"Shirley and Banister Public Affairs has been selected to promote Harper Collins' Because Each Life is Precious, the account by Iraqi lawyer Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief [3] of Pfc. Jessica Lynch [4]'s capture and rescue during the Iraq invasion," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. Craig Shirley [5], president and CEO of Shirley & Banister [6] is a long-time Republican PR man. PR Week writes [7], "As a communications consultant for the Republican National Committee in 1980, Shirley was sent around the country to media-train press secretaries in House and Senate races. Two of his trainees were now-departed Bush spokespeople Torie Clarke [8] and Ari Fleischer [9]."
In PR Watch 2nd Quarter 2001 [10], we reported on Shirley's front group Disabled Americans for Death Tax Repeal [11], which ran full-page advertisements in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Times, urging Congress to abolish the federal estate tax. According to their website, Shirley & Banister's clients [12] include the Heritage Foundation, McDonnell Douglas, the Manhattan Institute, National Rifle Association, the National Taxpayers Union, Nuclear Energy Institute, Washington Times Foundation among others.