Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly

Still no white or black smoke. For the election of John Bolton, Bush 2's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations. Ho-hum.
Still, it is interesting. Life, that is.
I was reading today's NYT, about some gay Republican operative (42) who died in Carrie Fisher's bed. True, true, you can read it all here (reg required). What really caught my eye was this:

In 1992, Mr. Stevens, 30, went to work for the Republican lobbying powerhouse of Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly.

Roger Stone, a former partner, remembered Mr. Stevens as a "very engaging, fun guy to talk to" and a "quintessential staff man, very thorough and focused."

Early on, Mr. Stevens made clear he wanted to work overseas, Mr. Stone said, and the firm, which played a behind-the-scenes role in elections in Angola, Kenya, Nigeria, Thailand and the Philippines, among other countries, was happy to oblige.

Angola? Kenya? Nigeria? Thailand? The Philippines? Elections? Behind-the-scenes role? Among other countries? Our man must have really clocked up some air miles working for Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly.
A Republican lobbying powerhouse? So, who were/are BMS&K?
Well, I dug around, and it ain't easy. They were part of Burson-Marsteller. The people who do PR on behalf of unsavoury dictators. Strike unsavoury. It's redundant. But what of BMS&K these days? I looked and looked, and then did what the NYT reported Mr Stone did -- rolled elsewhere.
Still, you know how it is when you don't see someone for three years and then bump into them twice in a week?
Why, look! The first paragraph of an awkward 15 April 2005 letter Melody Townsel wrote to the Senate committee:

I'm writing to urge you to consider blocking in committee the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the UN.

In the late summer of 1994, I worked as the subcontracted leader of a US AID project in Kyrgyzstan officially awarded to a HUB primary contractor. My own employer was Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, and I reported directly to Republican leader Charlie Black.

Yes, BSMS&F.
Subcontracted leader, that I understand. What I don't understand is how she can work for one company but report to someone else. But it was for US AID, so I guess that's OK. What were US AID doing? USA Today, 21 April 2005 edition, (don't ask), to the rescue. Rather than just carry agency reports, USA Today also interviewed Ms T by telephone.

She (Ms T) alleged that Bolton harassed her in 1994 when she was working as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on an advertising campaign supporting privatization in Kyrgyzstan, then a newly independent former Soviet republic. [My emphasis.]

An advertising campaign. Supporting privatization. Methinks that's code for: sell to foreigners.
Hmm, Angola, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan: oil, oil, oil.
What was the deal in Kenya, Thailand, and The Philippines?
Coconuts?