Strategic Solutions Provided To:
Our team of professionals might scare the hell out of you! We are not your typical political management group. We are misfits, overcomers and thick skinned people that sweat the details but see the big picture. We are movie stars in our own minds … it is a picture show that would not even qualify for reality television … seriously, what we do for our clients, well, you can’t make this stuff up.
Our diverse background of experiences, many successful while others absolute failures, instill the “never say never” resolve in our two partners and set the hiring matrix that ensures RTA’s culture does not change. Collectively, there is very little we haven’t seen, heard and, quite frankly, done so we aren’t very often caught with our mouth gaping open … or our pants down.
We are solution oriented thinkers. We recognize you do not always have to reinvent the wheel and we have vision for getting outside of the box, removing blinders and breaking down walls … some proverbial and others brick and stone. We challenge the status quo when it makes sense and jump onto momentum bandwagons when it is most efficient. Our work product respects authority while it tests boundaries and capitalizes on grey areas when it is what the client needs to achieve the best outcome. Our compass is our morals, our loyalty is blind and our desire to win … immeasurable.
Want us to be part of your team? Sit down, strap in and hold on tight because it will be one heck of a ride!
Whether it is a shorter election cycle, the expense of campaigning or the ambition to “be in touch”, more and more candidates are coming to understand the value of building a political brand. In the age of information and low cost technology, there is no reason an officeholder cannot become a household name like Starbucks.
Our approach towards content development and messaging is built on more than two decades of marketing consultation to small and large projects around the globe. Whether you Tweet or twerk, constituents do and an officeholders ability to engage communication through multiple platforms diminishes misinformation and strengthens relevancy. From the traditional snail mail newsletter that may or may not be delivered, to innovative platforms that invite dialogue, our team of experts lifts the burden off you while consistently pushing your brand to all people in all places … YOUR brand, everywhere.
Sadly, candidates do not engage us for our good looks or low-key tactics. Candidates engage us for results. Disclosure Reporting and Ethics Strategy are the cornerstones of our firm. We manage the disclosure reporting process for more elected officials in Georgia than any other entity. Our clients take Best Practices Reporting to the bank because they know we color right up to the line without crossing it. How well do we know the rules? Much of the time we shaped them.
RTA’s Public Relations and Campaign Strategy/ Management offer outside the box, innovative strategy to thrill seekers that not only want to win, they want to win big. Our teams digs holes … not the holes you dig yourself, the holes we bury things in. Elected or soon to be elected, do not apply if “meekness” or “soft spoken” is atop an inventory assessment of strengths.
Business consistently undervalues solid, third party influence in its governmental relations by trying to do it all in house. Building on our cornerstone of regulatory reporting, corporations trust RTA to register and report corporate contribution and corporate lobbyist activity throughout the United States. Industry stalwarts trust our value priced, highly accurate and timely work product.
In Georgia and the Southeast, corporate efficiency is unparalleled when our team of experienced, connected and savvy strategists collaborates with our contract lobbyists to form an outsourced governmental affairs division. As an extension of the client, we blow away traditional boardroom political expectations by generating high profile successes. We don’t just take clients to the dance we put on the party!
We understand the grey area; the do’s and the don’ts just as well as we understand how a lobbyist’s efforts are measured. The best of the best lobbyists advocate, and typically these creative professionals, great at sales are not so great at record keeping. We register and report for independent and corporate lobbyists in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
We dot the “I’s” and we cross the “T’s” keeping our client trusted amongst lawmakers and on the radar of Municipalities, Counties, States and State Agencies … always for the reasons they want to be on the radar and not because of a missed or misfiled report!
Perhaps today’s most popular, overused acronym in politics; we suspect more people form PACs just to form PACs than know why or how to manage them! Nevertheless, an effective vehicle in the modern political landscape when managed correctly, we have a track record of organizing, registering, managing and reporting for highly effective State and Federal PACs. On the Federal level we bring in our high-rate, K-Street legal eagles … we aren’t lawyers but they are.
There are a lot of pieces in a successful PAC puzzle. We supply as many pieces as necessary, a la carte. Sometimes it is anonymity and treasury management; other times it is strategy and marketing. Piece or pieces, our association with PACs produces results.
Herding cats is about like pushing a rope uphill. Associations, time and again, fall victim to “the volunteer syndrome”. We meet a lot of Chairman and Executive Directors just before they jump out of a ground-floor window. The RTA team works with non-profit, political party and advocacy focused associations in various ways based on a specific needs assessment consultation: strategic planning, restructuring, hiring, treasury management and marketing all pieces of the puzzle we understand and deliver upon.
Our main function once the near-term heavy lifting is done? We stoke a burning fire of focus … a Fair Opportunity Causing Unlimited Success … with our third-party perspective and exponential experience.
Our team of professionals might scare the hell out of you! We are not your typical political management group. We are misfits, overcomers and thick skinned people that sweat the details but see the big picture. We are movie stars in our own minds … it is a picture show that would not even qualify for reality television … seriously, what we do for our clients, well, you can’t make this stuff up.
Our diverse background of experiences, many successful while others absolute failures, instill the “never say never” resolve in our two partners and set the hiring matrix that ensures RTA’s culture does not change. Collectively, there is very little we haven’t seen, heard and, quite frankly, done so we aren’t very often caught with our mouth gaping open … or our pants down.
We are solution oriented thinkers. We recognize you do not always have to reinvent the wheel and we have vision for getting outside of the box, removing blinders and breaking down walls … some proverbial and others brick and stone. We challenge the status quo when it makes sense and jump onto momentum bandwagons when it is most efficient. Our work product respects authority while it tests boundaries and capitalizes on grey areas when it is what the client needs to achieve the best outcome. Our compass is our morals, our loyalty is blind and our desire to win … immeasurable.
Want us to be part of your team? Sit down, strap in and hold on tight because it will be one heck of a ride!
Our diverse background of experiences, many successful while others absolute failures, instill the “never say never” resolve in our two partners and set the hiring matrix that ensures RTA’s culture does not change. Collectively, there is very little we haven’t seen, heard and, quite frankly, done so we aren’t very often caught with our mouth gaping open … or our pants down.
We are solution oriented thinkers. We recognize you do not always have to reinvent the wheel and we have vision for getting outside of the box, removing blinders and breaking down walls … some proverbial and others brick and stone. We challenge the status quo when it makes sense and jump onto momentum bandwagons when it is most efficient. Our work product respects authority while it tests boundaries and capitalizes on grey areas when it is what the client needs to achieve the best outcome. Our compass is our morals, our loyalty is blind and our desire to win … immeasurable.
Want us to be part of your team? Sit down, strap in and hold on tight because it will be one heck of a ride!
“Tom Highway from Heartbreak Ridge”. Standing 6’4” and sporting size 16 shoes (if he is wearing any), Rick Thompson is easily recognized around Georgia’s Capitol … not for his size, for his success building bridges and getting it done.
A survivor of the Marine Corps, and perhaps more impressively, 20-years as a bureaucrat atop Missouri and Georgia’s ethics agencies, Rick founded R. Thompson Associates in 2009.
His 5-years at the head of Georgia’s Ethics agency are recognized as the most successful period for the agency in both effectiveness and professionalism.
An avid participant and fan of mixed martial arts (MMA), Rick is the elected Chairman for Georgia’s Athletics and Entertainment Commission, a commission he has been appointed to by two Governors.
Rick is a member of COGEL (Council On Government Ethics Laws), since 1994, and is honored to serve on one of its leadership Committees.
Rick sits on the Editorial Board of the Academic Journal Public Integrity. He is an adjunct university professor for: Ethics in Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Policy Analysis, Legal Issues in Justice and Security, Critical Incident Management, Principles of Investigation, Foundations of Criminal Justice, Mass Communications, Media and Society, and Marketing and Sales Message Management.
An early adaptor to the concept of electronic filing, Thompson led the development of an e-filing platform for both Missouri and Georgia. He consulted with the FEC on the development of their e-filing platform. Today, Rick owns a stake in two e-filing businesses: RDR Software the licensor of FrontRunner, a campaign financial management platform for candidates, and TransparencyPro, a consultancy and licensor of Government Filer, a filing solution for City, County and State regulatory agencies responsible for filing repository solutions.
Rick serves as the Legislative Officer for the Marine Corps League of Georgia. He is nominated to serve as Southeast Division Legislative Officer for the Marine Corps League to lobby the United States Congress on veteran affairs.
“Liam Neeson from Taken”. Thrust into Georgia politics in 2011, Jason Boles is loved and hated for his matter of fact, sometimes awkward way of getting things done. A unique set of skills, loved by some and loathed by others, assures clients the best, most effective representation.
Behind the scenes and in the spotlight, Jason has mixed with politics across various levels. The smallest race that taught the most lessons: a write-in city council race in a small town in Texas. The biggest race that taught the fewest lessons: Dole-Kemp ’96. The most intriguing campaign: President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, ‘06, Colombia. The most rewarding: Councilman Braedan Boles, CMS Student Council ’13.
Outside the political arena Jason built a portfolio of experiences through hands-on entrepreneurial ventures throughout North America, South America, Australia and South Africa. He is quick to advise that through failures came his richest wisdom, so why make the same mistake twice?
A strategic thinker that absolves bound written plans that sit on bookshelves collecting dust, Jason is recognized for results focused, strategically aligned tactics that drive measured outcomes. His strategic initiatives are recognized for viability through the flexibility; calculated responses to ever shifting competitive landscapes.
An attribute of Jason’s consulting style is “forward looking”; it cannot be done is plainly unacceptable. A track record proves it. Against defying voices and doubting associates, Boles led an initiative to write more than 10X the highest monthly sales volume for a broadcast client in Bogotá, where on the backend its CEO boasted, “Colombia should erect a bronze statue of Jason in the courtyard of the broadcast ministry.”
In addition to RTA, Jason is a Managing Member for RDR Software, TransparencyPro and FlySentry. His tireless thirst to influence successes is the catalyst for diverse professional experiences. Sales and marketing companies, broadcast and print media ventures, real estate and development businesses, restaurants, and social media platforms are all ingredients in the entrepreneurial melting pot that drives Jason’s thought process.
Non-Profit Association work is a big part of Jason’s life. He and his wife founded and run a street ministry called Audacious Faith. On the Boards of both Kids and Pros, a youth football initiative led by Buddy Curry, and Roswell Youth Baseball Association, the local support for youth baseball, Jason has hands on, baptism by fire experience when working with clients. “What we practice here is not ethereal,” says Boles.
An admitted addict … to work … golf, cigars, culinary endeavors, fine bourbons and scotch round out interests that all compete with top priority, a job as dad.
- Erich Fromm
- Thomas Pain
- Albert Einstein
In a report by Sandra Parrish of WSB Radio, “Thompson says the fact that so many states did poorly indicates the CPI should perhaps grade on a curve. “You’re having individuals who are really good at being a reporter… but they’re not experts in the field,” he says.” Read the report here
Roswell, Georgia. November 9, 2015 Center for Public Integrity THRUSTS Georgia 26 Positions Forward in its Newest Ethics Ratings!! In 2012 The Center for Public Integrity touted Georgia as the “Worst Score in the Country” at number 50. We know government moves at glacial speeds. Combine this with severe dysfunction in Georgia’s Ethics Commission between… [more]
In an article by James Salzer published in the AJC, “Thompson said ethics laws are more strict in some other states. For instance, he said, in some states like Missouri, there is an incentive to pay late fees — lawmakers and candidates aren’t eligible to run if they haven’t paid up. Thompson said the commission… [more]
