KP

Company History

KP Public Affairs' leadership in public affairs management grows out of the recognition that in California today, successful representation of our clients requires more than conventional methods of lobbying and legislative advocacy can deliver. Government at all levels has become more transparent, more open to public participation and subject to much closer public scrutiny. Analysts, commentators, academics and the media take more interest in the powers of state and local government and their potential for changing public policy. Most important, in an age of term limits, the old-style of politics based on personal relationships can no longer meet the needs of the people who do business here.

That was just part of the vision that Michael Kahl and Frederick Pownall shared as they built KP Public Affairs into the largest public affairs management firm in California. Each had established his own, very successful advocacy practice beginning in the 1970s. In 1996, they joined together to create the modern firm, offering advocacy and analysis in a steadily expanding program of client services. Public Relations was added as an essential component of effective representation in 1998.

In 2004, KP Public Affairs successfully completed the transition of the firm's management and ownership to a larger partnership of senior professionals. And in 2005, the company further expanded the scope of its representation through a merger with the lobbying firm Manning & Associates.