Kurt Bardella

Bardella rose to prominence on Capitol Hill as a high-profiled communications staffer to Issa. He was fired from his job after POLITICO reported on the fact that Bardella had leaked communications to a New York Times reporter. Bardella was rehired by Issa a few months later in a non-press role. Kurt Bardella is the President of Endeavor Strategic Communications. He founded the firm following his service as a Senior Advisor for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Majority) and its Chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) from 2011-2013. At the Committee, Kurt provided strategic counsel and media messaging guidance that has kept the Committee’s oversight and investigation’s agenda at the forefront of a daily and national conversation. Working with the Committee’s senior leadership team to direct an 80-person staff, Kurt played an integral role in shaping the Committee’s highest-profile oversight and investigations activities such as its examination of the IRS targeting scandal, the State Department’s response to the terrorist attack in Benghazi, the Department of Justice’s management of Operation Fast & Furious and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. From 2009-2011, Kurt served as then-Ranking Member Issa’s Deputy Communications Director and Spokesperson where he developed an aggressive and relentless media strategy that dictated the Committee’s agenda as it pursued investigations into the bailout of AIG, Countrywide’s VIP mortgage program, NHTSA’s relationship with Toyota, the BP oil spill, government ownership of General Motors, product recalls at Johnson & Johnson and implementation of TARP and stimulus programs. Kurt built and cultivated working relationships with a broad spectrum of national media outlets including ABC, CBS and NBC News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, the Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg, etc. Kurt first came to Washington D.C. in July of 2006 after serving as the Press Secretary for Brian Bilbray’s congressional campaign that successfully won four elections in seven months. After spending two years as Rep. Bilbray’s Director of Communications, Kurt left to join the staff of U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) as her Press Secretary before returning to the House-side and Rep. Issa in 2009. He has served on a number of campaigns in California from Mayoral to Congressional and has been named one of Washington’s “50 People to Watch” by Politico and “Top 35 under 35” by the DC Republican Party. Kurt lives in Arlington, Virginia.