Ed Rollins

Ed Rollins is a pollster and political consultant, 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. [1]

Following the 1992 elections, Rollins boasted of his success at "voter suppression" during a journalists' breakfast. Rollins said he had bribed Democratic campaign workers during the New Jersey governor's race between Democrat Jim Florio and Rollins's client, Christine Todd Whitman.

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 amounted to 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 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. [2]

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.

"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.

External links

"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.