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==Governor Wolf administration==
==Governor Wolf administration==
[[File:Governor Tom Wolf official portrait 2015.jpg|thumb|Mary Isenhour became the senior campaign adviser for [[Tom Wolf (politician)|Tom Wolf]] ''(pictured)'' in his bid for Pennsylvania governor.]]
[[File:Governor Tom Wolf official portrait 2015.jpg|thumb|Mary Isenhour became the senior campaign adviser for [[Tom Wolf (politician)|Tom Wolf]] ''(pictured)'' in his bid for Pennsylvania governor.]]
Isenhour was an early supporter of Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate [[Tom Wolf (politician)|Tom Wolf]], and became Wolf's senior campaign adviser during his [[Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 2014|2014 campaign]],<ref name="Bumsted0723" /> at a time when state Rep. [[Allyson Schwartz]] and [[Pennsylvania Treasurer|state Treasurer]] [[Rob McCord]] were considered to have better chances of winning.<ref name="PBJ0723">{{cite news |last=Field |first=Nick |title=Gov. Wolf names new Chief of Staff to replace McGinty |work=[[Philadelphia Business Journal]] |date=July 23, 2015 |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/07/23/gov-wolf-chief-staff-mginty-isenhour.html |accessdate=August 2, 2015}}</ref> Isenhour, who had long been acquainted with Wolf, maintained other clients during his campaign, but said Wolf was "my main focus for the next year and a half".<ref>{{cite news |last=Gibson |first=Keegan |title=Isenhour Joins Wolf for Guv Campaign |publisher=[[PoliticsPA]] |date=April 19, 2013 |url=http://www.politicspa.com/isenhour-joins-wolf-for-guv-campaign/47510/ |accessdate=August 5, 2015}}</ref> After Wolf's successful election, she worked as his Secretary of Legislative Affairs,<ref name="Alexandersen1123" /><ref name="PBJ0723" /> serving as a liaison during negotiating sessions at the [[Pennsylvania General Assembly]], and providing key planning during the governor's budget strategy.<ref name="Couloumbis0723" /> Her annual salary in the position was $145,018.<ref name="Bumsted0723" /> Isenhour developed a reputation for communicating and building relationships with legislative leaders and staff members from both parties.<ref name="Langley0723" /><ref name="Couloumbis0723" />
Isenhour was an early supporter of Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate [[Tom Wolf (politician)|Tom Wolf]], and became Wolf's senior campaign adviser during his [[Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 2014|2014 campaign]],<ref name="Bumsted0723" /> at a time when state Rep. [[Allyson Schwartz]] and [[Pennsylvania Treasurer|state Treasurer]] [[Rob McCord]] were considered to have better chances of winning.<ref name="PBJ0723">{{cite news |last=Field |first=Nick |title=Gov. Wolf names new Chief of Staff to replace McGinty |work=[[Philadelphia Business Journal]] |date=July 23, 2015 |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/07/23/gov-wolf-chief-staff-mginty-isenhour.html |accessdate=August 2, 2015}}</ref> Isenhour, who had long been acquainted with Wolf, maintained other clients during his campaign, but said Wolf was "my main focus for the next year and a half".<ref>{{cite news |last=Gibson |first=Keegan |title=Isenhour Joins Wolf for Guv Campaign |publisher=[[PoliticsPA]] |date=April 19, 2013 |url=http://www.politicspa.com/isenhour-joins-wolf-for-guv-campaign/47510/ |accessdate=August 5, 2015}}</ref> After Wolf's successful election, Isenhour co-chaired his inaugural committee,<ref>{{cite news |last=Gross |first=Greg |title=Yorker named to Wolf's inaugural committee |work=[[The York Dispatch]] |date=November 25, 2014 |url=http://www.yorkdispatch.com/breaking/ci_27010601/yorker-named-wolfs-inaugural-committee |accessdate=September 6, 2015}}</ref> then worked as his Secretary of Legislative Affairs,<ref name="Alexandersen1123" /><ref name="PBJ0723" /> serving as a liaison during negotiating sessions at the [[Pennsylvania General Assembly]], and providing key planning during the governor's budget strategy.<ref name="Couloumbis0723" /> Her annual salary in the position was $145,018.<ref name="Bumsted0723" /> Isenhour developed a reputation for communicating and building relationships with legislative leaders and staff members from both parties.<ref name="Langley0723" /><ref name="Couloumbis0723" />


In July 2015, Isenhour replaced [[Kathleen McGinty]] as Wolf's Chief of Staff, after McGinty resigned six months into her tenure to pursue a [[United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 2016|campaign for U.S. Senate]].<ref name="Levy0724" /><ref name="Couloumbis0723" /><ref name="PBJ0723" /> Wolf called Isenhour "one of my closest advisors" and "a valuable part of my administration",<ref name="OBoyle0723" /> and said she "really understands how the politics of this place actually works."<ref name="Langley0723" /><ref name="Couloumbis0723" /> The selection was praised by both parties, including House and Senate Republicans, who expressed hope she would be less adversarial than McGinty.<ref name="Langley0723" /> The ''[[Butler Eagle]]'' wrote an editorial criticizing the appointment due to her position on the Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania board, in light of a [[Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy|national controversy over undercover videos]] about the group's alleged sale of aborted fetal body parts.<ref name="ButlerEagle" />
In July 2015, Isenhour replaced [[Kathleen McGinty]] as Wolf's Chief of Staff, after McGinty resigned six months into her tenure to pursue a [[United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 2016|campaign for U.S. Senate]].<ref name="Levy0724" /><ref name="Couloumbis0723" /><ref name="PBJ0723" /> Wolf called Isenhour "one of my closest advisors" and "a valuable part of my administration",<ref name="OBoyle0723" /> and said she "really understands how the politics of this place actually works."<ref name="Langley0723" /><ref name="Couloumbis0723" /> The selection was praised by both parties, including House and Senate Republicans, who expressed hope she would be less adversarial than McGinty.<ref name="Langley0723" /> The ''[[Butler Eagle]]'' wrote an editorial criticizing the appointment due to her position on the Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania board, in light of a [[Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy|national controversy over undercover videos]] about the group's alleged sale of aborted fetal body parts.<ref name="ButlerEagle" />

Revision as of 19:29, 6 September 2015

Mary Isenhour
Chief of Staff to the Governor of Pennsylvania
Incumbent
Assumed office
July 23, 2015
GovernorTom Wolf
Preceded byKathleen McGinty
Pennsylvania Secretary of Legislative Affairs
In office
January 20, 2015 – July 23, 2015
GovernorTom Wolf
Personal details
BornKansas
Political partyDemocratic

Mary Isenhour is an American political strategist, campaign manager and government official, currently serving as Chief of Staff for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.

Early career

A Kansas native,[1] Isenhour attended the University of Kansas.[2][3] She began her political career as a staffer in the Kansas House of Representatives.[1][4][5] In 1990 she worked as a legislative aide to House Minority Leader Marvin Barkis,[6] and the following year was administrative assistant to House Majority Leader Donna Whiteman.[7] From 1991 to 1995, Isenhour served as Chief of Staff to House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer,[4][8][9] where she worked with Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike to advance legislation, served as a liaison between Sawyer and other officials, and worked with leadership and committee members to develop legislative strategies and build coalitions.[4] In 1992, Isenhour was director of the Democratic Party's Kansas Coordinated Campaign for legislative races,[10][11] both in the state House and Senate.[12] Those races included more than three dozen candidates by July 1992.[10]

From 1995 to 1999,[4][13][14] Isenhour worked as was national political director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, based in Washington D.C.[5][14] In that capacity, she worked with legislative leaders and caucus campaign staff in more 15 states to help win or preserve Democratic majorities in state legislatures.[2] In 1996, she worked closely in Iowa to help orchestrate the Democratic legislative campaigns in that the Iowa General Assembly,[15][16] partnering with Iowa Senate Majority Leader Wally Horn and other key legislative Democrats to improving the party's position. She described it as an attempt to avoid a repeat of 1994 elections, in which Democrats suffered major losses in both federal and state offices during the Republican Revolution.[15] Isenhour said of those elections:[16][17]

We were off track. We let the Republicans define what the message was, and they had the same message from top to bottom. ... Now it's our turn, and we're talking about what Democrats have always been about: that we stick up for the little guy. We've gone on the offensive instead of the defensive."

Isenhour also managed Sawyer's campaign for the bid for Kansas governor in 1998.[18][19] Sawyer won the Democratic nomination, but ultimately lost in a landslide to the popular Republican incumbent, Bill Graves.[20]

Pennsylvania career

Isenhour began her Pennsylvania political career in 1999, when she became executive director of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee, helping to elect Democratic candidates to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.[5][21] Starting in 2007, she became executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.[4][5][13] The party enjoyed much success during her time there, controlling the Governor's office, 3 of 4 statewide row offices, two U.S. Senators, a majority in the State House, and picking up five seats in the Congressional delegation.[2] From 2003 to 2008, Pennsylvania posted a 73 percent win record statewide, and Democratic base turnout increased by nearly 25 percent.[2] She also served as director of PA Victory, a statewide coordinated campaign effort. [2]

Isenhour assisted with Bob Casey, Jr.'s successful 2006 campaign against Republican incumbent Rick Santorum,[22] served as political adviser to state House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody,[2] and ran Governor Ed Rendell's successful 2006 re-election campaign against challenger Lynn Swann,[14][23] after which she helped plan Rendell's 2007 inauguration.[24] Rendell appointed her to the Pennsylvania Community Service Advisory Board.[2] Isenhour was also the Pennsylvania state director for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.[1][5][13] In 2008, Isenhour and T.J. Rooney, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman, met with MSNBC news commentator Chris Matthews to discuss the possibility of Matthews running against Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter.[25] Also that year, Isenhour and her Republican counterpart Luke Bernstein, executive director of the Republian Party of Pennsylvania, together taught a class about presidential elections at the Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Isenhour and Bernstein both believed it was the first class of its type, and said the two had a very cordial relationship despite representing opposite political parties.[22] Isenhour also taught and lectured about electoral politics at other educational institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania, Central Penn College and The Washington Center.[2]

In July 2010, after more than seven years leading the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Isenhour and Rooney started the political consulting firm Isenhour Rooney Strategies,[2] which later became Isenhour Rooney and Carey,[4][26] after Adrienne Baker Green became a partner with the firm.[27] ALso in 2010, Isenhour was the only woman named to the Pennsylvania Top 10 Influencers List by Campaigns and Elections and PoliticsPA,[2] which also called her "one of the top consultants in the state",[2][26] and said "few can move between the strategy of campaigning and its mechanics with the ease that she does".[26] Among the candidates she advised was Rob Teplitz in his successful campaign for Pennsylvania State Senate in 2012.[26] Eisenhour served on board of Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania.[28][29]

Governor Wolf administration

Mary Isenhour became the senior campaign adviser for Tom Wolf (pictured) in his bid for Pennsylvania governor.

Isenhour was an early supporter of Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf, and became Wolf's senior campaign adviser during his 2014 campaign,[14] at a time when state Rep. Allyson Schwartz and state Treasurer Rob McCord were considered to have better chances of winning.[30] Isenhour, who had long been acquainted with Wolf, maintained other clients during his campaign, but said Wolf was "my main focus for the next year and a half".[31] After Wolf's successful election, Isenhour co-chaired his inaugural committee,[32] then worked as his Secretary of Legislative Affairs,[24][30] serving as a liaison during negotiating sessions at the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and providing key planning during the governor's budget strategy.[23] Her annual salary in the position was $145,018.[14] Isenhour developed a reputation for communicating and building relationships with legislative leaders and staff members from both parties.[5][23]

In July 2015, Isenhour replaced Kathleen McGinty as Wolf's Chief of Staff, after McGinty resigned six months into her tenure to pursue a campaign for U.S. Senate.[1][23][30] Wolf called Isenhour "one of my closest advisors" and "a valuable part of my administration",[13] and said she "really understands how the politics of this place actually works."[5][23] The selection was praised by both parties, including House and Senate Republicans, who expressed hope she would be less adversarial than McGinty.[5] The Butler Eagle wrote an editorial criticizing the appointment due to her position on the Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania board, in light of a national controversy over undercover videos about the group's alleged sale of aborted fetal body parts.[28]

Isenhour came into the Chief of Staff position more than three weeks into a budget impasse between Wolf and the Republican-controlled General Assembly.[5][23]

Personal life

Isenhour is married to Bill Patton and resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She has a cat named Ralph and enjoys cooking.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Levy, Marc (July 24, 2015). "Wolf names Isenhour next chief of staff". Indiana Gazette. Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Isenhour Rooney and Carey: Mary Isenhour: Mary Isenhour". Isenhour Rooney and Carey. Archived from the original on August 2, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; September 30, 2013 suggested (help)
  3. ^ "You Can't Tell Your Players Without a Program" (PDF). Pennsylvania Business Council. January 20, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Wolf introduces new Chief of Staff". WPMT. July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Langley, Karen (July 23, 2015). "Republicans, Democrats praise Wolf's choice for new chief of staff". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  6. ^ Thomas, Judy Lundstrom (November 7, 1990). "Democrats lick chops at gains in legislature". The Wichita Eagle. p. 1A.
  7. ^ "Lawmaker gives birth; will shift jobs". The Kansas City Star. July 16, 1991. p. B2.
  8. ^ Petterson, John (November 6, 1994). "Write-in campaign attempts to salvage Republican's job". The Kansas City Star. p. C2.
  9. ^ "Leader hampered by ankle infection". The Wichita Eagle. May 3, 1994. p. 6A.
  10. ^ a b Truell, Matt (July 4, 1992). "State GOP chairman says some Democrats not serious candidates". The Wichita Eagle. p. 3D.
  11. ^ "Abortion clinic operator gives to political groups". The Kansas City Star. July 28, 1992. p. B6.
  12. ^ Lundstrom, Judy (August 6, 1992). "Aborton foes claiming inroads". The Wichita Eagle. p. 1A.
  13. ^ a b c d O'Boyle, Bill. "Wolf names Isenhour to replace McGinty as Chief of Staff". The Times Leader. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  14. ^ a b c d e Bumsted, Brad (July 23, 2015). "Isenhour picked to replace McGinty as Wolf's chief of staff". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  15. ^ a b Sullivan, Ken (July 17, 1996). "National Dems target Iowa legislative races". The Gazette. p. A9.
  16. ^ a b Rabinovitz, Jonathan (September 22, 1996). "Political strategists turn to state races". The Times. p. B1.
  17. ^ Rabinovitz, Jonathan (September 22, 1996). "Parties look for edge in state races". The Plain Dealer. p. 17A.
  18. ^ Cross, Jim (July 28, 1998). "Fund-raising going slowly for Democrats". The Wichita Eagle. p. 12A.
  19. ^ Petterson, John (August 2, 1998). "Democrat lacks attention but has message". The Kansas City Star. p. A20.
  20. ^ Dvorak, John A.; Petterson, John (November 4, 1998). "Bill Graves takes huge triumph". The Kansas City Star. p. A1.
  21. ^ Thompson, Charles (July 23, 2015). "Gov. Tom Wolf names Mary Isenhour to replace Katie McGinty as chief of staff". The Patriot-News. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  22. ^ a b Lieberman, Brett (February 7, 2008). "Political partisans unite for class". The Patriot-News. p. B01. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Couloumbis, Angela (July 25, 2015). "Wolf taps insider as new chief of staff". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  24. ^ a b Alexandersen, Christian (November 23, 2014). "The costs to celebrate a victory". The Patriot-News. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  25. ^ Murphy, Jan (November 29, 2008). "'Hardball' host still testing waters for 2010 Senate run". The Patriot-News. p. A01.
  26. ^ a b c d Gibson, Keegan (November 26, 2012). "PoliticsPA's Top Operatives: 2012". PoliticsPA. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  27. ^ "Isenhour Rooney and Carey: A Grass Roots and Grass Tops Advocacy Firm". Isenhour Rooney and Carey. Archived from the original on August 2, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2015. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; January 12, 2014 suggested (help)
  28. ^ a b "EDITORIAL: Wolf's chief of staff pick may spark new controversy". Butler Eagle. The Mercury. August 8, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  29. ^ Wolf, Connor D. (July 28, 2015). "The Timing of Dem Governor's Big Planned Parent Review 'Raises Questions'". The Daily Caller. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  30. ^ a b c Field, Nick (July 23, 2015). "Gov. Wolf names new Chief of Staff to replace McGinty". Philadelphia Business Journal. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  31. ^ Gibson, Keegan (April 19, 2013). "Isenhour Joins Wolf for Guv Campaign". PoliticsPA. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  32. ^ Gross, Greg (November 25, 2014). "Yorker named to Wolf's inaugural committee". The York Dispatch. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
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