Clifton Government Relations represents, consults with and trains nonprofit organizational clients and their staff, board and/or volunteers.

 

The range of services we provide includes:

 

•  Lobbying at the state level on the public policy concerns of the nonprofit client. Many of these concerns are on behalf of the organizational client while others impact the clients those organizations serve.  Lobbying involves passing helpful legislation and defeating unhelpful legislation and also advocating with the executive branch.
  
  
• Planning long and short-term public policy agendas for the organizational client to undertake, with varying degrees of hands-on help from Clifton Government Relations.

• Monitoring and reporting on legislative and administrative developments.

• Training staff, board and/or volunteers in basic and/or advanced public policy advocacy on the state or local level. Topics include: 

• Consulting with nonprofit organizational clients on specific problems and questions regarding government actions and possible actions.

• Presenting a one-time talk or a series of presentations for staff, board, volunteers and supporters. This service can be provided to groups who are not clients in a legal or lobbying sense, as well as to those organizations that are clients.

If you would like to consult with us regarding our services, please contact Stewart Clifton at (615) 305-2946 or stewartclifton@comcast.net. 

 

Stewart Clifton is an attorney and registered lobbyist with a practice focused solely on nonprofit organizations.  He represents several health, social welfare, equal justice and environmental groups, including the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, National Association of Social Workers Tennessee Chapter, Tennessee Coalition of Alzheimer's Associations, the Tennessee Association for the Education of Young Children, Tennessee Conservation Voters and the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, among others.

Stewart received a BA in political science in 1973 from Vanderbilt and is a 1976 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.  He has served as executive director, legal counsel and public policy director for Tennessee nonprofit groups, prior to establishing a government relations practice.

An elected member of the Metro Council, Nashville's local legislative body from 1987-1999, he chaired the Budget and Finance, Health, Hospitals and Social Services and the Planning and Zoning committees.

After leaving the council he served for a year on the Historic Zoning Commission and since 2000 has served as a member of Metro's Planning Commission.  He is also a charter member of the multi-county Workforce Investment Board.

Stewart has participated in the public policy process as an interested citizen, a lawyer representing clients with issues being addressed by the state and local legislative and administrative bodies, a registered lobbyist for persons and nonprofit groups normally without access to the process and as an elected local legislator.  He regularly speaks and presents workshops on the policy-making process and plans and delivers substantive workshops on public issues to a variety of groups.

Stewart is married to Louise Clifton, librarian and technology coordinator at Glendale K-4 elementary school.  They have two sons, Jeff and Phillip.

Anne Ross received her Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Tennessee College of Social Work with a focus on policy and issues of social justice related to families and children.  She has worked as an associate with Clifton Government Relations since 2005, monitoring and reporting on legislative issues and as a registered lobbyist for the Tennessee Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and Tennessee Conservation Voters.