Mike Hardiman is the Owner of Hardiman Consulting, a government affairs and public relations firm based in Washington DC founded in 1999.  Clients have included defense contractors L-3 Communications, Baker Engineering and Plexus Scientific.  He has lobbied and consulted for the National Federation of Independent Business, American Trucking Associations, American Land Rights Association, off-road recreational groups seeking access to public lands and private property owners having regulatory conflicts.  He served a total of twenty-six months in Iraq as a civilian. 

 

In November 2009 he completed the stand up of a team supporting a multi-year project for the US Army at Fort Benning, Georgia.

   

In January 2009 he hosted a Lessons Learned conference at the conclusion of a project for the Department of Homeland Security.  He holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute. 

 

In March 2008 he completed a seven month assignment for the Multi National Corps-Iraq as Site Manager, standing up a psychological operations project, which included a Top Secret clearance.  

 

At the request of the U.S. Department of Defense, Hardiman served in Iraq as an advisor to the Iraqi government in 2004.  He then accepted an appointment from the U.S. Department of State to work with the Iraqi government through 2005.  He was assigned to the municipality of Baghdad, was the senior American consultant to the Iraq Communications Ministry and was part of the Iraqi-American team responsible for establishing the Commission on Public Integrity, Iraq's primary corruption fighting agency. 

 

Hardiman has testified before the United States Senate, House of Representatives and state and local governments on federal land use and municipal government related issues.  He was named Advocate of the Year by the Property Rights Foundation of America for his leadership role in defeating a $47 billion land acquisition trust fund and has won many other victories for clients, large and small.  He is named annually to the Heritage Foundation's Public Policy Experts directory and contributed to creation of the first International Property Rights Index in 2007.       
 
He served as professional staff in the House of Representatives for seven years, working on endangered species and other natural resources issues, and as a press secretary.  He assisted in the writing and editing of This Land is Our Land, a book on private property rights published by St. Martin’s Press.  It was widely praised by the book publishing establishment and reviewed by publications across the political spectrum from Land Rights Letter to Sierra Club Magazine.

 

Hardiman was chief of staff for a state legislator in the 1980s, and helped to steer eleven bills into law.  He was instrumental in winning passage for legislation that exempted new construction of apartment buildings from municipal rent control ordinances.  He also won ballot placement and statewide voter approval for an expansion of the homestead property tax deduction to include housing co-ops.  The Assemblyman for whom he worked was named Legislator of the Year by both the Farm Bureau and the Builders Association. 

 

He created award winning product placement and promotional marketing programs for the brands of major corporations, including the Walt Disney Company, McCormick and Company, RJ Reynolds and National Car Rental System.

 

Hardiman has been quoted in major media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the BBC, interviewed on all major cable television news networks and has been a frequent guest on talk radio.  He has spoken at numerous conferences across the country on public lands access and property rights issues, and as an instructor on media relations. His creative street theater at public events has also earned extensive media coverage.