Ed Gillespie

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Edward W. Gillespie (born 1962) is an American Republican political figure.

Most notably, he was selected by President George W. Bush to be Chairman of the Republican National Committee, where he served from July 2003 to January 2005. He is currently the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

Gillespie along with Jack Quinn (former Chief of Staff to Vice President Al Gore) founded Quinn Gillespie & Associates, a bipartisan lobbying firm that provides strategic advice, public relations services, and government representation to corporations, trade associations, and issue-based coalitions.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Gillespie & lobbying for Bush's Supreme Court nominee 3 Quotes 4 External links

[edit] Biography

Gillespie was born to an Irish American family in Browns Mills, New Jersey and is a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. While at CUA he began his career on Capitol Hill as a Senate parking lot attendant.

He began his political career as a nighttime telephone solicitor in the basement of the Republican National Committee headquarters in 1985. He later worked for a decade as a top aide to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), and was a principal drafter of the GOP's 1994 "Contract With America." In 1996, he became Director of Communications and Congressional Affairs for the Republican National Committee under then Chairman Haley Barbour.

In March 1998, Gillespie was executive director of coalition supporting computer data encryption called Americans for Computer Privacy. Gillespie's message was that "Encryption is, far from being a geek issue, essential to citizens' individual liberty. The mission that goes with the message is a tough one: to halt a Clinton administration drive to set up a system requiring that software equipped with data-scrambling capabilities also include a way for law enforcement or national security agencies to quickly access the encrypted information" ([1]).

In 1999, Gillespie worked as the Press Secretary for the Presidential campaign of then House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich. Kasich withdrew from the race that summer.

In 2000, Gillespie served as senior communications advisor for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush, organizing the party convention program in Philadelphia for Bush's nomination and Bush's inauguration ceremony. He also played an aggressive role as spokesman for the Bush campaign during the vote recount in Florida.

In 2001, Gillespie briefly worked as acting director of public affairs for the U.S. Commerce Department, helping Secretary Donald Evans organize the agency and hire staff — including Quinn Gillespie lobbyist Jim Dyke. He then returned to working for Quinn Gillespie.

In 2002, Gillespie was a strategist for Elizabeth Dole's 2002 Senate campaign in North Carolina, the most expensive Senate race in the country that year.

Gillespie was President and CEO of Policy Impact Communications before co-founding Quinn, Gillespie & Associates.

Public Citizen has published a 25-page report calling Gillespie "an [2]) embedded lobbyist" and asserting that his appointment as RNC chairman "has opened a conduit for corporate America to strengthen its already formidable influence in the White House and Congress."

Gillespie is married to the former Cathy Hay, executive director of U.S. Rep. Joe Barton's political action committee, the Texas Freedom Fund.

He was recently publicly visible after the 2006 Senate elections as a spokesman for defeated Virginia Senator George Allen. He had been tapped by Allen as a political adviser for a possible presidential run in 2008 before that loss. Gillespie is currently the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. His book "Winning Right" was released in the September of 2006. He and his wife have three children: John Patrick Gillespie, born September 23, 1990 Catherine Carroll "Carrie" Gillespie, born February 20, 1993 and Mollie Brigid Gillespie born May 11, 1996

[edit] Gillespie & lobbying for Bush's Supreme Court nominee

"Ed Gillespie, who will help promote Bush Nominee John Roberts to the vacancy on the Supreme Court, is a top-tier lobbyist who represents a host of clients with direct and indirect interests in the outcome of Supreme Court decisions." Gillespie's task is "to use the tools and techniques of a presidential campaign to put together a conservative political machine equipped to take on the alliance of groups on the political left."

But his firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates, "represents corporations and trade associations with strong bottom-line interests in court rulings involving corporate liability, tort reform, antitrust and securities issues". Clients include the American Petroleum Institute, Microsoft, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Gillespie refused to discuss "the conflict-of-interest rules that will govern his activities", but others say "he is likely to give up active representation of clients" while he works for the nominee's confirmation ([3]).

[edit] Quotes

While working as a Republican observer in Miami-Dade for the 2000 Presidential Election ballot recount, Ed Gillespie, commenting on how the "repeated machine counts degrade the ballots ..., described the scene when county officials ran the ballots through the counting machine for a third time: 'Chad was flying around the room like confetti in New York on New Year's Eve', he said."

[edit] External links

• Official Republican Party of Virginia biography
• Quinn & Gillespie web site
• Chris Oakes, "Selling America on Crypto," Wired, March 4, 1998.
• The United States Needs a Clear and Realistic Encryption Policy, Statement of Edward Gillespie, Executive Director, Americans for Computer Privacy, March 4, 1999.
• Jim VandeHei, "Bush Policies Ease Transition For Aides Into Lobbyist Jobs," Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2001.
  http://web.archive.org/web/20030226013426/http://www.counterpunch.org/pipermail/counterpunch-list/2001-March/007364.html
• Ryan Lizza, "The Insider," New Republic, June 19, 2001.
  http://web.archive.org/web/20021030041000/http://www.tnr.com/073001/lizza073001_print.html
• A look at the 2004 presidential field, CNN.com, January 1, 2003: Ed Gillespie joined "Crossfire" hosts James Carville and Tucker Carlson.
• Robert Novak, "Bush on the Hill," Creators Syndicate, May 24, 2003.
• "Ed Gillespie: The Embedded Lobbyist, Public Citizen, June 2003.
• Mike Allen, "Bush Picks Campaign Chief, RNC Chairman," Washington Post, June 17, 2003.
• Elisabeth Bumiller, "Fierce Defender of President to Lead Campaign for Court", New York Times, July 6, 2005.
• Thomas B. Edsall, "Lobbyist to Campaign For Bush Court Nominee: Gillespie Choice Marks Bid to Use GOP Muscle", Washington Post, July 8, 2005.
• Ed Gillespie at the Internet Movie Database
• Ed Gillespie at the Notable Names Database

This article uses content from the SourceWatch article on Ed Gillespie under the terms of the GFDL.