"The 16-year old lobbying firm that used to be called Barbour Griffith and Rogers [3] -- that's Barbour as in Gov. Haley Barbour [4] (R-Miss.) -- has hired its first Democrat," reports Al Kamen. The lucky Democrat is Michael Meehan [5], former chief of staff to Senator Maria Cantwell [6] (D-Wash.) and communications adviser to Sen. John Kerry [7] (D-Mass.). Meehan "will be president of the firm's new public relations division, BGR Public Relations, and vice president of the overall firm BGR Holding LLC." Meehan has been tasked with building out "both the public relations firm and the Democratic component of BGR," said the firm's chair, Ed Rogers [8]. The firm had been planning to hire Democrats since "Election Day 2006, when Democrats won control of Congress."