Taylor Gross

Taylor Gross is a founding partner of the public relations company The Herald Group. He is a former White House spokesman who coordinated Republican media coverage during the 2000 presidential election ballot recount in Florida. Gross also served as U. S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's media point man during Ashcroft's nomination hearings. 

Profiles
2001 Gross "graduated from The Citadel with a political science degree in 1996. He had toyed with the idea of going to law school, but when he got a chance to work on Senator Bob Dole’s campaign, he jumped at it—he’s been on the move ever since," Jennifer Wallace, wrote in the Spring 2001 The Citadel Magazine.

"After the Dole campaign, he went to work for Senator Fred Thompson, and later when he heard that Lt. Col. Oliver North needed an associate producer for his radio show, he convinced the executive director to give him a chance. Soon afterward, he not only had a job in radio, but in producing a television show called Equal Time that aired on MSNBC.

"Senator John Ashcroft, who was a frequent guest on the Oliver North television show, gave him his next job. As deputy communications director, Taylor wrote news releases and prepared the senator for TV and radio interviews. At the same time, he became director of radio for the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, managing as many as 500 radio outlet shows. Then in August 2000, he became Governor George W. Bush’s media coordinator for the South in charge of eleven states. When it looked like Bush had won the state of Florida on November 7, Taylor says he bragged that Bush had gone 11 for 11, winning all of Taylor’s states. Little did he know then that his campaign job was far from over. With the disputed Florida votes, he found himself between Tallahassee and Miami, assisting with the recount hullabaloo and setting up press conferences for former White House Chief of Staff Jim Baker."

Commenting for White House on Death of Pat Tillman
On April 26, 2004, it was Taylor Gross who delivered the official White House comment on the death in Afghanistan of soldier and pro football player Pat Tillman, saying in a statement: “Pat Tillman was an inspiration on and off the football field, as with all who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror. His family is in the thoughts and prayers of President and Mrs. Bush,” according to MSNBC

Related SourceWatch resources

 * The Herald Group
 * Doug McGinn
 * Matt Well
 * U.S. election irregularities in 2000
 * Vets for Freedom

Profiles

 * Profile: Taylor Gross, The Herald Group, LLC, accessed on February 28, 2006.
 * Jennifer Wallace, "The West Wing," The Citadel Magazine, Spring 2001.

Articles & Commentary

 * Jerry Zremski, "Former vets with GOP ties boost war effort in blogs," Buffalo News, June 25, 2006.
 * John Stauber, "Pro-War 'Vets for Freedom' Tied to Bush's PR Team", Center for Media and Democracy, June 25, 2006.
 * John Stauber, "Kill The Messenger? Pro-War Advocates Should Blame Themselves for the Mess in Iraq," Center for Media and Democracy, July 11, 2006