark buildings around the city including The Corinthian which was the largest individual apartment building in New York City when it was built. Spitzer is father of former New York...
, father of Eliot, with subpoenas.
Stone has consistently denied the reports. Thereafter, however, he resigned from his position as a consultant to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, at Bruno's request.
In January 2008, Stone founded Citizens United Not Timid, an anti–Hillary Clinton 527 group
527 group
A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of American tax-exempt organization named after "Section 527" of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code...
with an intentionally obscene acronym.
In February 2010, Stone became campaign manager for Kristin Davis
Kristin Davis (politician)
Kristin M. Davis, formerly known as the Manhattan Madam, is a former madam famous for having run one of the prostitution rings that Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer frequented prior to the scandal leading to his resignation....
, a madam
Madam
Madam, or madame, is a polite title used for women which, in English, is the equivalent of Mrs. or Ms., and is often found abbreviated as "ma'am", and less frequently as "ma'm". It is derived from the French madame, which means "my lady", the feminine form of lord; the plural of ma dame in this...
linked with the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal
Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal
The Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal began on March 10, 2008, when The New York Times reported that Democratic New York Governor Eliot Spitzer had patronized a prostitution service called Emperors Club VIP...
, in her bid for the Libertarian Party
Libertarian Party of New York
The Libertarian Party of New York is a political party in the United States active in the state of New York. It is the recognized affiliate of the national Libertarian Party....
nomination for Governor of New York
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
in the 2010 election
New York gubernatorial election, 2010
The New York gubernatorial election of 2010 was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to elect the Governor of New York, who will serve a four-year term to begin in January 2011. Incumbent Democratic Governor David Paterson, elected as Lieutenant Governor in 2006 as the running mate of former Governor...
. Stone says that the campaign "is not a hoax, a prank or a publicity stunt. I want to get her a half-million votes." However, he was later spotted at a campaign rally for another gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino
Carl Paladino
Carl Pasquale Paladino is an American businessman and political activist from Buffalo, New York. Paladino is the founder and chairman of Ellicott Development Company, a real estate development company he founded in 1973. He was the 2010 Republican nominee for the New York gubernatorial election,...
; of whom Stone has spoken favorably. Stone has admittedly been providing support and advice to both campaigns, on the grounds that the two campaigns have different goals: Davis is seeking to gain permanent ballot access for her party, while Paladino is in the race to win (and is Stone's preferred candidate). As such, Stone does not believe he has a conflict of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
in supporting both candidates. While working for the Davis campaign, he corroborated with a group entitled "People for a Safer New York" to send a flyer labeling Libertarian Party candidate Warren Redlich
Warren Redlich
Warren Redlich is a lawyer and politician from Guilderland, New York. In 2004 and 2006, Redlich ran for US Congress for the 21st District of New York State as a Republican. In 2005, he briefly served as the Political Director of the Libertarian Party of New York. He is currently a town councilman...
a "sexual predator" based on a blog post Redlich had made in April 2008. The move backfired, and Davis finished in last place with roughly half the votes Redlich did while Redlich finished with the highest vote total of any Libertarian gubernatorial candidate in the state's history. Stone continues to hold ill will against the Libertarian Party of New York
Libertarian Party of New York
The Libertarian Party of New York is a political party in the United States active in the state of New York. It is the recognized affiliate of the national Libertarian Party....
.
Stone is featured in the 2008 award-winning documentary on Lee Atwater, Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story is a 2008 U.S. documentary on the campaign tactics used by Lee Atwater while working on the George H.W. Bush 1988 presidential campaign, and how those tactics have transformed presidential campaigns in the United States....
. He was also featured in the 2010 documentary of the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer is a documentary directed by Alex Gibney about former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and the sex scandal that derailed his political career...
.
Stone is currently the campaign manager for Steve Berke, a comedian, for the City of Miami Beach mayoral office.
Stone's Rules
According to a 2007 magazine profile of Stone by Matt Labash, the consultant "often sets his pronouncements off with the utterance 'Stone's Rules', signifying listeners that one of his shot-glass commandments is coming down, a pithy dictate uttered with the unbending certitude one usually associates with the Book of Deuteronomy." Stone's Rules can be about fashion, food or strategy: "Unless you can fake sincerity, you'll get nowhere in this business." "Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake." "Always praise 'em before you hit 'em." "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack."Examples:
- "Unless you can fake sincerity, you'll get nowhere in this business." (one of Stone's favorites)
- "Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake."
- "Don't order fish at a steakhouse,"
- "White shirt + tan face = confidence,"
- "Undertakers and chauffeurs are the only people who should be allowed by law to wear black suits."
- "Hit it from every angle. Open multiple fronts on your enemy. He must be confused, and feel besieged on every side."
- "Always praise 'em before you hit 'em."
- "Be bold. The more you tell, the more you sell." (attributed to advertising guru David Ogilvy)
- "Losers don't legislate." (from Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
) - "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack." ("Often called the Three Corollaries", Stone says of this rule.)
- "Nobody ever built a statue to a committee."
- "Avoid obviousness."
- "Never do anything till you're ready to do it."
- "Look good = feel good."
- "Always keep the advantage."
- "Never complain, never explain."
- "Lay low, play dumb, keep moving."
- "Always mount your protest or picket sign on a good solid piece of wood. Comes in handy as a bat if some union goons wanna scuffle." (#37, coined February 2011 in response to the 2011 Wisconsin budget protests)
Personal style and habits
Stone has long been noted for his "flamboyant personal style" as one New York Times article noted, and Stone has been called "flamboyant" in NewsdayNewsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
and The New York Observer.
The notability of his personal style has extended to his fashion choices. As another article from The New York Times put it, he "has a reputation for sartorial elegance". (The same New York Times article also reported that when Stone stopped wearing socks during "Ronald Reagan's 1980 Presidential campaign, Nancy Reagan
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989....
fastidiously brought this to her husband's attention.") His flashy style partly involves good food and good clothes. "A dandy by disposition who boasts of having not bought off-the-rack since he was 17 ... [Stone has] taught reporters how to achieve perfect double-dimples underneath their tie knots", according to Labash. Washington journalist Victor Gold
Victor Gold (journalist)
Victor Gold is an American journalist, author, and Republican political consultant. His career as a political consultant spanned the period from the 1964 Presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater through George H. W...
has noted Stone's reputation as "one of the capital's smartest dressers."
His longtime tailor is Alan Flusser
Alan Flusser
Alan J. Flusser is an American author and designer of men's clothing. In 1979 he founded Alan Flusser Designs. He won the 1983 Coty Award as Top Menswear Designer, and received the Cutty Sark Award in 1987...
, author of Style and the Man. A Flusser associate has said Stone knows enough about men's clothing to work in Flusser's establishment. As of 2007, Stone declared single-vent jackets the sign of a "heathen" and flat-front pants an atrocity: "Pants today are like a little church in the valley — no ballroom". Stone says he owns 100 silver-colored neckties and has 100 suits in storage. He despises cowboy boots worn with suits. Fashion stories have been written about him in GQ and Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
.
As of 1999, according to a New York Times article that year, "[H]e always wears suspenders, but never red ones. 'People with blond hair do not look good in red,' he said. 'And you shouldn't call them suspenders. It's more accurate to call them braces.'" At that time he was sporting a "silver watch fob, spread-collar shirt and wide-striped double-breasted suit tailored to accentuate his bodybuilder's silhouette". He had only started wearing blue jeans when he met his second wife, he said. He credited his youthful good looks to "decades of following a regimen of Chinese herbs, breathing therapies, tai chi and acupuncture," according to the Times. Others have noted that he wears a diamond pinkie ring in the shape of a horseshoe, in 2007 he had Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his back, he owned five Jaguars as of 2007, and he also owns five Yorkshire Terrier
Yorkshire Terrier
The Yorkshire Terrier is a small dog breed of terrier type, developed in the 19th century in the county of Yorkshire, England to catch rats in clothing mills. The defining features of the breed are its size, to , and its silky blue and tan coat...
s. He has said of himself: "I like English tailoring, I like Italian shoes. I like French wine," he told a reporter for Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
. "I like vodka martinis with an olive, please. I like to keep physically fit." His office in Florida has been described as a "Hall of Nixonia" with framed pictures, posters and letters associated with Richard Nixon. Exceptions are a poster of a stripper and a photo of him standing by a pool with porn star Nina Hartley
Nina Hartley
Nina Hartley is an American pornographic actress, pornographic film director, sex educator, feminist, and author.-Early life:...
, both in bikinis.