Lobbying Royalty Celebrate 20 Years
Paul Bedard and Danielle Kurtzleben

 

Though both Greek and English were in the air, everyone spoke the language of influence at a cocktail reception honoring Mike Manatos, a member of one of Washington's most prominent lobbying families.

In a demonstration of how Washington lawmakers, administration officials, media biggies, and lobbyists work and play behind the scenes, a party was held to celebrate Manatos' 20th anniversary at his family's firm, Manatos & Manatos. And to show that foes by day can become friends at night, the press was invited to join in to see Republicans and Democrats make nice.

The guest of honor pointed out that the family was really celebrating a number of milestones, including 75 years (and three generations) of Manatos public policy involvement in Washington and 100 years since the family immigrated to the U.S. from Greece. "Exactly 100 years from tomorrow," he added.

The guest list showed the party to be a convergence of Washington's Greek community, lobbyists, and members of Congress and staffers, as well as a contingent of local news personalities. It also went a long way to show that Manatos & Manatos is a key player on K Street and in Congress, even if some of the party chatter wasn't focused on cap-and-trade, healthcare, or the elections.

Mike Manatos' wife, Fox 5 News anchor Laura Evans Manatos, divided her attention between the couple's three children and her Fox 5 colleagues. Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's "Hardball," made an appearance with his wife, former ABC 7 anchor Kathleen Matthews. And three Greek-American House members -- Florida Republican Gus Bilirakis, Maryland Democrat John Sarbanes , and Nevada Democrat Dina Titus -- turned out for the Greek wine and meze.

Below is the guest list Manatos & Manatos released:

From the U.S. Congress

Former U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), House Foreign Affairs Committee [Greek-American] + 3 kids

Rep. Mike McMahon (D-NY), House Foreign Affairs Committee

Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) [Greek-American]

Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) [Greek-American] + husband Tom + scheduler Megan Chambers

Bill Livingood, U.S. House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms

Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Howard Berman's Chief of Staff, Julia Massimino

Ranking Member, House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's Chief of Staff Art Estopinan

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. John Kerry's Foreign Policy Advisor, Jason Bruder

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. John Kerry's Fundraiser, Leigh Garland

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's Scheduler, Melinda Medlin

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's Director of Member Services, Tom Manatos

Chief of Staff, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), John Richter

Chief of Staff, Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Julia Frifield

Chief of Staff, Rep. Zack Space (D-OH), Stuart Chapman

Chief of Staff, Rep. Mike McMahon (D-NY), Chris McCannell

Staff Director, Senate European Affairs Subcommittee, Chad Kreikemeier

Minority Staff Director, House Europe Subcommittee, Richard Mereu

White House Staff

Carlos Elizondo, Vice President's Residence Manager and Social Secretary

Joshua DuBois, Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives Director

Paul Monteiro, White House Office of Public Engagement Deputy Associate Director

Former Administration

Paul Glastris, President Bill Clinton's former Chief Speechwriter

Marc Grossman, Former Bush Administration Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs

Robert Keeley, Former US Ambassador to Greece

Charlie Ries, Former US Ambassador to Greece

Dana Edwards Manatos, Former Bush White House Associate Director of the Office of Public Liaison

Other Administration Staff

Tomicah Tillemann, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Speechwriter and Special Assistant

Ashley Bommer, Special Representative to Afghanistan & Pakistan Richard Holbrooke's special Advisor

Peter Pappas, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property's Chief Communications Officer

Marcie Ries, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs

Athena Katsoulos, State Department's Deputy Director for European and Eurasian Public Affairs

Jess Baily, State Department's Director for Southern European Affairs

Jonathan Katz, Senior Advisor to Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer

Other Prominent Washingtonians

Neil Kerwin, American University President + wife Ann

Jim Pedas, Executive Movie Producer (Blood Simple, Raising Arizona) and Circle Movie Theaters owner

Mary Roth, Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-Atlantic Vice President

Mark Nichols, General Wesley Clark's Chief of Staff

Queenie Plater, Sibley Hospital Vice President (the hospital where all of the Manatos children were born)

Media

Chris Matthews, Host of MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "The Chris Matthews Show"

Kathleen Matthews, Former Anchor of ABC 7 News and current Marriott International Executive Vice President

Thalia Assuras, Former CBS Evening News Anchor + husband Mike Johnson

Patricia DiCarlo, CNN Senior Producer for "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer"

Laura Evans Manatos, Fox 5 News Anchor

Shawn Yancy, Fox 5 News Anchor

Sue Palka, Fox 5 News Weather Anchor + husband Joe

Will Thomas, Fox 5 News Weekend Anchor/reporter

Jeff Gygax, Fox 5 News Executive Producer + guest

Matt Glassman, NBC 4 Senior Producer of Content

Dimitri Dimas, Washington Editor of one of Greece's top newspapers Eleftherotypia

George Bistis, Voice of America

From the Greek and Cyprus Embassies

Ambassador of Cyprus to the US Andreas Kakouris

Cyprus Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Solon Savva

Greek Embassy Defense Attache Colonel Sardellis

Flew in from out of town JUST for the party

Dr. Charlie Kanakis - from Chicago

Jerry Demetriou, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America's Executive Director of Administration - from New York

Michael Karloutsos, owner, The Boathouse Restaurant - from Phildelphia

 

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Lobbying Royalty Celebrate 20 Years | Politics

 

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