Publisher’s Note: Both of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor next year are in the process of putting together their campaign structure to carry them through to the primary, and each campaign would tell you, through the general election. Recently, both campaigns have brought on new campaign managers, and today and tomorrow we’ll be spotlighting each of them, starting today with Poizner’s new hire, Jim Bognet.
FR readers should understand that a campaign manager is typically not a campaign “strategist” or a consultant (which is not to say that a CM wouldn’t have a seat at the campaign strategy table). This position is usually the senior staff spot on a campaign, and typically it falls to this person to ensure that all of the aspects of a campaign are being executed upon and are moving forward. Needless to say, this role with a Gubernatorial level campaign is quite complex and time consuming, and requires a top notch operative… Flash
Jim Bognet, Campaign Manager
Steve Poizner for Governor
Steve Poizner’s new campaign manager is Jim Bognet, a veteran of the Schwarzenegger re-election and Romney presidential campaigns.
Jim is a Pennsylvania native who grew up with Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp as his conservative icons. A scholarship from UCLA Law School first brought Jim to California to obtain his JD and MBA.
He became active in grassroots California Republican politics and was elected as the top vote-getter to the 53rd Assembly District Central Committee from Hermosa Beach. Jim worked in the recall campaign in 2003 and joined the Schwarzenegger Administration as Chief Deputy Special Advisor for Jobs and Economic Growth where he was a strong advocate against tax increases and for pro-growth economic policies and business attraction efforts.
Jim left the Governor’s office to serve as Policy Director for Governor Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign in 2006. He left to join the Romney campaign at the beginning of the Governor’s second term.
I suppose this is where I vouch for Jim’s conservative credentials to FR readers, since now a days, having Schwarzenegger all over your resume doesn’t instill tremendous enthusiasm from Republicans.
Bognet developed a close relationship with Governor Romney and served as Policy Development Director for the campaign. The Washington Post described Jim as a, “critical behind-the-scenes player in formulating Romney’s policies,” and he led development of Romney’s economic policy and stimulus plan, which advocated major pro-growth tax cuts. Bognet appeared on CSPAN and other media outlets to advocate Romney’s economic policy
After Romney dropped out of the presidential campaign, Jim was the only Romney senior staff member brought onto the McCain presidential campaign staff during the summer to work on the general election. Poizner insiders tell me he has good relationships in California and nationally with GOP political operatives, grassroots activists, and members of the business community.
By way of some final analysis, it strikes me as an interesting hire to place in your top staff position someone who has primary been dealing with policy issues for the past several years – both in the Governor’s office as well as on the campaigns for which he has worked. That having been said, I have personally had the opportunity to work with Jim, and can assure FR readers that he is a very politically savvy guy, and also a very hard worker. He’ll have his hands full, both with the candidate himself who tends to be very hands-on in most aspects of his campaign, as well as with Stuart Stevens, Poizner’s Chief Strategist who has won many, many tough campaigns around the country and has a reputation, as well, for being very involved in the execution of campaign plans.
I caught up with Steve Poizner to ask him about Bognet, and he told me that he is thrilled to have him in this top staff position, "Jim Bognet is an experienced and aggressive operative who has worked in senior positions at both the state and national levels.”
I asked Poizner what it was about Bognet that most appealed to him. Poizner told me that, “Jim possesses a rare combination of extensive policy knowledge and impressive political skill. Jim understands the Republican grassroots because he’s worked at that level and he’s also worked at the most senior level of a major presidential campaign. Jim knows California’s politics and players well and understands the uniqueness of our state.”
Poizner concluded by saying that, “Jim Bognet is a terrific addition to Team Poizner and he’s already making a significant contribution to our efforts."
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Tomorrow we’ll introduce you to Meg Whitman’s new Campaign Operations Manager Jillian Hasner…
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