Trump filing shows payout to firm with Mad Men-inspired name

LONDONDERRY, N.H. – A $35,000 payment for “web advertising” in Donald Trump’s most recent campaign finance filings is turning heads because of the firm’s name: Draper Sterling.

“Draper” and “Sterling” are the last names of two characters in the television show Mad Men, a fictional drama set primarily in the 1960s about an advertising firm called Sterling Cooper. Records show Trump’s campaign paid Draper Sterling $35,000 in late April. The business was registered in late March at an address in the town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, according to the secretary of state’s office.

Campaign finance records also show payments of $3,000 each for “field consulting” to Jon Adkins and Paul Holzer, both listed at the same address as the business. Holzer said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press that the company provided “data analysis” and “spreadsheet” work for the Trump campaign.

“Things that are largely, until this very moment, uninteresting and unsexy,” Holzer told the Associated Press.

Holzer said he signed a non-disclosure agreement with the campaign and did not provide further details about his or the company’s work for Trump. He directed questions about specifics of his work to the campaign. Signing a non-disclosure agreement is standard procedure for most employees and people who work with the Trump campaign.

Trump has repeatedly signalled little interest in incorporating a data operation into his general election strategy, a sharp break from recent presidential campaigns.

His spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Draper Sterling’s work.

Holzer said Draper Sterling has done work for other campaigns but he refused to say which ones.

Adkins, who is listed as the agent for Draper Sterling, did not respond to a phone call or email seeking comment Tuesday. A woman who answered the door at the Londonderry home listed on the business filing identified herself as Adkins’ mother-in-law but said he was in Boston for the day.

Trump resoundingly won New Hampshire’s February presidential primary, his first victory on his way to capturing enough delegates to win the GOP nomination. Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager Trump fired Monday, lives in Windham, New Hampshire.

Holzer said he has never met or spoken with Lewandowski.

Holzer said his political work is secondary to his work for a non-profit called Xeno Therapeutics, a company working on genetically modified skin treatments for burn victims. Both Holzer and Adkins work with the company.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Mad Men took place primarily in the 1960s, not 1950s.