Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams
Basic facts
Role:	Business manager
Location:	Washington, D.C.
Affiliation:	Republican
Website:	Official website
Prior Experience •Ben Carson 2016 presidential

Armstrong Williams is a conservative political commentator who hosts The Armstrong Williams Show on SiriusXM's Urban View and the nationally syndicated television show The Right Side. Williams is the business manager for Ben Carson and was an advisor to Carson's 2016 presidential campaign.

Career

Armstrong Williams' early career in politics was in South Carolina, where he began working for former Sen. Strom Thurmond (R) and Clarence Thomas, who was then chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He began a career in media in the early 1990s, when Thomas was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. According to The Daily Beast, "within his niche of black conservative commentary, [Williams] had considerable influence."

In 2005, Williams' broadcasts themselves made the news when it was revealed that he had been paid $241,000 to promote President George W. Bush's (R) No Child Left Behind Act on the air. The Washington Post reported, "In taking the money, funneled through the Ketchum Inc. public relations firm, Williams produced and aired a commercial on his syndicated television and radio shows featuring Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige, touted Bush's education policy, and urged other programs to interview Paige." At issue, according to the paper, was that Williams "did not disclose the contract when talking about the law during cable television appearances or writing about it in his newspaper column."

Williams is also the owner of Howard Stirk Holdings, a media company that owns seven television stations around the country. In October 2015, when he purchased two television stations, Williams was the largest black owner of TV stations in the U.S., according to the Washington Times. Of his vision for television programming on his stations, Williams told the paper, "We want to reinforce the kind of values and virtues that make America great. We want the kind of shows that families can sit down and watch and be proud of. We want people to know that you don’t always have to lead with what bleeds. We want to uplift people we want to give people real self-esteem and real worth."

Ben Carson presidential campaign, 2016

See also: Ben Carson presidential campaign, 2016

Williams has been the business manager for Ben Carson for a number of years, but he had no official role within the campaign itself. In January 2016, Williams spoke with GQ about his role with Carson and the campaign:

“

Listen, a campaign is a business. His affairs that I have to take care of are a business. I'm his business manager. He trusts my advice as a business manager. I run a major company with lots of employees and television stations. When you're a CEO, the level of experience and judgment and managing and seeing situations and being organized are very similar to those of any major organization—like a campaign. There are many similarities. And so over the years, through my business involvement with Dr. Carson, he has gotten to see a lot of my personality and my strengths, as well as my weaknesses. So it's broad when you are a CEO and owner.

”

Within the campaign, Williams was a polarizing figure. New York Magazine noted that, as Carson's business manager and friend, Williams "was focused on the candidate's bank account rather than his presidential aspirations."

Campaign staff tensions

The campaign's former manager Barry Bennett directed criticism at Williams when Bennett and communications director Doug Watts left the campaign in December 2015. Bennett told ABC News, "[Carson] tried to blame some of the problems in the campaign on silly things and I said Ben we all know the root of our problems, let’s not pretend it’s not Armstrong Williams." Williams responded to Bennett's remarks in January 2016, accusing Bennett and Watts of working with Donald Trump's campaign and attempting "to curry favor with the Trump campaign by delivering Dr. Carson's campaign infrastructure on a platter." Bennett had indeed spoken with Trump's campaign. He told Politico that "he met informally with Trump campaign officials about logistical hurdles they'll face should Trump win the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses and sweep the early primary states in February and March."

Statement from Carson

On January 27, 2016, Carson spoke out about Williams and his relation to the campaign. Carson told a group of reporters in Des Moines, Iowa, "Armstrong is not necessarily the epitome of truth. He doesn’t speak all things that are correct. He often speaks without thinking. He has no official capacity in the campaign whatsoever. His influence has been vastly overrated."

On March 2, 2016, after receiving the lowest total votes during the elections on Super Tuesday, Carson announced he saw no "political path forward" for his presidential campaign. On March 4, Carson announced that he had joined the nonprofit organization My Faith Votes as national chairman. He officially suspended his campaign the same day.

See also

• Ben Carson presidential campaign, 2016
• Ben Carson presidential campaign key staff and advisors, 2016

External links

• Armstrong Williams' Official Website
• Armstrong Williams on Twitter