Firms merge in tough year for K Street

Two of the largest minority-owned lobbying firms on K Street are joining forces.

Watts Partners and PCT Government Relations have formed a strategic alliance to share staff and resources for both firms’ clients.

{mosads}PCT has already moved into its new partner’s downtown Washington location to ease the transition.

PCT is joining the lobby shop co-founded by former Rep. J.C. Watts (Okla.), the four-term black GOPer who was chairman of the House Republican Conference.

PCT’s majority stakeholder is one of its co-founders, Raymond Millien, a long-practicing intellectual property attorney who has worked for American Express and DLA Piper. Both firms have been certified as minority-owned.

Executives at the two shops said they were excited about the new partnership.

“It seemed like a great opportunity for us. We are going to a new phase of our development to grow,” said Chris Israel, PCT’s managing partner and another co-founder. “The teams seemed to really gel together. It made sense to combine with them to help serve a broader array of clients.”

“2009 was a tough year for corporate America and K Street. To be a single-source shop, it was difficult,” said Elroy Sailor, a former congressional aide to Watts as well as co-founder and CEO of J.C. Watts Companies. “We realized we needed to do some things differently in order to grow. To get further ahead, we thought we should merge it.”

Israel, who worked for former Rep. Jan Meyers (R-Kan.) and Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) on Capitol Hill, is excited about working again with Watts.

“The opportunity to work with J.C. Watts is great. I worked with him on the Hill. He is such a dynamic guy and brings a lot to the table,” Israel said. “It helps take PCT to the next level.”

According to Israel, PCT will add six registered lobbyists to Watts’s team of eight lobbyists.

Both firms already have a diverse set of clients.

Watts’s firm has been lobbying for the Bowl Championship Series, AT&T, PhRMA and a number of state universities, while PCT’s clients include Viacom and Microsoft.

Sailor said the new alliance is another milestone for Watts Partners, the largest black-owned lobbying firm in Washington.

“There have been great challenges and opportunities in moving to the next level. We have been very blessed and successful,” Sailor said.