Arena committee brings in strategic advisers

Sacramento Business Journal

Sacramento’s arena committee has brought on three local strategic advisers who have significant experience as political consultants.

Coming on board at Think Big Sacramento are Brian Brokaw of Brian Brokaw Consulting and Aaron McLear and Josh Ginsberg of The Ginsberg McLear Group, the committee announced Thursday.

Think Big Sacramento is calling the trio its Purple SWAT team, as it comes in at the final critical period in the effort to build a downtown arena to house the Sacramento Kings.

Chris Lehane, Think Big Sacramento’s executive director, called the addition of the consultants a “huge boost” to the arena effort.

Brokaw, a Sacramento native, formed a consulting firm in 2010 that bears his name. He brings expertise in campaign management, strategic communications and public affairs. Brokaw served as campaign manager for Kamala Harris’s successful candidacy for California attorney general and also worked on the Phil Angelides campaign for governor as well as many other candidate and issue campaigns.

McLear, co-founder of Ginsberg McLear Group, worked as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s press secretary from 2007 to 2011, a role he also had with the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign.

Ginsberg, co-founder of Ginsberg McLear, has managed campaigns for both initiatives and candidates in California and across the country. He managed Chris Dudley’s race for governor in Oregon in 2010, and the two previous years he served as Schwarzenegger’s political director.