CONTACTS:
Eric
Woolson
Alex
Conant
GOVERNOR
PAWLENTY UNVEILS IOWA STAFF
LED BY IOWA
HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP ERIK HELLAND
URBANDALE – Former
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who formed a 2012 presidential exploratory
committee on March 21, today announced the members of an Iowa
staff that will be led by two-term state Rep. Erik Helland of Johnston.
Annie
Kelly, who was recently the director of operations for Pawlenty’s
Freedom
First Political Action Committee, has been named state deputy director.
Tracie
Gibler, an Ottumwa
native who managed Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ 2010 congressional
campaign
will serve as Pawlenty’s state political director.
"We've
assembled an Iowa
team with an exceptional balance of depth and experience combined
with
energy and passion," Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant said. "This
team knows Iowa
and knows how to build successful coalitions. With their help, we will
unite
Republicans behind Governor Pawlenty's conservative record of success."
Helland
is the Iowa House majority whip and serves on the Ways and Means, State
Government and Local Government committees. His political experience
includes
working as Midwest political director for former New York Gov. George
Pataki’s 21st Century Political Action Committee and as an Iowa field
staffer for
John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Helland earned his bachelor’s
and law degrees from Drake University.
Kelly,
a Philadelphia
native, was deputy director of Pawlenty’s 2006 re-election campaign. A
senior associate with the Washington-based firm BlueFront Strategies,
she is a
veteran of the McCain presidential campaign and a former employee of
the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security. She also interned in the White House
Office of
Senior Advisor Karl Rove.
Gibler,
who earned her law degree at Drake University, was a field director in
Iowa
and Florida
for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Her
work in Washington, D.C., includes a stint as director for
development with Americans for Limited Government.
Field
representatives include:
Daniel Catlin has political
experience in
several states. He was a field director for the Alabama Republican
Party,
campaign manager for an Alabama state Senate
candidate and field director for Americans for Limited Government in
two Virginia congressional
districts.
Andrew Wagner of Minneapolis
has worked as an intern for the
Minnesota Republican Party and a state senator. He was the campaign
manager for
a Minnesota House candidate and was active in the Minnesota College
Republicans.
Andy Swanson of Dayton, Iowa,
served as deputy campaign manager for Rep. Tom Latham’s 2010
re-election
campaign. He also was a field representative on the McCain presidential
campaign and regional coalitions director in Ohio
and Pennsylvania
for the McCain-Palin organization.
Anthony Zammit, an Eau Claire,
Wis.,
political consultant and a former chairman of the Minnesota College
Republicans, was deputy political director for U.S. Sen. Norman
Coleman’s
2008 re-election campaign. He was also Statewide Catholic Coordinator
for the
Minnesota Victory ’04 campaign.
Dane Nealson of Ames is a
former chairman of the Iowa
Federation of College Republicans. He was the Iowa Victory field
director for
the Republican Party of Iowa last year. A former legislative clerk, he
also was
field director for the 2008 Miller-Meeks congressional campaign and an
Iowa field
representative for Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign.
John Wesley Vinson was the
deputy manager
of the 2010 Zaun for Congress campaign. He has also served as a field
director
for an Oregon gubernatorial candidate, manager
of a Virginia delegate candidate’s
campaign and field director for an Alabama
congressional candidate.
Kevin Kuhle, a Drake University
graduate
and former student body president, is a legislative clerk in the Iowa
House. He
was a field director for the 2010 Republican Party of Iowa House
Majority Fund
staff and managed a 2008 Wisconsin Assembly campaign.
Mike Thom of West Des Moines is
a legislative clerk in the
Iowa House and was a campaign aide to David Jamison, the 2010 GOP
candidate for
state treasurer. An Iowa State University
graduate working on his master of public administration degree at Drake
University,
he worked as a USDA biological science aide from 2003 to 2010.
Rob Anderson, a political
science major at
the University of California, Santa Barbara, was an intern for Governor
Branstad’s
2010 campaign.
Travis Holler, a 2011 graduate
of the George Washington University, was an intern
in the Office of Presidential Correspondence at the White House in 2007
and
2008. He also was an intern on the Bob McConnell for Governor campaign
in Virginia in 2009.