Blair Blvd

“Politics” is a dirty word to many in business.  This is exactly what those who wage war against business count on.  

BlairBlvd is about leveling the playing field.  

We know you are not in business to wage political wars.  That’s why we’re in business.

Winning political wars for business requires an understanding of more than just politics.  You need to understand business, legal issues, government relations, lobbying, messaging, and targeting.  You need strategies suited to the task.  Most of all, you need experience:

• A senior campaign strategist from the nation’s best managed campaign, with experience working with every level of government and politics in Tennessee.
• A business attorney experienced in legislative chambers and committee hearings–as well as local, state, and federal courtrooms–awarded the highest peer-review ratings for skill and ethics.
• A coalition builder, teacher, and trusted advisor, with community leadership experience.
• An Emmy Award-winning journalist.

That’s BlairBlvd’s founder:  Tom Lee.  As former Tennessee Congressman and MSNBC political commentator Harold Ford, Jr., recently said:

“There are lots of people in Tennessee gifted in business or government or media or politics, but no one puts all of it together any better than Tom Lee.  He sees the whole field.”

Highly rated lawyer and lobbyist.  A former partner in the law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, with the highest skill and ethics ratings, Tom has represented many of Tennessee’s most successful business interests before federal, state, and local governments since 1996.  Recently, Tom:

• Organized and led a statewide business coalition to reform Tennessee’s water laws to re-balance the public priorities of economic development and environmental protection.
• Successfully represented the Tennessee Supreme Court and members of the state’s judiciary against legislative efforts to force expensive, direct elections of appellate judges.
• Successfully defended many of the state’s largest businesses against costly regulatory and legislative initiatives.
• Achieved land use entitlement approvals for major commercial projects across Tennessee.
• Preserved a publicly traded telecommunications company’s largest contract against a claim of breach of contract by a government agency.

Proven political expertise.  In 2006, he served as senior advisor for policy and communications to the U.S. Senate campaign of Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., which was voted by the National Journal Insiders’ Poll as the best-run Senate campaign in the nation.  In 2007, Tom was named senior advisor to Nashville Mayor Karl Dean’s campaign, which went from 2% in early polls to victory in eight months.  That same year, Gov. Phil Bredesen appointed Tom to serve as one of his representatives on a joint legislative committee to study the administration of the death penalty.

Award-winning media experience.  Tom won two Emmy awards as a reporter for WSMV-TV during an 11-year television and newspaper journalism career that included numerous other local, regional, and national awards for investigative journalism and documentaries on subjects ranging from health care policy to the aftermath of the first Iraq War.

An instant virtual team.  BlairBlvd is small, yes, but agile.  28 years in Tennessee’s business, legal, media, and political circles has given Tom a multi-disciplinary network of professionals BlairBlvd can engage instantly to win your business campaign.

Tom holds a B.S. in Communications from the University of Tennessee and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University, where he was Order of the Coif and executive editor of the law review.  He is also a former adjunct faculty member at Vanderbilt’s School of Law.  He has served as chairman of the Metropolitan Convention Center Commission and president of Nashville Family Shelter, Inc.  He lives in Nashville with his spouse, Laurie, and their 9-year-old daughter, Virginia.

Contact BlairBlvd today.  It isn’t too soon to start winning.