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Ed Rollins | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Rollins in 1983 | |
| White House Director ofPolitical andIntergovernmental Affairs | |
| In office February 5, 1985 – October 1, 1985 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Margaret D. Tutwiler(Acting, Political Affairs) Lee Verstandig(Intergovernmental Affairs) |
| Succeeded by | Mitch Daniels |
| White House Director of Political Affairs | |
| In office January 22, 1982 – October 1983 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Lyn Nofziger |
| Succeeded by | Margaret D. Tutwiler(Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edward Rollins (1943-03-19)March 19, 1943 (age 82) Boston,Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | First wife (divorced) Sherrie Sandy (divorced) Shari Scharfer (2003–present) |
| Education | Solano Community College San Jose State University California State University, Chico (BA) |
Edward Rollins (born March 19, 1943) is an Americanpolitical consultant and advisor who has worked on several high-profileRepublican political campaigns in the United States. In 1983 and 1984, Rollins was national campaign director for the successfulReagan-Bush 1984 campaign.
Rollins previously served as chairman of the pro–Donald TrumpGreat America PAC.[1][2][3] He was Chief Political Strategist at the pro-Ron DeSantis PAC Ready for Ron.[4][5]
Rollins was born inBoston, Massachusetts, into anIrish Catholic household.[6] At the time, his father was stationed with the U.S. Army in theAleutian Islands. After the war, his parents returned with him toVallejo, California, where his father worked as an electrician at the city'sMare Island Navy Yard, primarily building submarines. Rollins grew up in the Federal Terrace housing project, attendingSt. Vincent Ferrer Grammar and High School. For a year, at age 14, he attendedSt. Joseph's College, a junior seminary inMountain View, before returning to Vallejo.
He competed as a boxer from ages 13 to 23, winning several West Coast amateur titles. Rollins recalls his record as 164 victories and just 2 defeats.[7]
Graduating from high school in 1961, he tried to enlist in theMarines, but failed the physical. Shortly thereafter, Rollins spent most of a year in the hospital dealing with his back problems. Once healthy, in 1962, he began undergraduate studies atVallejo Junior College, eventually earned his associate degree, and transferred toSan Jose State University in 1965. Unable to pass the physical exam required for a sports scholarship because of his continuing back problems, after one semester Rollins transferred toCalifornia State University, Chico, where he was hired as boxing coach. There he earned hisBA in political science with a second major in physical education in 1968.
Rollins interned inSacramento for California's Democratic leader, Assembly SpeakerJesse Unruh, in 1967. Unruh introduced Rollins to SenatorRobert F. Kennedy; in early 1968 he worked for Kennedy as a campus coordinator, then later for his primary campaign in Northern California.
After the 1968 election and theGOP gaining a majority in theCalifornia Assembly, he was hired byRepublican AssemblymanRay E. Johnson as his chief of staff, despite his prior service under the Democrats.[8] In 1972, Rollins worked for the California campaign to re-elect PresidentRichard Nixon. This gave Rollins his first close contact with GovernorRonald Reagan, who chaired Nixon's California campaign, andLyn Nofziger, who ran the West Coast Nixon political operation.[9]
Rollins moved to Washington in 1973, to serve as principal assistant toBob Monagan overseeing congressional relations at theU.S. Department of Transportation. He continued as deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs through the end of theFord administration.
From 1977 to 1979, he served as dean of the faculty and deputy superintendent at theNational Fire Academy in Washington. During that time, he met and married Kitty Nellor Burnes. In early 1979, Rollins returned to Sacramento with his wife Kitty Nellor and became chief of staff for the Assembly Republican Caucus. During this period, he was offered but ultimately declined the position of chief of staff to former PresidentNixon.[citation needed]
After the landslide GOP victory in November 1980, Rollins was hired to serve as deputy assistant to the president for political affairs under Nofziger. When Nofziger resigned in November 1981, Rollins was appointed as assistant to the president for political affairs and director of the Office of Political Affairs.
A week before the 1982 election, on October 25, Rollins suffered twostrokes, the result of a deteriorating neck artery that had been injured during his final boxing match in 1967. He recovered and returned to his White House job in December 1982, holding the position until resigning in October 1983 to leadReagan's re-election campaign.[dead link][10] In the second term, he rejoined the Reagan Administration for several months in 1985 as Assistant to the President for Political and Governmental Affairs.[11]
Rollins worked as national campaign director to Ronald Reagan in the 1984presidential election. Rollins was personally selected for the job by White House Chief of StaffJames A. Baker III, who had served asGerald Ford's manager in 1976. Rollins's deputy and political director wasLee Atwater. The Reagan-Bush ticket ultimately won 49 of the 50 states. After the election, Rollins agreed in January 1985 to return to the White House Office of Political Affairs, under new Chief of StaffDonald Regan. However, Rollins grew disenchanted after Reagan passed him over for the post ofSecretary of Labor following the resignation ofRaymond Donovan, and with the abrasive chief's staff and style. On October 1, 1985, Rollins joined the Sacramento-based political consulting firm of Russo & Watts.
In the 1988 Republican presidential primaries, Rollins managed the campaign of former New York CongressmanJack Kemp.
In 1989, Rollins headed theNational Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans' campaign wing.[dead link][12] Rollins got into a highly visible feud with President Bush over the 1990 budget deal, in which Bush broke his 1988 campaign promise not to raise taxes. Rollins wrote a memo to GOP candidates, telling them unequivocally, "Do not hesitate to distance yourself from the President." He later wrote, "My job was electing Republicans to the House. George Bush and his tax deal made that impossible. Now my job was to see how many we could save ... Guys who didn't think they had a race were all of a sudden fighting for their lives, includingNewt Gingrich."[13]
After resigning from the NRCC, Rollins began working as Washington managing partner for theSawyer/Miller Group consulting firm.
In June 1992, Rollins agreed to serve as co-manager (with Carter DemocratHamilton Jordan) ofRoss Perot's1992 presidential campaign. He resigned in July. Later, he suggested that Perot was not emotionally suited to be president. Perot initially ended his campaign the day after Rollins resigned, only to resume his campaign after the Democratic National Convention.
Rollins worked as the campaign manager forChristine Todd Whitman in her 1993New Jersey gubernatorial race. After organizing a campaign that led to Whitman's come-from-behind victory, Rollins claimed toTime 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 forJim Florio.'" After public outcry and calls for an investigation, Rollins partially retracted some of these claims tellingPeople magazine (March 31, 1997, Vol. 47, No. 12) that his comments were "an exaggeration that turned out to be inaccurate."[14]
Rollins managed the campaign ofGeorge Nethercutt, who defeatedTom Foley in Washington State's eastern congressional district in November 1994.[15] That year, he was also general consultant to theMichael Huffington campaign for U.S. Senate in California, who lost to late DemocratDianne Feinstein, and also helped direct theBruce D. Benson campaign for Governor of Colorado.
In 1998, Rollins consulted on the campaign of Joe Khoury, a Republican candidate in Southern California'sInland Empire. Khoury was running in the Republican primary against incumbent RepresentativeKen Calvert.
In the 2002 campaign for Governor of California, Rollins consulted for then-Secretary of StateBill Jones, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination, losing toBill Simon. Rollins was then hired by Simon for the fall gubernatorial campaign, which lost to incumbent DemocratGray Davis.
In 2006, Rollins consulted on the campaign of RepublicanNew York State Senate contenderK.T. McFarland. He also worked for the campaign ofUnited States RepresentativeKatherine Harris for theU.S. Senate from Florida. According toThe Wall Street Journal, the two had a falling-out, with Rollins not attending a staff meeting inTampa and quitting a few days later after he questioned the viability of her campaign.[16]
Rollins was the national campaign chairman onMike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign. Rollins was later overheard saying that he wanted to "knock out"Mitt Romney's teeth.[17]
Rollins signed on to plan the campaign ofMichele Bachmann (R), U.S. representative forMinnesota's 6th district. At the time of his appointment, Bachmann had not yet announced her candidacy but was expected to make her intentions known in June 2011.[18] Rollins "stepped down from running day-to-day operations of the Bachmann campaign" as of September 2011, citing health reasons.[19] Later, it was revealed that he had suffered astroke.[20]
As of May 2016, Rollins joined the pro–Donald TrumpGreat America PAC and currently serves as chairman,[21][22] along with founderEric Beach and treasurer Dan Backer.[23][24][25] As of December 2019, the PAC—which the Trump 2016 campaign properly disavowed, because it is not authorized by that campaign—has paid Rollins at least $330,000.[26] Great America PAC has been one of the largest non-party outside spenders during the 2020 election cycle.[27]
In November 2021, Rollins and entrepreneur Harrison Rogers launched Restore Our Freedom PAC, which plans to spend $10 million in support of Republicans ahead of the 2022 and 2024 elections.[28] The new PAC aims to "undermine the radical Biden agenda and boost pro-liberty Republicans on a national level."[29]
In May 2022, Rollins helped launch Ready for Ron, an organization working to draft and elect Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as president.[30][31]
Rollins has been married three times; his first two marriages ended in divorce. He wed his third wife, Shari Lois Scharfer, a formerCBS television executive, in 2003. He has an adopted daughter, Lily, from his second marriage toSherrie Rollins Westin.[32] Rollins lives in New York, where he has served as political commentator forCNN and (currently) Fox News and Fox Business, appearing frequently onLou Dobbs Tonight.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | White House Director of Political Affairs 1982–1983 | Succeeded byas White House Director of Political Affairs |
| Preceded byas White House Director of Political Affairs | White House Director ofPolitical andIntergovernmental Affairs 1985 Served alongside:Bill Lacy (Political Affairs);Lee Verstandig,Mitch Daniels (Intergovernmental Affairs) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
