As a historical detective, I track a trail where ever it leads me. If it dead ends, so be it. However, once in a while a door opens which no one seems willing to walk through. Such is the case with the ex-assistant to President George W. Bush and his Chief-of-Staff Karl Rove and former associate of über-lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, the so-called “Abramoff-Norquist-Reed triumvirate". What follows is a story of secrets hidden in plain sight.
Cat’s Cradle
Susan Bonzon Ralston, 44 years old as of October 2011, was born in Pennsylvania to Filipino-Americans, Teotimo Bonzon and Purificacion Lagman Bonzon, and graduated from Loyola University and Keller Graduate School of Management. She’s married to Troy Alan Ralston, the present President of South University and past Regional Director of Operations for DeVry University and the Keller Graduate School of Management.
After college, she was a secretary for M&J Wilkow, Ltd., a Chicago commercial real estate company and then relocated to Washington, D.C. and went to work for the law firm Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, LLP. There she met Abramoff and went with him as his assistant when he moved to Greenberg Traurig in 2001 as its legal and lobbying Director of Government Affairs. Soon after, Ralston became senior assistant to White House Senior Advisor Rove and Special Assistant to President Bush.
Acoustic Kitty
In 2004, throughout the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, Ralston served as the White House Liaison to the President and Vice President. Additionally, she was also a member of the Advisory Committee for “W Stands For Women”. During July of 2005, she testified before federal grand jury prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who was investigating whether or not the Bush administration illegally disclosed the identity of Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] officer Valerie Elise Plame Wilson. Ralston’s sworn testimony was that there were no records. [Case No. 1:2005-cr-00394-RBW United States of America v. I. Lewis Libby].
In January of 2006, Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy and other charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in a corruption probe. By October of 2006, Ralston had resigned. Then in May of 2007, despite an aborted attempt to be accorded immunity, she appeared and was deposed before Congressman Henry Waxman's House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that Rove routinely utilized a Republican National Committee email account for his official communications in his capacity as Deputy White House Chief of Staff for Strategic Planning and Senior Advisor to the President in a possible, if not probable, violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978.
Cat Chow & Meow Mix
It wasn’t until Ralston’s role in Rove-gate was revealed, that disparities between her own recall and official recordkeeping of the remuneration she’d received became apparent. In an interview dated September of 2004 with Asian Week, she stated she took a “significant pay cut” in 2001 from what she was earning with a “prominent lobbyist”. According to a White House report to Congress and Sam Coates of The Washington Post her salary for 2004 was $67,000. However, in July of 2005, Alexis Simendinger of the National Journal disclosed a list of White House staff salaries which showed the following: “Ralston, Susan B. $92,100”.
According to reporters Pete Baker and Jim Grimaldi of The Washington Post, Ralston, the highest ranking Filipino-American in the Bush White House, resigned "after disclosures that she accepted gifts from and passed information to now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, becoming the first official in the West Wing to lose a job in the influence-peddling scandal…[Ralston] submitted her resignation to avoid causing political damage to President Bush a month before the midterm elections".
In addition, at the time of her resignation in October of 2006, Baker and Grimaldi of The Washington Post reported Ralston’s salary was $122,000 and “There is no accounting for an approximately 25% annual increase in reported salary”.
In her resignation letter to Bush, Ralston wrote:
“It has been a tremendous privilege to work at the White House and now after almost six years the time has come for me to pursue other opportunities".
What's New Pussycat?
The J Street Group, LLC is a woman owned full-service special event firm that specializes in strategic planning, implementation, and ongoing support of programs and events. From the White House to the red carpet, the J Street Group, LLC has developed and executed high profile events honoring dignitaries, Fortune 500 firms, heads of state, members of Congress, nonprofit organizations and world leaders as well as produced large-scale fundraisers attracting celebrities and generating major visibility.
International Events and Security Consultants [IESC] is a division of the J Street Group, LLC. The management team is comprised of Debra Schiff [JSG founder], Susan Ralston [SBR Enterprises, LLC founder] and Joe J. Funk [US Safety & Security, LLC founder]. IESC offers unique, full service support for international events at the diplomatic, corporate, and high government level. Our project managers have served in a range of White House Administrations.
Tender Vittles
Debra Schiff served as Assistant Chief of Protocol at the U.S. Department of State where she co- ordinated high profile functions on behalf of the President, Vice President and Secretary of State. She was also instrumental in the planning and overseeing highly sensitive and visible events surrounding the Mid-East peace talks that included Wye River, Shepherdstown and Camp David. Prior to her presidential appointment at the Department of State, she worked within the Executive Office of the President of the United States as a member of the Oval Office Operations staff.
Susan B. Ralston was the Special Assistant to the President and a deputy to the Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor at The White House. She was responsible for managing the activities that comprised the Office of the Senior Advisor, including the development of policy, strategic planning, political affairs, public liaison, and intergovernmental affairs efforts of the White House. She was also responsible for managing the domestic issue campaigns, including Education, Healthcare, Social Security, Immigration, Energy, Budget and Economy, Environment, National Security, Iraq, Global Diplomacy and the Gulf Coast. Prior to her public service, Ms. Ralston was the Assistant Director of Governmental Affairs at Greenberg Traurig and has also worked for the lobbying firm of Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, LLP.
Joe J. Funk is a twenty-one year veteran of the United States Secret Service, completing his career as the Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge of the Washington DC Field Office. Mr. Funk spent three & half years assigned to the elite Secret Service Counter Assault Team attaining the rank of Team Leader. He has extensive experience and knowledge in providing executive protection and conducting complex security assessments and surveys. Upon his retirement from the Secret Service Mr. Funk joined the General Accounting Office in March 2004. He was a Senior Special Agent assigned to the Office of Special Investigations. Mr. Funk possesses a Top Secret security clearance.
Tidy Cats Kitty Litter
J Street Group's Scope of Services Include, but are not limited, to as follows:
Corporate Conferences, International Meetings, Movie Premieres or Screenings, Non-Profit Fundraisers and Political Fundraisers, High-Risk Event Protection, Security Planning and Management, Credentialing, and Site Security and Threat Assessment.
J Street Group Clients include, but are not limited, to the following:
ABC Entertainment, Affiliated Computer Services, Albright Stonebridge Group, Ambassador Carmen Lomellin, Ambassador Hector E. Morales and American Heart Association
Benarroch Productions and Business Council for International Understanding
Carbon War Room, Center for American Progress, Christie’s Great Estates and Club 44
Diversity Best Practices, Ed & Amy Knight, Families United Foundation and Foundation for Biomedical Research
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, Georgetown University Children's Medical Center, Georgetown University - McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University Medical Center and Goldman Sachs
Halifax International Security Forum. Inter-American Development Bank and International AIDS Trust, Jannetta Neuroscience Foundation and Kelly & Sharon Stone
Microsoft Corporation, Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams, and Motion Picture Association of America
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, National Geographic Society, National Geographic Ventures, National Mental Health Awareness Campaign, National Multiple Sclerosis Society - MS Ambassadors Ball, NBC Universal, and No Greater Sacrifice Foundation
One Campaign, Organization of American States - US Ambassador, Organization of African First Ladies Against AIDS and Our Promise
Paramount Classics, Paul McKellips – Uncaged Book Tour, Pennsylvania State Society of Washington, DC – 2009 Inaugural Gala, Post Properties,
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Public Education Network
Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation, Red Bull and Rodale Inc.
Save the Children Federation, Inc., Seeds of Peace, Senator Chuck Schumer Book Signing, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for President, Senator Lloyd Bentsen Center for Stroke Research, Square Loop, Inc and Susan G. Komen Foundation
Target, The Albright Group LLC, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, The Society of White House Military Aides, The Speranza Foundation and Transatlantic Bridge Society
U. S. Department of State, Washington Area Regional Grantmakers, Washington Area Women’s Foundation, Washington Tennis & Education Foundation, William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Wine, Women and Shoes and World Vision
Here Kitty, Kitty
When in Washington, D.C. feel free to stop by the J Street Group, LLC 1054 31st Street NW Suite 130 Washington, DC 20007 or give ‘em a call at 202-337-3877 or send ‘em a fax at 202-337-3878 or send ‘em an email at info at jstreetgroup dot com to let Sue Ralston know We The People still remember her.
Sources:
• American City Business Journals & PR NewsWire; Congratulations J Street Group LLC, on Making the 2011 List. J Street Group Selected For "20 Meeting and Event Planners" © Washington Business Journal September & October 2011.
• Baker, Peter & and James V. Grimaldi, James V.; Rove Aide Linked To Abramoff Resigns. Scandal Claims Its First West Wing Job © The Washington Post October 7, 2006
• Dunham, Lawrence; International Events and Security Consultants: The Company that Countries and Diplomats Don’t Know They Need © Diplomatic Courier Volume 3, Issue 1, Winter 2009 [Lawrence Dunham is a former Assistant Chief of Protocol at the U.S, Department of State].
• SourceWatch © The Center for Media and Democracy [CMD] 2007-2011
Rick Stelnick - Rick Stelnick is a superannuated political scientist, crime historian and historical detective.
