Total Spectrum’s Arizona team – Former Congressman Erik Paulsen, Steve Gordon, and Patrick Robertson – have the experience, relationships, and understanding required to help solve your government affairs problem either at the Arizona State Capitol or the U.S. Capitol.
Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MN) represented Minnesota’s Third Congressional District from 2009-2019. He served as a leading member on the House Ways & Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax writing, health care, economic and trade policy. He was the Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, as well as the Co-Chair of the House Medical Technology Caucus, the House Digital Trade Caucus, and the House Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Caucus. Erik served in 2019 as the Co-Chair of the Pass USMCA Coalition, and from 2020 to 2021, he served on the Task Force on the Coordination of Behavioral and Clinical Health for the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), a bipartisan Washington, D.C. think tank. He is an independent director on the boards of Cardiovascular Solutions, Inc. and Pediatric Home Service, Inc., serves as Chairman of the Institute for Gene Therapies, and sits on the Strategic Advisory Board of Alliantgroup, which helps small and medium-sized businesses access tax credits.
Steve Gordon is the Managing Partner of Total Spectrum. He had a 36 year career in politics and is referred to as the “Dean of Republican campaign guidance”. He had a 19 year association with retired Senator and Assistant Republican Whip Jon Kyl, was a consultant to Senator John McCain’s reelection campaigns from 1991 through 1998, and served as a consultant to the campaigns of Senators Mitch McConnell and John Thune. Steve Gordon was Cory Gardner’s national political director during his years in Congress and continued in that role during Gardner’s successful 2014 run for U.S. Senate in Colorado. Steve retired from politics in December 2014 and now devotes his full time to building Total Spectrum/Steve Gordon and Associates. He currently writes and publishes This Week in Washington for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Patrick Robertson has spent two decades in Washington and advises executive teams, boards of directors and senior decision-makers on public policy issues that pose opportunities and challenges to their organizations’ enterprise values. He began his Washington career working on the staff of Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) for nine years, the last five as Deputy to the Chief of Staff, and later served as Campaign Manager for Senator Rockefeller’s 2008 re-election campaign. Patrick’s expertise is in the fields of tax, energy, telecommunications, trade, and transportation. During his career, Patrick has successfully represented a range of clients including Fortune 50 companies, small associations, a territorial government, and others. He coordinates a 75-member trade association, handling all aspects of its operation and leads its lobbying strategy. Patrick’s successes include reviving a preservation tax credit after it was eliminated early in the tax reform process of 2017. In addition, he has navigated other legislative challenges like the proposed regulation of an industry and government attacks on specific products or business lines. At the same time, Patrick designed custom plans to introduce businesses to Washington or to roll out new facilities, changing employee mixes, and updated messaging and branding. He has also planned grassroots fly ins and strategized how best to use grassroots and grass tops support. Patrick spent 10 years as Managing Director at FTI Consulting and as a Partner at C2 Group, both highly regarded bipartisan government relations and lobbying firms. In 2019 he founded Confluence Government Relations to continue that work.
This Week in Washington, Spotlight Edition - December 21, 2022 - December 21, 2022
Eight years ago – in 2014 – Doug Ducey became Governor Doug Ducey. Eight years ago, the Arizona government had a $1 billion deficit and a sluggish economy. Today, Arizona has a record surplus, a balanced budget, and a booming economy. Each of these things happened because Governor Ducey and→
This Week in Washington - December 7, 2022 - December 7, 2022
This week, Steve Gordon’s Heard on the Hill covers national politics, caucus elections in both the House and the Senate, the end (finally) of the Georgia runoff and the start of the 2023-24 campaign cycle, and the progress of the lame duck legislative agenda. Total Spectrum’s Senior Partner→
This Week in Washington - November 16, 2022 - November 17, 2022
The eye of the midterm elections has now passed. Congressman Erik Paulsen joined Steve Gordon in writing about why the election results didn’t match Republican expectations – and the reaction in Washington – in today’s Heard on the Hill. Michael DiMaria, Total Spectrum’s Southwest→
This Week in Washington - Special Coverage: 2022 Midterm Elections, November 8, 2022 - November 8, 2022
Election Day is upon us, and we’ll all be waiting to see the returns tonight and in the coming days. Today’s special edition of This Week in Washington provides some context for the current state of politics, the races, and the public’s sentiment.
This Week in Washington - October 26, 2022 - October 26, 2022
This is the last edition before the November 8th midterm election, so we are using a different format.
Steve Gordon's Heard on the Hill column looks at the upcoming senatorial and congressional elections from the perspective of a former Republican political consultant and now managing partner of→
