|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
New White House P.R. Pro: Who is Kevin Sullivan? Ronald Kessler WASHINGTON -- Who is Kevin Sullivan? That's what Bush administration and media people wanted to know after two sentences in the Washington Post announced that Sullivan is replacing Nicolle Wallace as White House communications director.
For more than a year, Sully, as he is known, has been assistant secretary for communications and outreach at the Education Department. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings hired him after she heard good things about him from Tom Luce, an education reformer in Texas.
Sullivan got to know Luce when Sullivan was a public relations executive with the Dallas Mavericks. After that job, Sullivan led the communications efforts for three Olympic games at NBC Sports and then took on media relations at NBC Universal.
As domestic policy advisor in the White House prior to becoming a cabinet secretary, Spellings eschewed the press. Sullivan turned her into a media star, with glowing stories about her relationship with her teenage daughters and her decision to modify slightly the way the No Child Left Behind Act is implemented.
Other Bushies could only wish for such good press. PR people either have the right touch or they don't. Sully has it. He understands that PR people can do two things at once — be helpful to the media without forgetting that the main job is to represent the principal.
Story Continues Below
When Spellings was doing stand-up TV interviews on the north lawn of the White House, Sullivan would run into Dan Bartlett, Bush's counselor in charge of communications.
"He said once, ‘We've got to get together sometime,'" Sullivan told me. When Bartlett called on a Tuesday, Sullivan thought he just wanted to shmooze. An hour later, Sullivan was in Bartlett's West Wing office.
"We talked for probably 20, 30 minutes, just about stuff, and after that period of time, he said, ‘You know, I want to talk to you about Nicolle's job,'" Sullivan said. Wallace was leaving the White House to move to New York with her husband.
"Is this when the camera crew comes in through the door?" Sullivan asked, suggesting it was a "Candid Camera" spoof.
"No, I'm not kidding," Bartlett said.
After being interviewed by Josh Bolten, the White House chief of staff, Sullivan met with Bush for about 10 minutes, and he was in. His main job is strategic message planning for events and the media.
Bartlett was already moving toward encouraging more interaction between Bush and the press and humanizing him more. Sullivan was thinking along the same lines. Bolten also was open to new ideas, Sullivan said.
"The president has such great humanity, and he's so good with people, and the public doesn't see that enough," Sullivan said. "Dan wants to do more events like his overnight trip to Chicago, where he went to multiple events and rubbed elbows with reporters and the breakfast crowd at Lou Mitchell's, a legendary local hot spot. The public doesn't get to see that often enough. That is something we talked about. I think you'll see more of that."
Ronald Kessler is Chief Washington Correspondent for NewsMax.com. Get his dispatches FREE sent you via e-mail – Click Here Now.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2008 NewsMax.Com |