[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 11, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S9713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page S 9713]]


                 TRIBUTE TO DAVID H. SAWYER--1936-1995

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to David H. 
Sawyer, a pioneer in the field of political consulting, a brilliant 
analyst, and a dear friend. David died on July 2, 1995, in New York 
City. His presence will be sorely missed by all those who knew him.
  ``A pioneer in the ways to cope with the weaker party machines of the 
1970s,'' according to the New York Times. In an interview he once 
defined his work this way, ``I don't manipulate voters, because I 
can't--they're too sophisticated. I'm much more interested in the 
nature of communication itself. How do you create a dialogue with the 
electorate? How do you control the dynamic of the campaign? Set the 
agenda for discussion? Answer an opponent's charges? Those are my 
issues. You have to get way inside a campaign before you can resolve 
them, too.''
  His firm, D.H. Sawyer and Associates, later renamed the Sawyer-Miller 
Group, took some of the mystery out of how to succeed in today's 
complicated electoral process. David brought a dynamic and insightful 
approach to political campaigns. He was able to understand and connect 
with voters, and to deliver his candidate's message in a simple but 
absorbing manner. I came to know David during my 1982 re-election 
campaign, and he has been a loyal and trusted advisor on every campaign 
since.
  David helped to open up the governments of Eastern Europe and Latin 
America by introducing mass communication into their electoral 
processes. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times he described this 
concept as ``electronic democracy,'' and went on to say: ``Because of 
mass communications and the legacy of the '60s, people now speak out, 
people can and will be heard. Eastern Europe in 1989 and 1990 happened 
because information had gotten through. What people think about their 
institutions is crucial to the institutions' ability to govern.''
  David leaves his wife, Nell; a son, Luke; two stepsons, Andrew and 
Gavin; his mother Mrs. Edward Brewer; his brother Edward; and a sister 
Penny. He will be greatly missed by those who love him.
  I ask unaminous consent that the full text of the article from the 
New York Times be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the New York Times, July 4, 1995]

      David H. Sawyer Dies at 59; Innovator in Political Strategy

                           (By David Binder)

       Washington, July 3.--David H. Sawyer, a pioneer in the 
     field of political consulting that burgeoned in the 1970's 
     and 1980's as party machines lost their clout in choosing 
     electoral candidates, died on Sunday in New York Hospital. He 
     was 59 and lived in Manhattan.
       He had been under treatment for several weeks for a brain 
     tumor, his family said.
       By 1988, Mr. Sawyer's clients included four Senators, 
     Daniel Patrick Moynihan, John D. Rockefeller 4th, Edward M. 
     Kennedy and John Glenn, six Governors as well as leading 
     politicians in the Philippines and Israel.
       One notable turnaround engineered by his firm, D. H. Sawyer 
     & Associates (later the Sawyer-Miller Group) was in the 1987 
     gubernatorial primary in Kentucky, where his client, Wallace 
     Wilkinson, started out with about 5 percent in the polls and 
     went on to win against two strong contenders.
       Mr. Sawyer based his strategy then and later on polling 
     studies of the electorate. In the case of Kentucky voters, 
     both major opponents of Mr. Wilkinson had advocated tax 
     increases and attacked each other bitterly. In place of 
     higher taxes, the Sawyer-Wilkinson strategy advocated a state 
     lottery.
       In a 1984 interview for the Inc. Publishing Company, Mr. 
     Sawyer defined his work this way: ``I don't manipulate 
     voters, because I can't--they're too sophisticated. I'm much 
     more interested in the nature of communication itself. How do 
     you create a dialogue with the electorate? How do you control 
     the dynamic of the campaign? Set the agenda for discussion? 
     Answer an opponent's charges? Those are my issues. You have 
     to get way inside a campaign before you can resolve them, 
     too.''
       A Democrat, Mr. Sawyer worked only for Democratic 
     candidates, but he had no problem dispensing advice to big 
     corporate clients, including Coca-Cola, Apple Computer, 
     Goldman Sachs, Time Warner and Resorts International.
       Colleagues, headed by Scott Miller, bought out Mr. Sawyer's 
     ownership interest in his firm, which had a staff of 40, in 
     1993. In that same year he opened a political-economic 
     consulting firm called the G.7 Group. By this time there were 
     more than 200 political consulting firms across the country 
     and more than 3,000 people working in the field.
       David Haskell Sawyer was born June 13, 1936, in Boston. 
     After earning a bachelor of arts degree at Princeton 
     University in 1959, he made documentary films, working in the 
     cinema verite genre with Frederick Wiseman and Richard 
     Leacock. One film dealt with rural poverty in Maine. Another 
     feature, ``Other Voices,'' about mental health patients, was 
     nominated in 1970 for an Academy Award for best documentary. 
     He was drawn into political consulting in the early 1970's in 
     Illinois, where he did some film work for an elected 
     official.
       He is survived by his wife, the former Nell Michel; a son, 
     Luke, and two stepsons, Andrew and Gavin McFarland, all of 
     New York; his mother, Mrs. Edward Brewer of Hartford; a 
     brother, Edward of Cleveland, and a sister, Penny Sawyer, of 
     New York.
     

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