THE MAKING — AND UNMAKING — OF A POWER AFTER MORE THAN A MARRIAGE YEAR OF PREPARATIONS, THE EXHIBIT WAS ALL SET. The Australian Embassy in DC had readied its donations, handing out cash to liberal politi- gallery for the nine-week show, and artist Patricia cians including Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid Piccinini had selected the works she wanted dis- and using their clout to help the world’s biggest played. But two weeks before it was to open, there companies—Walmart, BP, Toyota—advance was a problem. The Washington couple who owned their interests in Washington. Heather went on the art was bickering over it. to found one of the US’s largest female-owned “If we are no longer able to borrow the Piccinini government-relations firms and become, as exhibition for the upcoming show, then we need the Washington Post put it, “an It Girl in a new to know now,” Australia’s cultural attaché said in generation of young, highly connected, built-for- a frantic e-mail to a manager of the collection this the-Obama-era lobbyists.” past February. “Grateful for your urgent advice.” While other liberals winced at the thought of The husband and wife ultimately couldn’t trading high-minded ideals to shill for corporate agree to go ahead, according to court records, and America, the Podestas projected pride in their pro- the embassy had to cancel the show, making it fession. They strutted through smoke-filled rooms unlikely collateral damage in the divorce of one of with flash and flair—Tony in red Prada shoes, the country’s most powerful Democratic couples: Heather in bright, eye-catching dresses—like pub- superlobbyists Tony and Heather Podesta. lic ambassadors for their often vilified industry. When they married 11 years ago, the Podestas The partnership produced million-dollar were the talk of K Street. At 59, Tony was the returns, but never children. Instead, Tony and brother of a former chief of staff to President Clin- Heather Podesta had art. During their 11 years Superlobbyists TONY AND HEATHER PODESTA brought ton, John Podesta, and a legendary political fixer of marriage, the couple bought more than 700 who had turned a two-man lobbying shop into an contemporary artworks—sculptures by Louise glamour and exceptional pride to Washington’s influence industry. industrial complex of influence peddling. Twenty- Bourgeois, photographs by Katy Grannan, Shep ard six years his junior, Heather was a 33-year-old Fairey’s “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama—and Then they LANDED IN DIVORCE COURT, trying to outlobby each other congressional staffer, an up-and-comer with a law built a collection of international acclaim. Then for control of their powerful brand and all its assets. degree from the University of Virginia. Heather the relationship collapsed. And the Podestas found was his second marriage; he was her third. themselves in divorce court, fighting over one of Together, they blasted to the top of the Demo- the most lucrative brand names in DC politics, and BY LUKE MULLINS PHOTOGRAPH BY MAX HIRSHFELD PETER CROWTHER BY PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION cratic food chain in a swirl of air kisses and PAC all the spoils that came with it. 62 WASHINGTONIAN ★ AUGUST 2014 AUGUST 2014 ★ WASHINGTONIAN 63 rt was the spark. Tony has always insisted he never asks his brother which events were worth going to, according to a On their first date in 2001, Tony Podesta for political favors, by 2001, the year Heather person familiar with their schedules, and arrived brought Heather Miller to his home to pick entered the picture, the Podesta Group was gen- in colorful (un-Washington) outfits meant to spark up his car before they headed to the opera. erating more than $7 million in annual lobbying conversations. (Heather once told the Post that she According to the Post, he walked past one of revenue from clients like Philip Morris, Lockheed learned this trick by reading a networking manual.) Ahis sculptures and said, “I don’t know why it is, but Martin, and Citigroup, according to the Center for The couple spent $3.9 million to buy a home I have artworks where the women have no heads.” Responsive Politics. on Belmont Road in DC’s Kalorama and millions The following day, Heather wrote Tony a thank- Heather, meanwhile, talked up her man while more to convert it into an art-filled Taj Mahal you note and signed it, “Woman with a head.” working as an attorney for Congressman Robert for their extravagant political fundraisers. They At the time they met, Heather was still griev- Matsui, a California Democrat. “She was very quick weren’t afraid to display some of their more ing the collapse of her second marriage. A friend to drop names, like ‘Oh, Tony and I saw Linda and provocative pieces; a nearly eight-foot-wide Sam had thought she could use a blind date and set Tom last night,’ ” says a former Matsui staffer Taylor-Wood photograph of a naked man, for the college professor’s daughter up with the GILLIAN WEARING who worked alongside her. “Of course, everybody instance, hung in the living room. “Self Portrait at 17 flamboyant lobbyist. knew it was Linda and Tom Daschle,” then the When they weren’t in Washington, Heather and Years Old,” 2003 Over the previous 33 years, Tony had worked for Democratic Senate minority leader and his wife. Tony jetted off to their home in Australia or their This and other six presidential candidates, from Eugene McCar- artworks shown were in Although capable and bright, Heather caused fric- apartment in Venice, sometimes meeting up with thy to Bill Clinton. When Ted Kennedy’s campaign the Heather and Tony tion in Matsui’s office for appearing to want special political heavyweights like Janet Napolitano and for the White House stalled in 1980, cash dried up Podesta Collection. treatment. Once, her supervisor let her take several Ted Kennedy, according to the Post. and staffers were partly paid in donated art. Tony days off in the middle of a congressional session, As Heather’s attorney would later put it, “they walked away from the campaign with his arms full when the staff’s presence is most critical, because strategically cultivated their public image and of pieces by Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschen- she insisted she had an important family event to worked to build the ‘Heather and Tony Podesta’ berg. His interest in art collecting grew from there. attend in the States, according to the former col- brand for the success of their shared enterprises.” In 1987, Tony and his brother, John, launched league. Her supervisor soon learned that she’d been Their clients weren’t always the kind you’d their lobbying firm, known today as the Podesta WITH HER, spotted at Dulles Airport waiting to board a flight to advertise. Tony, for example, has represented the Group, in the basement of a Capitol Hill rowhouse. HE WAS A Italy, where Podesta owned a vacation home. regime of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak, Tony scrambled to turn almost two decades of “It was very clear that she felt that she should now on trial for his role in the killing of more than Democratic contacts into clients and revenue. COMPLETE be treated somewhat differently given who she 800 demonstrators during Egypt’s 2011 revolution. “Sometimes he had two phones going at once,” FREAKING was dating,” the former colleague says. (Through But there was never a trace of shame with the says John Raffetto, an early employee. “ a spokesman, Heather Podesta declined to com- POWELL/ TONY BY AND JOHN PODESTA TONY LONDON; PALEY, OF MAUREEN 17 YEARS OLD” COURTESY AT OF “SELF PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH Podestas. At the Democrats’ 2008 convention in At night, Tony hosted fundraisers for leading TEDDY BEAR. ment for this story.) Denver, after Barack Obama assailed lobbyists as Democrats at his home. Guests studied his art as IT WAS After dating for two years, Tony and Heather unduly influential, Heather and Tony wore lapel they forked over campaign checks while Podesta’s ALWAYS were married in April 2003, and Washington’s patches featuring a scarlet letter “L.” mother, who had moved to Washington after her Democratic elite—House minority leader Nancy The following year, Heather organized a fund- husband’s death, cooked her famous pesto sauce. BETTER Pelosi, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy, New Mex- raiser for California senator Dianne Feinstein and These events—known as the Pesto PAC—could WHEN SHE ico governor Bill Richardson—came out for the sent invitations promising “the Select Committee raise $50,000 in a single evening, allowing Tony to “ head-turning occasion. Heather recited her vows on Intelligence for the first course followed by strengthen his ties to the Democratic luminaries WAS AROUND in a red silk dress, and popular local chefs Roberto your choice of Appropriations, Judiciary, or Rules he feted. BECAUSE HE Donna and Kaz Okochi catered the reception. needed liberal allies on K Street—and nobody was committees,” according to Roll Call. Feinstein, who SHEPARD FAIREY The family brand got the White House’s endorse- For a few months afterward, Heather continued better positioned than the Podestas. sits on each of these committees, heard about the WASN’T SUCH “Hope,” 2008 ment in 1993, when John Podesta left the firm to to use her maiden name, as she had throughout In 2007, Heather decided to launch her own invitation and canceled the event. join Clinton’s staff, and with that, Podesta power A JERK TO her two earlier marriages. Tony warned her that lobbying shop. She considered naming it Butterfly- Ironically, the Obama administration’s ambitious stretched from K Street to the West Wing.