Ed Rollins

Edward J. Rollins is a Republican pollster and political consultant.

Current affiliations
"Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, is senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University. He is a principal with the Dilenschneider Group, a global public relations firm. He was White House political director for President Reagan and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee."

"Edward Rollins is Chairman of the Rollins Strategy Group, a communications and crisis management firm" said to have offices in New York and Washington, D.C. - although this firm appears to have no website, and its offices' actual locations are a mystery.

"In the international arena, Edward Rollins has had extensive experience in China, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and the Philippines where he has advised heads of state and executives of major corporations. Currently, he serves as the Economic Advisor to China's Jiansgu Province and the cities of Nanjing and Jinan. He is Co-Chairman of a Chinese joint venture, R&R International, a marketing and management consulting firm based in Beijing and affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

(this belongs elsewhere:)"Rollins has long been considered one of America's premier political strategists and communication experts, specializing in issue, image and crisis campaigns on behalf of corporations, governments, and political candidates around the world."

In June 2011, Rollins became "Michele Bachmann's campaign strategist". ,

Career history
Rollins is best known for his work on the 1984 Ronald Reagan relection campaign and as Co-Chairman and Campaign Manager of Ross Perot's 1992 Presidential campaign. 

"Mr. Rollins has served four United States Presidents. He was in charge of both the White House Office of Political Affairs and the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs as well as serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff. In 1984, he managed President Ronald Reagan's landslide reelection campaign. Mr. Rollins also directed congressional relations at two cabinet agencies and served as the Chief of Staff for the Republicans in the California State Assembly."

"Rollins has held managerial positions outside of politics including stints as a university administrator, college instructor in Public Administration, Dean of the faculty of the National Fire Academy, head of Congressional relations for the U.S. Department of Transportation and as a management consultant to major U.S. and international Fortune 500 companies," his biographical note states.

Before Reagan
Prior to working for Reagan, Rollins worked as the Republican chief of staff, Principal Assistant to the Republican Leader, and Assistant to the Speaker of the California State Assembly.

Reagan
A biographical note describes Rollins as having worked as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs in Reagan's first term and then as "the national Campaign Director for his 1984 re-election campaign". He then rejoined the Administration as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Political and Governmental Affairs. 

Huckabee
In December 2007, Rollins joined Governor Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign as its national campaign chair.

Whitman campaign and "walking-around money" controversy
Following the 1993 elections, during a breakfast debriefing, Rollins admitted to journalists that one factor in the success of Christine Todd Whitman in the New Jersey governor's race against incumbent Democrat Jim Florio had been the distribution of "walking around" money to influential persons in inner-city precincts, including African-American pastors.

According to Rollins, workers who had been hired to help get out the Democratic vote were told, "How much have they paid you to do your normal duty? ... We'll match it. Go home, sit, and watch television." In addition, Rollins said, "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.' And we said, 'That's fine, don't get up on the Sunday pulpit and preach. . . . Don't get up there and say it's your moral obligation that you go out on Tuesday and vote for Jim Florio.'" Ministers who cooperated, Rollins said, received contributions to their "favorite charities." As a result, Rollins said, "I think, to a certain extent, we suppressed their vote."

Subsequently, the Democrats launched a lawsuit as Rollins' comments were alleged to be an admission of illegal behavior. When cross-examined by Democratic attorneys, Rollins claimed that his comments had been no more than part of a "psychological warfare" game he was playing with James Carville, the campaign manager for Whitman's opponent. A federal grand jury investigation proceeded, but eventually the grand jury concluded that no evidence had been presented to show that any laws had been broken.

Other

 * Judge, Since Sliced Bread

SourceWatch resources

 * Russo Watts & Rollins
 * Christine Todd Whitman
 * Mike Huckabee
 * Ronald Reagan
 * Rollins International

Articles

 * "Ed Rollins: Political Commentator and Strategist, undated, accessed August 2004.
 * Linda Feldmann, "GOP Campaign Tactics Spark New Jersey Furor," Christian Science Monitor, November 12, 1993, p. 2.
 * Michelle Ruess and Dunstan McNichol, "Grand Jury Hears Whitman's Kin," The Record (Bergen, NJ), November 25, 1993, p. A1.
 * Michelle Ruess, "Whitman Says of Payoffs: Never Happened," The Record (Bergen, NJ), November 13, 1993, p. A1.
 * Jason George, "Mike Huckabee reels in Ed Rollins," Baltimore Sun blog "The Swamp," December 14, 2007.