Sara Taylor

Sara M. Taylor is the former White House political director for President George W. Bush from 2003 to 2007. Taylor, a registered lobbyist since August 2007 for Renewable Energy Group, which produces biodiesel fuel, is a partner with Designated Market Media, a leading Republican media consulting firm.

Taylor "says she'll be concentrating on the firm's new issue advocacy group rather than on politics ...[which she says] plays to her strengths in advertising and message development."

Taylor, who worked for Karl Rove, resigned in May 2007 and was replaced in June 2007 by Jonathan Felts.

Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy
"Taylor is reportedly intimately involved in the U.S. Attorney scandal. According to Kyle Sampson, Taylor was directly promoting efforts to appoint attorneys without Senate confirmation."

On July 11, 2007, Taylor testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

Bush-Cheney '04 Inc.
Taylor worked on President George W. Bush's reelection campaign, "where she helped refine the emerging political art of microtargeting. Working with Alex Gage of TargetPoint Consulting, Taylor was among those who helped use sophisticated analysis of consumer data to enable the Bush campaign to target potential voters even when they resided in Democratic-leaning voting districts."

Profiles
Beginning July 2, 2003, Taylor served as Deputy to the Chief Strategist, Matthew Dowd, for the Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. re-election campaign: "Taylor worked for the White House as an associate political director (Midwest) doing political and public affairs outreach. During the 2000 campaign she worked from late April 1999 through Januay 2000 as coalitions director for Bush's Iowa caucus campaign, then did field work in the SC, VA, WA and IL primaries, and finally served as executive director of the Michigan campaign. Previously Taylor worked for two years at the Tarrance Group, the No. Va. polling firm headed by Ed Goeas. In 1995-96 she worked on Sen. Phil Gramm's presidential campaign in Iowa" "under John Weaver, who [in 2005] was a chief consultant" for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Bush administration
 * Bush administration misuse of government agencies controversy
 * Bush's White House Staff
 * gwb43.com
 * vote caging

2006

 * Mike Allen and James Carney, "Campaign 2006: The Republicans' Secret Weapon," TIME Magazine, October 1, 2006.
 * Richard Wolffe, "In Rove's Footsteps. They learned from the master, and are applying the lessons in the hottest races ahead. Meet the architect's protégés," Newsweek (MSNBC), October 2, 2006. re Karl Rove, Scott Howell, Todd Olsen, Terry Nelson, Ken Mehlman
 * Chuck DeFeo, "White House Political Director: Vote Because the Stakes are Too High," Townhall.com, November 2, 2006.

2007

 * Michael Roston, "Key Rove aide fingered in US Attorney investigation to step down; Could face subpoena," The Raw Story, March 30, 2007.
 * Murray Waas, "Secret Order by Gonzales Delegated Extraordinary Powers to his Aides," National Journal, April 20, 2007.
 * "Sara Taylor Sends Horse Heads to the USAs," The Next Hurrah Blogspot, May 2, 2007.
 * Murray Waas, "Administration Withheld E-mails About Rove," National Journal, May 10, 2007.
 * John D. McKinnon, "Political Device Goes Corporate," Wall Street Journal Online, May 21, 2007.
 * Amanda Terkel, "Justice Department Officials Confirm White House Instigated Plan To Bypass Senate On U.S. Attorney," Think Progress, May 23, 2007.
 * Marcy Wheeler, "Did Sara Taylor Harriet Miers Appoint Tim Griffin USA on December 15, 2006?" The Next Hurrah Blogspot, May 23, 2007.
 * Michael A. Fletcher, "Another Top Bush Aide Makes an Exit," Washington Post, May 28, 2007.
 * Nico Pitney, "New Justice Dept. Emails Reveal Top Rove Aides’ Involvement In Attorney Scandal," Think Progress, June 12, 2007.
 * xan, "gwb43.com Today: ThinkProgress Buries a Lede," Corrente Wire, June 12, 2007.
 * "Congressional Panels Subpoena Harriet Miers, Bush Aide Sara Taylor on Attorney Firings," Associated Press (Fox News), June 13, 2007.
 * Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor, "Officials Rebuked For Disclosing Rove’s Connection To Firing of U.S. Attorney," McClatchy Newspapers (Common Dreams), June 13, 2007.
 * Jeremy Jacobs, "Democrats subpoena Miers and Taylor," The Hill, June 13, 2007.
 * Jane Roh, "Subpoenas Sent To Harriet Miers, Sara Taylor" Updated, The Gate Blog/National Journal, June 13, 2007.
 * BarbinMD, "Subpoena Issued for Sara Taylor: Updated," The Daily Kos, June 13, 2007.
 * "BREAKING: Top White House Officials Subpoenaed Over Attorney Scandal," Think Progress, June 13, 2007.
 * "The Use of RNC E-Mail Accounts by White House Officials," House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, June 18, 2007. See Interim Report.
 * Scott Horton, "Of Missing Emails and 18-Minute Gaps," Harper's Magazine, June 18, 2007.
 * "White House aides' e-mail records gone," Associated Press (USA TODAY), June 18, 2007.
 * Steve Benen, "About those RNC email accounts…," The Carpetbagger Report, June 18, 2007.
 * John Nichols, "To the Courts, Then, on Behalf of the Constitution!" The Nation (Common Dreams), July 2, 2007.
 * Marcy Wheeler, "Sara's Sob Story," The Next Hurrah Blogspot, July 7, 2007.
 * Nancy Zuckerbrod, "Leahy Expects Ex-Bush Aide to Testify," Associated Press (ABC News), July 9, 2007.
 * Dahlia Lithwick, "Rocking the Hard Place. Sara Taylor plays the Senate judiciary committee like a harp," Slate, July 11, 2007.
 * Jane Roh, "Taylor's Account Of Firings Paints Benevolent White House Picture," The Gate/National Journal, July 11, 2007.
 * Paul Kane and Peter Baker, "Ex-Bush Aide to Respect Executive Privilege in Hill Testimony," Washington Post, July 11, 2007.
 * Laurie Kellman, "Former Bush Adviser to Say No to Senate," Associated Press (Washington Post), July 11, 2007.
 * "Bush uses privilege to deny ex-aides’ testimony. White House-Congress showdown escalates over attorney firing subpoenas," Associated Press (MSNBC), July 11, 2007. re executive privilege
 * Editorial: "Privilege has its limits. It would behoove President Bush to compromise with Congress in its U.S. attorneys probe," Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2007.
 * Larisa Alexandrovna, "Sara Taylor Observations," at-Largely Blog, July 11, 2007.
 * Matt Corley, "Echoing Gonzales, Taylor’s Testimony Rife With ‘I Don’t Know’ And ‘I Don’t Recall’," Think Progress, July 11, 2007.
 * Sridhar Pappu, "A Bush Aide's Long Road From The White House," Washington Post, July 12, 2007.
 * Steve Benen, "Taylor made for keeping White House secrets," The Carpetbagger Report, July 12, 2007.
 * Michael Roston, "House Oversight Committee calls ex-Rove aide Taylor back to Hill," The Raw Story, July 17, 2007.
 * Paul Kiel, "Waxman Wants Former Rove Aide to Testify about Politicization," TPMmuckraker, July 17, 2007.
 * Scott Horton, "Politicizing the Civil Service," Harper's Magazine, July 25, 2007.
 * Robert D. Novak, "Henry Waxman's War," Washington Post, July 26, 2007. re Henry A. Waxman and the Office of National Drug Control Policy
 * Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray, "First Came the '02 Race. Then They Squared Off in '04 and '06. Now It's . . .," Washington Post, October 14, 2007. Scroll down to "Players".
 * B Merryfield, "Sara Taylor - here she comes again," The Daily Kos, October 15, 2007.

Live blogging Sara Taylor, July 11, 2007

 * Christy Hardin Smith, Testimony of Sara Taylor before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Firedoglake Blog, July 11, 2007:
 * Part I: "In Advance Of Sara Taylor and the HJC..."; Part II; Part III


 * Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, July 11, 2007:
 * "'Our Quarrel is Not with You'"
 * "Taylor Refuses to Answer about Conversations with President"
 * "Taylor Used Off-The-Record Email to Be 'Efficient'"
 * "Taylor: Sorry for Calling Fired USA 'Lazy'"
 * "Maybe Clinton Got Away with It?"
 * "Taylor: 'I Took An Oath to The President'"


 * "Liveblog - Sara Taylor and Gonzogate," The Daily Kos, July 11, 2007, with links to 5 parts.

External resources

 * Articles on Sara Taylor, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
 * Testimony: Sara Taylor, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, July 11, 2007.
 * Sara Taylor's Written Testimony, June 11, 2007 (Updated July 11, 2007), Talking Points Memo Document Collection.
 * Campaign Contribution Search: Sara Taylor, NewsMeat.
 * Sara Taylor, Wikipedia.