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Rick Wiley
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| Rick Wiley | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Location: | Austin, Texas | ||
| Affiliation: | Republican | ||
| Education: | Sangamon State University (B.A.) | ||
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Rick Wiley is a consultant overseeing the national field program for the Republican National Committee during the 2016 election cycle. According to the RNC, Wiley was hired "in consultation and agreement with the Trump campaign."[1]
Career
Early career
Rick Wiley's political career began as a legislative assistant to Wisconsin State Rep. Gene Hahn (R) from 1994 to 1996. He then moved to work with Illinois State Comptroller Loleta Didrickson, first as Didrickson’s legislative liaison and then managing her U.S. Senate primary campaign in 1998. In 2000, he was the political manager for the Associated Builders & Contractors Mid-West political operation.[5]
Republican Party of Wisconsin
- See also: Republican Party of Wisconsin
Wiley began working for the Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW) in 2001 as the political director, and he remained in this position until 2004.[6] That year, he took a leave to work as executive director of the REpublican Party's Victory effort for the presidential election. According to Politico, the Wisconsin effort for George W. Bush's campaign was "the largest Get-Out-the-Vote effort in state history."[7]
After the 2004 presidential election, Wiley returned to the RPW as the group's executive director.[8][9][10] Wiley left the RPW in 2007 to join the presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani (R) in its early stages. Upon leaving the party's leadership, Wiley said, "My time with the RPW has been fantastic and I’ve worked with some really talented people over the last six years. I’m proud of the accomplishments we’ve had and the work we’ve done. The foundation is stable and ready to deliver Wisconsin for the Republican nominee in 2008."[11]
Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign, 2008
In 2008, Wiley rejoined national politics and served as deputy national political director for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign.[12][9] Wiley stated, as deputy national political director, that he was "charged with setting up the staff around the country … (and) setting up the ground game."[13] In March 2006, while still executive director of the RPW, Wiley commented on Giuliani's strengths as a candidate, especially his appeal to voters in New York, where Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had strong poll numbers. Wiley told the Observer, "Everybody looks for a base to run from. Obviously, he would really stymie her position to run up the score in New York. She would have to look elsewhere to pick up those electoral votes."[14]
In October 2007, Wiley explained his position in the Giuliani campaign to students at Clemson University. The student paper summarized his duties, saying, "As National Deputy Director of the campaign, Wiley runs the political organization of the campaign in 11 different states. He is in charge of the field work and supervising the staff in the 11 field offices across the nation. Wiley's main job with the field offices is getting the staff organized in different states and contacting the public with information about Giuliani.Another responsibility for Wiley is overseeing the budget for the campaign.He also works with different research groups to find strong focus areas for the campaign."[15]
Republican National Committee
- See also: Republican National Committee
In 2009, Wiley became regional political director for the Republican National Committee (RNC).[6][12] He was in charge directing the RNC's political operations in the Western United States.[16]
In 2011, Wiley was promoted to the role of RNC political director. At the time of the promotion, Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus said:[17]
| “ | I have said from the very beginning that one of my priorities is reaching out and communicating with Republican leaders on the Hill and across the country so we can elect more Republicans over the next two years. As a former Regional Political Director for the RNC, Deputy National Political Director for Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign and Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Rick Wiley is exactly what this committee needs to build the grassroots Get-Out-the-Vote operation we need to beat Barack Obama.[18] | ” |
Wiley told Roll Call that a major task in his new role was to update the way the RNC approached campaigns. Wiley described his mission as "taking a top-to-bottom look at the (voter) turnout program and all the pieces that are in the turnout program and figuring what works, what doesn’t work and what’s outdated." Roll Call further outlined Wiley's objectives for his tenure at the RNC: "Internet and reaching voters through new media portals such as Twitter, Facebook and text messaging is one area where Wiley conceded Obama remains far ahead of the RNC, and he said his goal is for the committee to close the gap..."[10][19][20][8][9] According to a press release by Mercury Public Affairs, during the 2012 election cycle, Wiley assisted in Mitt Romney's presidential campaign via the RNC by implementing a $178 million national grassroots campaign.[12][19][20][8]
Mercury Public Affairs
- See also: Mercury Public Affairs
After the 2012 election cycle, in March 2013, Wiley moved to Mercury Public Affairs, a political consulting firm. Wiley became the managing director for their Washington, D.C. headquarters.[8][12] While with Mercury, Wiley worked on a number of campaigns in 2014, including Governors Scott Walker (R-Wis.), Bruce Rauner (R-Ill.) and Greg Abbott (R-Texas). Wiley also worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Joni Ernst's (R-Iowa) Senate campaign.[12][8][9] Wiley left the firm to join Scott Walker's PAC, Our American Revival.[19]
Presidential election, 2016
Republican National Committee
On June 15, 2016, the Republican National Committee announced that it had hired Rick Wiley as a consultant to oversee the national field operation. RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer told The Washington Post, "Rick has been hired as a consultant by the RNC in consultation and agreement with the Trump campaign."[1]
Donald Trump
- See also: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
On April 13, Rick Wiley joined the presidential campaign of Donald Trump as the national political director.[2] At the time of Wiley's hiring, Politico noted that the addition of Wiley indicated a shift in campaign management.[21] In March 2016, Trump hired Paul Manafort as the campaign's convention strategist; the move came as campaign manager Corey Lewandowski received criticism for a number of alleged incidences of violence at Trump events, including his simple battery charge stemming from an incident with Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields. According to Politico, "Wiley’s hiring demonstrates how quickly Manafort is consolidating his own power within Trump’s campaign, gaining influence with the candidate and exerting authority over those who had previously reported to campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the campaign."[21]
Wiley's role in the campaign involved working with field operations. When Wiley was hired, Trump stated, "He brings decades of experience, and his deep ties to political leaders and activists across the country will be a tremendous asset as we enter the final phase of securing the nomination."[22]
On May 25, 2016, Wiley and the Trump campaign parted ways. According to Politico, Wiley had previously been in an altercation with Karen Giorno, a Trump advisor who ran the primary campaign in Florida. The article noted, "For weeks, Wiley made appointments and had discussions with Florida Republicans and appeared to be building a new campaign from scratch, sources say. They say he refused, at times, to return Giorno’s calls or take them." On May 25, the Trump campaign issued a statement, saying, "Rick Wiley was hired on a short-term basis as a consultant until the campaign was running full steam. It is now doing better than ever, we are leading in the polls, and we have many exciting events ready to go, far ahead of schedule while Hillary continues her long, boring quest against Bernie."[3]
Scott Walker
- See also: Scott Walker presidential campaign, 2016
Scott Walker announced his official candidacy for the 2016 presidential election on July 13, 2015.[23] Prior to announcing his candidacy, Walker formed a PAC, Our American Revival, which the Huffington Post speculated might be his "campaign-in-waiting."[20] Rick Wiley, having left Mercury, was appointed executive director of the PAC and then transitioned to the role of campaign manager after Walker's announcement.[19][24]
Criticism of Wiley
Walker's performance in the CNN-sponsored September 16 GOP presidential debate at the Reagan Library generated some reports that Walker donors were putting pressure on Walker to fire Wiley.[4][25] The Washington Post reported that a major Walker donor, speaking off the record, told them, "There is a substantial amount of chatter that he needs to go. People are worried." Although Walker said staff changes "didn't come up at all" in his conversations with donors, One or more anonymous donors also told the paper that they were unhappy with Wiley for, by their account, expanding the staff too quickly and failing to "calibrate spending."[4]
On September 17, Wiley told a Madison, Wisconsin-based newspaper, "I'm not going anywhere. The vicious rumor cycle has begun. Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated."[26]
Campaign suspension
On September 21, Walker announced that he was suspending his campaign, effectively ending his bid for the White House.[27] After Walker suspended his campaign, Wiley commented to Politico on the difficulty of the job, saying, "We built the machine that we needed to get a governor in just phenomenal shape to take a stage in a presidential debate. I think sometimes it's lost on people the largeness of the job. I think people just look at it and say, 'Wow! Yeah, you know, it's like he's a governor and he was in a recall' and blah, blah, blah — he’s ready. ... It's just not like that. It is really, really difficult. ... I'm just saying, you know, like it's a f---ing bitch, man. It really is."[28]
After the campaign ended, Walker supporters criticized Wiley. R.J. Johnson, a longtime Walker supporter, called into question Wiley's public comments about the campaign, writing, "It's one thing to fail at a campaign and there's more than one reason this one did. But it's quite another to publicly and repeatedly blame your client for that failure, one you had full ownership in. The same client who paid you and trusted you with their life, their most personal details and their reputation. It crosses a line that any ethical political consultant would avoid. And when you cross it the beating that follows is one of your own making."[29]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Rick Wiley'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Scott Walker presidential campaign, 2016
- Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
- Republican Party of Wisconsin
- Republican National Committee
- Mercury Public Affairs
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Washington Post, "Top aide dismissed by Trump will help run RNC’s field program," June 15, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Hill, "Trump campaign hires former Walker aide," April 13, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Politico, "Trump fires top aide," May 25, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Washington Post, "Amid dropping poll numbers, Scott Walker will retreat to focus on Iowa," September 17, 2015
- ↑ Wis Politics, "WisPolitics E-Profile: Rick Wiley," September 26, 2006
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mercury, "Rick Wiley," accessed July 7, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Rudy's Team," February 14, 2007
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 The Hill, "Walker staffs up ahead of potential '16 run," January 7, 2015
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 CNN, "Walker builds 2016 team with likely campaign manager," January 8, 2015
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Roll Call, "RNC Looks to Revamp Ground Game," April 12, 2011
- ↑ Wis Politics, "Rick Wiley to leave RPW post," January 29, 2007
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Mercury, "Mercury Welcomes Rick Wiley and Ashley Walker," March 25, 2013
- ↑ The Badger Herald, "GOP leader joins Guiliani camp," January 30, 2007
- ↑ Observer, "Can Rudy Pass As Republican? Hillary Helps," May 1, 2006
- ↑ The Tiger (Clemson University), "Giuliani's deputy director informs," October 19, 2007
- ↑ Democracy In Action, "Republican National Committee - 2010," accessed May 17, 2016
- ↑ Republican Party, "RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Announces Key Senior Staff Hires," February 24, 2011
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Washington Post, "Scott Walker forms committee in preparation for 2016 presidential bid," January 27, 2015
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Huffington Post, "Scott Walker Forms First Committee For 2016 Run," March 29, 2015
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Politico, "Donald Trump shuffles struggling campaign team," April 13, 2016
- ↑ Fox 6 Now, "Donald Trump hires Rick Wiley — Governor Scott Walker’s former campaign manager," April 13, 2016
- ↑ Washington Post, "One of the last in, Scott Walker enters 2016 presidential race near the top of the GOP field," July 13, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "The power players behind Scott Walker's campaign," July 14, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Scott Walker swings, misses and his campaign scrambles", September 17, 2015
- ↑ The Capital Times, "Scott Walker campaign chair Rick Wiley: 'I'm not going anywhere,'" September 17, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Walker quits after blowing through campaign cash," September 21, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Walker's campaign manager unloads," September 23, 2015
- ↑ Wisconsin State Journal, "Scott Walker supporters throw Rick Wiley under the Winnebago," October 2, 2015
