Ed Rollins

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.

Edward Rollins was born in Boston, Massachusetts. There, he was raised in a Democratic household. His family later moved to Vallejo, California, because his father had found work there as an electrician at the city's Mare Island Naval Base. Rollins briefly studied at Washington University in St. Louis before he attended California State University, Chico, where he served as Student Body President his senior year. He also fought as boxer while an undergraduate. Rollins later served in a number of Republican staff positions in the California State Assembly.[1]

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. Before joining the campaign Rollins served as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and Director of the Office of Political Affairs from 1981-83. Rollins was hired in 1981 to serve as Deputy Assistant to the President for Political Affairs under Lyn Nofziger, rising to the role of Assistant when Nofzinger resigned in November of 1981. [2]

Most recently, Rollins consulted on the campaign of Republican New York State Senate contender Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland. He also worked for the campaign of United States Representative Katherine Harris for the U.S. Senate. According to a Wall Street Journal article, the two had a falling-out, with Rollins not attending a staff meeting in Tampa and quitting a few days later after he questioned the viability of her campaign. Rollins was also involved in Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign.

Rollins worked as the campaign manager for Christine Todd Whitman in her 1993 New Jersey gubernatorial race. After organizing a campaign that led to Whitman's come from behind victory, Rollins claimed to Time 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."

External links

• Biography details at SourceWatch
• Biography details at NNDB

References

• The Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2006: "Katherine Harris Battles Old Friends For Florida's Keys"