- Ed Rollins
Edward J. "Ed" Rollins (born
March 19 ,1943 ) is a Republican campaign consultant and advisor who has worked on a number of high-profile political campaigns in the United States. He was named the national campaign chairman for theMike Huckabee campaign in December 2007. [ [http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=904 Mike Huckabee for President - Blogs - National Chairman Named ] ]Rollins was born in
Boston, Massachusetts . His family later moved toVallejo, California , because his father had found work there as an electrician at the city'sMare Island Naval Base . Rollins earned his BA in Political Science fromCalifornia State University, Chico , where he served as Student Body President his senior year. He also fought as a boxer while an undergraduate. He later studied briefly atWashington University inSt. Louis, Missouri . Rollins later served in a number of Republican staff positions in theCalifornia State Assembly . [http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/findaid/rollins.htm] including Republican chief of staff for the Assembly.]Early career
In
1968 , he served as assistant to the president of Cal State-Chico. From1969 to1973 , Rollins was assistant vice chancellor for student affairs atWashington University in St. Louis, where he also taught political science and public administration.During the second Nixon and the Ford administrations, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs, From 1973 to
1977 , he was at theDepartment of Transportation , where he had responsibility for the Department's liaison with the Congress and State and local governments. Prior to that, Rollins served as principal assistant toRobert T. Monagan , the Republican leader and speaker of theCalifornia Assembly , who later hired him at DOT.He also served as dean of the faculty and deputy superintendent at the National Fire Academy in Washington.
Reagan Administration
Rollins was hired in
1981 to serve as Deputy Assistant to the President for Political Affairs underLyn Nofziger . When Nofziger resigned in November 1981, Rollins was appointed as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and Director of the Office of Political Affairs. He held the position until he resigned in October1983 to lead Reagan's re-election campaign. [http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/findaid/rollins.htm] In the second term, he rejoined the Reagan Administration as Assistant to the President for Political and Governmental Affairs. [ [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=37980 Ronald Reagan: Appointment of Edward J. Rollins as Assistant to the President for Political and Governmental Affairs ] ]Political campaigns
1984 Presidential Campaign
Rollins is best known for his work as National Campaign Director to Ronald Reagan in the 1984
presidential election in which Reagan won 49 states.1988 Presidential Campaign
Rollins was a supporter of
George H. W. Bush , but when Bush askedLee Atwater to head up his1988 campaign, Rollins decided to work forJack Kemp .1990 Congressional Campaign
In
1989 , Rollins became the first and only non-Member of Congress to head theNational Republican Congressional Committee , the House Republicans' campaign wing. [http://www.leadingauthorities.com/3817/Edward_Rollins.htm] Rollins negotiated a four-year, $1 million contract, but he resigned within two years. In the1990 election, Republicans lost nine seats in the House. Rollins got into a highly visible feud with the President over the 1990 budget deal, in which Bush broke his 1988 campaign promise not to raise taxes. He resigned in January1991 and began working for the Sawyer/Miller consulting firm.1992 Presidential Campaign
Rollins was hired in June
1992 as co-manager ofRoss Perot 's 1992 presidential campaign. He resigned in July and initially suggested that disagreements with other campaign officials about the nature and timing of an advertising campaign led him to quit. Later, he suggested that Perot was not emotionally suited to be President. Perot initially ended his campaign the day after Rollins resigned, only to resume his campaign after the Democratic National Convention.1993 Gubernatorial Campaign
Rollins worked as the campaign manager for
Christine Todd Whitman in her1993 New Jersey gubernatorial race. After organizing a campaign that led to Whitman's come-from-behind victory, Rollins claimed toTIME magazine that he secretly paid black ministers and democratic campaign workers in order to suppress voter turnout."We went into black churches and we basically said to ministers who had endorsed Florio, 'Do you have a special project?' And they said, 'We've already endorsed Florio.' We said, 'That's fine, don't get up on the Sunday pulpit and preach. We know you've endorsed him, but don't get up there and say it's your moral obligation that you go on Tuesday to vote for Jim Florio.'" After public outcry and calls for an investigation, Rollins partially retracted some of these claims telling
People magazine that his comments were "an exaggeration that turned out to be inaccurate." Fact|date=September 20081994 campaigns
Rollins led the first successful bid to unseat the
Speaker of the House when he orchestratedGeorge Nethercutt 's victory overTom Foley . [ [http://www.leadingauthorities.com/3817/Edward_Rollins.htm Edward Rollins - Leading Authorities Speakers Bureau ] ] He was also general consultant to theMichael Huffington campaign for U.S. Senate in California, and the Bruce Benson campaign for Governor of Colorado.Other campaigns
In
1998 , Rollins consulted on the campaign ofJoe Khoury , a Republican candidate in Southern California's Inland Empire. Khoury was running in the Republican primary against incumbent RepresentativeKen Calvert . Khoury was an economics professor atUniversity of California Riverside and is of Lebanese descent.Most recently, Rollins consulted on the campaign of RepublicanNew York State Senate contender Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland.He also worked for the campaign of
United States Representative Katherine Harris for theU.S. Senate . According to a "Wall Street Journal " article, the two had a falling-out, with Rollins not attending a staff meeting inTampa and quitting a few days later after he questioned the viability of her campaign. ["The Wall Street Journal", May 10, 2006: "Katherine Harris Battles Old Friends For Florida's Keys"]2008 Presidential Campaign
On December 14,
2007 , RepublicanMike Huckabee announced he had hired Rollins as his national campaign chairman and senior advisor. Rollins was later overheard saying that he wanted to "knock out [Mitt Romney's] teeth." [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/02/huckabee-adviser-wants-to_n_79354.html]Personal life
Rollins married
Shari Lois Scharfer , a former CBS television executive, in2003 . His two previous marriages ended in divorce. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9801E3D71538F935A25752C1A9659C8B63 WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Shari Scharfer, Ed Rollins - New York Times ] ]References
External links
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ed_Rollins Biography details at SourceWatch]
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/648/000056480/ Biography details at NNDB]
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