ROVE's Replacement. More same old, same old RNC & BUSHCO insider

[L. Coyote]

Rove's departure may not be the sort of good news some would hope. First, ask, "Who will take his place at Bush's side?"

White House Memo
With Rove’s Departure, a New Era
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/washington/15bush.html?em&ex=1187323200&en=be7f114630b6c2ab&ei=5087%0A

Several officials said Ed Gillespie, another former Republican National Committee chairman, would became one of the most important members of the president’s inner circle. Mr. Gillespie was brought in as White House counselor in June, succeeding Dan Bartlett, a senior aide who had been with Mr. Bush since he was governor of Texas.

Mr. Gillespie in many ways embodies a Washington insider, having worked for a decade as an aide to the former House majority leader Dick Armey, Republican of Texas, and became a founding partner of the bipartisan lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates.

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L. Coyote Jun-14-07 Ed Gillespie, Tenet Healthcare lobbyist, Ex-RNC chief named President's Counselor
From: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1111575

A lobbyist peripheral to the firing of US Attorney Carol Lam has been named as the new Counselor to the President. Gillespie served as Bush's hand-pick RNC chairman. Gillepsie's firm was paid $360,000 by Tenet Healthcare in 2006. Carol Lam was litigating against Tenet's Alvarado Hospital and its staff when she was fired.

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Former Chairman of G.O.P. Will Join Bush’s Inner Circle
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: June 14, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/washington/14gillespie.html

WASHINGTON, June 13 — Ed Gillespie, a prominent Washington lobbyist, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and longtime adviser to President Bush, will join the White House inner circle as the next counselor to the president, Mr. Bush said Wednesday.

Mr. Bush made the announcement in the Oval Office, with Mr. Gillespie and the aide he will replace, Dan Bartlett, by his side. In selecting Mr. Gillespie, Mr. Bush reached for a consummate insider, someone comfortable both in the ways of Washington and the White House itself.

It was a revealing change of course for a president who came to Washington more than six years ago with a cadre of Texas outsiders who did not hide their disdain for the city’s permanent bureaucracy. But as he approaches the end of his second term, Mr. Bush has been increasingly turning to members of the Washington establishment, including Tony Snow as press secretary, Fred F. Fielding as White House counsel, and now Mr. Gillespie. ....

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Ex-RNC chief named president's counselor
by Jennifer Loven, Associated Press | June 14, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/06/14/ex_rnc_chief_named_presidents_counselor

WASHINGTON -- Ed Gillespie, a high-dollar Washington lobbyist and longtime go-to guy for President Bush and the Republican Party, is replacing Dan Bartlett as White House counselor in the president's inner circle.

"He is a seasoned hand who has got excellent judgment. He's a good strategic thinker that I know will do a fine job," Bush said after having lunch with Gillespie and Bartlett.

Gillespie, a former head of the national GOP, will take on Bartlett's same duties and title. He starts June 27, to have some overlap with Bartlett, who is leaving around July 4.

Bartlett, 36, has been one of Bush's most trusted advisers, a near-constant presence at president's side and, at 14 years, his longest-serving aide. Bartlett has been with Bush from his first campaign as governor of Texas ..............

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Bush picks Washington insider as White House counselor
Ex-Republican chairman Gillespie is chosen to be White House counselor.
By James Gerstenzang and Maura Reynolds, Times Staff Writers
June 14, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-bush14jun14,1,5197199.story?coll=la-news-politics-national

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Wednesday named a Washington insider ... a political veteran who has strong relationships with congressional Republicans. Bush met Gillespie, a New Jersey native, in 1999. ....

Gillespie, 45, is known as a fierce political fighter who is never "off message" in public. During Bush's 2004 reelection campaign, the then-RNC chairman served as Bush's surrogate in delivering sharply partisan messages so the president could stick to more high-minded political rhetoric.

... The counselor job is that of a close advisor, political expert and, perhaps more than anything else, crafter and conveyor of the presidential message.

In the early Bush years, Gillespie met almost weekly with the president as RNC chairman, becoming part of his inner circle, said Kenneth M. Duberstein, Reagan's final White House chief of staff.

"This is not a change in the tectonic plates," Duberstein said.