Meet Craig Shirley and Diana Banister, the right’s pitch-perfect conservatives

Diana Banister is on the line with a client the spokesman for a group hoping to keep the Boy Scouts of America from welcoming openly gay troop leaders. The spokesman has been quoted in more than 100 news stories.

He absolutely doesnt want to talk to any more media in his lifetime ever again, Banister says after hanging up. Hes like, Im over the media.

(Matt McClain/The Washington Post) - Diana L. Banister and Craig Shirley of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs pose for a portrait in Shirley's office on Thursday June 27, 2013 in Alexandria, Va.

(Matt McClain/The Washington Post) - Political memorbilia is seen in Diana L. Banisters office at the headquarters of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs on Thursday June 27, 2013 in Alexandria, Va.

She wont hear of it.

Im like, But you have to, because youre a very, very good spokesperson, she says. When you find people like that, you encourage them.

Banister and her colleagues are very, very good at encouraging, advising, cajoling and marketing their clients. With partner Craig Shirley, she heads Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, a 10-person shop based in a historic house in Old Town Alexandria. The firm is one of the few in the business that take on only conservative causes. Moderate GOP-compromise types are not welcome.

Since 1984, Shirley & Banister has represented many of the people and groups forming the cornerstone of the modern conservative movement from well-established outfits such as the National Rifle Association and the Club for Growth to insurgent groups including the Tea Party Patriots. The firm has flacked for commentator Ann Coulter, the antiabortion Susan B. Anthony List, Newt Gingrichs 2012 presidential campaign and the filmmakers responsible for 2016: Obamas America, which took off in conservative circles for its scrutiny of the president.

Political strategists of both parties have denounced extremism on the right and laid the blame on more than a few Shirley & Banister clients for the Republican Partys difficulty connecting with moderates. But Shirley and Banister say they are determined to keep the anti-establishment message churning, especially after two consecutive GOP presidential losses and eight years of George W. Bushs budget busting and compassionate conservatism.

Everything we do is designed to move numbers, shape opinion, advance legislation, put people on book bestseller lists, stop legislation, whatever, says Shirley, sitting next to Banister in the firms conference room. Its all designed to advance some type of philosophical goal.

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Meet Craig Shirley and Diana Banister, the right’s pitch-perfect conservatives

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