Paul Bledsoe

Paul Bledsoe is an American academic, author, and expert in public and environmental policies. He is also a public servant, having served as the communications director of the Clinton administration’s White House Climate Change Task Force.

Biography
Bledsoe was born in 1960. He completed his M.A. in English at the Ohio State University in 1986.

Prior to his work for the Clinton administration, Bledsoe was the Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Interior, Bruce Babbitt and was the Communications Director of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. He also served as press secretary and legislative assistant to several members of the House of Representatives.

From 2009 to 2010, Bledsoe served as President Barack Obama's Senior Policy Advisor to the Presidential Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the independent panel created by the White House to investigate the 2010 disaster.

Bledsoe serves on the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Council. While serving in this capacity, he criticized more radical calls for 100% renewable energy goals under the proposed Green New Deal, stating that such uncompromising standards would undermine the ability to make any progress whatsoever.

Bledsoe is currently a lecturer at the American University’s Department of Public Administration and Policy. He is a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute, and is also the founder and president of Bledsoe & Associates, LLC.

Bledsoe has published articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, Politico, The Hill, Reuters, Roll Call and other outlets. He has also appeared and commented on CNN, BBC, MSNBC, NPR, and Fox.