Larry Grisolano
626-535-0714
A partner in The Strategy Group's Los Angeles office, Larry Grisolano has fought side by side with progressives and civil rights advocates as a general consultant and campaign manager in some of California's most highly charged ballot measures. As a direct mail specialist, he has played a key role in victories across the nation from the Legislative to the Presidential level.
Larry was the lead consultant in the California labor community's successful fight against Proposition 75, the most important measure on Governor Schwarzenegger's 2005 Special Election ballot. He managed "Prop. 72 Save our Health Care" in 2004 which would have created a "pay or play" employer health care system in California, insuring over a million people-workers and their families-upon enactment. The measure failed by just 200,000 votes out of 12 million cast. In 2003, he managed the successful "NO on Prop. 54" campaign, which defeated an attempt to roll back affirmative action by banning the state from collecting race data.
Larry managed Governor Gray Davis' successful 2002 re-election and was in the national spotlight as manager of Californians Against the Costly Recall, the Governor's campaign to defeat the 2003 recall. In 2001, Larry was Lead Consultant for Rocky Delgadillo's dazzling come-from-behind victory for Los Angeles City Attorney.
He is currently playing a senior role developing message and media for U.S. Senator Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign.
A native of Iowa, Larry was an avid spectator of Presidential campaigns growing up. His first job on a Presidential campaign was running Iowa field operations for Senator Joe Biden and, later, for Senator Paul Simon in 1988. In 1992, he worked throughout the country for the Clinton for President Primary Campaign including stints in Little Rock, running the Florida straw ballot operation, and in the Illinois primary. In 2000, he helped add spark to the Gore caucus campaign, penning Gore's "Stay and Fight" Jefferson Jackson speech slogan, which earned glowing reviews in the New York Times. In 2004, Larry helped John Kerry win the Democratic nomination with a stunning turnaround in the Iowa caucuses.
Larry has worked at top jobs in races across the country. Larry ran statewide organizations in California, overseeing the Clinton-Gore coordinated campaign in 1992 and serving as field director of the California Democratic Party in 1994. He managed Bill Hoppner's race for Governor of Nebraska in 1990 and worked in press and research for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's re-election in 1991. In 1988, Larry worked for U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg's re-election on a campaign team led by Democratic Party legends James Carville and Paul Begala. He began his career as an organizer for Tom Harkin's upset victory for the U.S. Senate in 1984.
As a mail consultant, Larry has helped win major Democratic victories at the Presidential, Senatorial, Mayoral, Congressional and Legislative levels. Larry's mail has won Pollie awards in the U.S. Senate and Presidential categories.
Larry earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in political science from the University of Iowa. He studied business management at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Larry and his wife Laura, an attorney, live in South Pasadena with their two daughters, Dana and Claire.