PORTLAND, ME—Kemp Goldberg Partners, an advertising, public relations and interactive agency, has launched a public affairs practice that will target legislators, policymakers and regulators, as well as industry leaders and media who influence them, and has opened a new office in Washington, DC.

Derek LaVallee, a former staff member at the White House and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon in the Clinton/Gore administration, serves as director of public relations and public affairs and the firm recently expanded its team of public affairs practitioners with the addition of senior account executive Chris Philbrook, who previously worked with US Senator Susan Collins and was a special assistant to then Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Henry Paulson.

The public affairs team has recently handled media relations, event logistics and film production for the National Guard Youth Foundation's annual gala in Washington, DC; media and event logistics for the 2010 Elliot L. Richardson Prize for Excellence in Public Service; and media relations and message support following the release of a controversial Congressionally-mandated climate change study completed by the National Academy for Public Administration.