It’s late on a Friday afternoon, and I just got a press release in from the Poizner for Governor campaign, announcing some new hires. I’ll pull the relevant paragraphs from their release and put them below. Have a great weekend!
Deputy Campaign Manager – Audrey Perry 
Audrey Perry has joined the campaign as Deputy Campaign Manager. Audrey most recently worked as Campaign Finance Counsel for McCain-Palin 2008 and as Deputy General Counsel for the Romney for President campaign. She previously served as legal counsel to the Committee on House Administration of the U.S. House of Representatives, where she advised on campaign finance, lobby disclosure, and election administration issues. She has also worked at the Federal Election Commission, where she was a law clerk to Commissioner Michael E. Toner, and at the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C. based non-profit focused on campaign finance and elections, political communication and government ethics. Audrey’s private sector experience includes working in the political law division of the Washington, DC law firm Caplin and Drysdale. Audrey earned her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center.
Deputy Campaign Manager and Policy Director – Lanhee Chen 
Lanhee Chen will serve as Deputy Campaign Manager and Policy Director. In 2008, Chen was Domestic Policy Director at Romney for President, where he managed all aspects of health, education, labor and welfare policy for the campaign. Chen also served as a domestic policy adviser to Bush-Cheney ’04, where his responsibilities included providing health policy counsel to President Bush’s reelection campaign. In addition to his experience on national campaigns, Chen has worked in both the public and private sectors. Most recently, he served in the Bush Administration as Senior Counselor to the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Chen’s private sector experience includes time as an attorney at the international law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Winnie Neubauer Visiting Fellow in Health Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, and as a health policy legislative representative with The ERISA Industry Committee. Chen holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard, a Juris Doctorate cum laude from Harvard Law School, and earned his undergraduate degree magna cum laude in Government from Harvard College.
Communications Director – Jarrod Agen 
Jarrod Agen will oversee the campaign’s public and media relations activity as Communications Director. Agen served as Regional Communications Director for Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential Campaign, managing all communications for California and serving as Mayor Giuliani’s spokesman in the state. Agen also served as Deputy Press Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, specializing in immigration and border security issues. Agen’s previous experience includes work as the Director of Press Logistics for the 2004 Republican National Convention, as well as positions with the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and MSNBC.
Of the three, I’ve only worked with Agen before — and found him to be top notch. A great catch by Poizner. As for the other two, when I do meet them, I will let you know if they are as intimidating as their resumes. ;-)
Oh, and to round things out – according to the release – Poizner’s campaign’s senior team also includes Campaign Chairman Jim Brulte, nationally-prominent consultant and lead strategist Stuart Stevens of The Stevens and Schriefer Group, Campaign Manager Jim Bognet, Finance Director Julie Westlake and Senior Advisor Kevin Spillane.
345pm Update: Also new on the Communications Team are Matt Hirsch, who is former War Room Manager of the McCain-Palin Team, and Matt Connelly, former Newsroom Manager for Governor Schwarzenegger’s office.