Reince Priebus

disambiguation

see also michael best law fim big lie fake electors

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AM O

On Tuesday, in response to American Oversight’s public records lawsuit, the Arizona Senate released thousands of pages of records related to its partisan “audit” of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results. The document production comes on thecourt-ordered deadline of Aug. 31.

Included in the documents is information regarding audit payments as well as emails and text messages that audit officials and legislators exchanged with outside parties, including prominent Republicans, election conspiracy theorists and activists, members of Trump’s legal team, and others. American Oversight is still reviewing the contents of the records and will update this page with any additional findings. We are also still processing the documents, and will make them available on our website as soon as possible.

Prominent Republicans

According to an accompanying privilege log (which lists records that had been withheld because of legislative and other privileges), Senate President Karen Fann exchanged multiple texts with U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar in the spring regarding the investigation and its vendors. The new records also contain August emails between Fann and a member of Gosar’s staff regarding the release of the contractors’ final report. (Gosar appeared at the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters seeking to prevent the certification of the election.)

Records previously obtained by American Oversight included an April 22 email from Bruce Ash, the former national committeeman of the Arizona Republican Party, to Tommy Hicks, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, in which Ash asked that the RNC help finance the defense against Democrats’ legal challenges to the “audit.” The latest records include more instances of audit allies attempting to get help from the national party: On July 17, audit spokesman Randy Pullen sent a text to Ash saying, “Need guns, lawyers, and money. Have any?”

The new records also indicate that Pullen was in touch with Reince Priebus, Trump’s first chief of staff and the former head of both the national and the Wisconsin Republican Party, as far back as December, before Pullen was officially involved in the “audit.” That month, Pullen texted Priebus to tell him about the potential for a “Forensic audit,” and in March asked Priebus for “suggestions on election audit firms.” (Priebus said he would check.) Another text from Pullen to Ash, sent on March 8, appears to reference Priebus: “I texted Reince and ask if he would like to help out on the audit,” Pullen said, then followed up to say they were speaking later that morning.

Conspiracy Theorists

The privilege log also indicates that top “audit” officials — including Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, Senate Liaison Ken Bennett, and spokesman Randy Pullen — exchanged a number of emails with Shiva Ayyadurai, an election conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist whose Twitter account was suspended back in February.

The records released by the Senate include a signed contract between Cyber Ninjas and a “Dr. Shiva,” a name Ayyadurai goes by among his followers. The contract is dated Aug. 3, 2021, and was sent to the United Liberty Coalition, a Phoenix-based group of supporters of former President Trump.

During a recent interview on Steve Bannon’s podcast, Reince Priebus reportedly said that the Wisconsin Assembly would be bringing in Ayyadurai to assist in its own partisan investigation of the 2020 election.

Another conspiracy theorist who appears in the Arizona Senate’s documents is Gail Golec, who has adopted the language of the QAnon conspiracy in her election-undermining activism. According to the records, Golec exchanged text messages with Senate President Karen Fann on Aug. 24 following the news that Logan and other members of the Cyber Ninjas team had contracted Covid-19. Golec recommended that Logan visit a site to purchase the livestock drug ivermectin. (Text messages indicate that upon hearing the news, Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward also told Fann that she hoped Logan had “gotten some Ivermectin and Zithromax.”) Golec also exchanged texts with Bennett in April, in which Golec said that the National Guard needed to be deployed to protect the audit from Black Lives Matter and antifa.

The records also appear to reference conspiracy theorist Bobby Piton, who according to records previously obtained by American Oversight had emailed Arizona legislators in December, calling for a vote recount. Those previous records also contain emails in which both Bennett and Pullen responded to outside inquiries by saying that they didn’t know who Piton was or whether he was involved.

The new records contain texts exchanged by Pullen and Liz Harris, a former Republican state legislative candidate who has been organizing direct canvassing operations that experts warn could amount to voter intimidation. On Dec. 16, Harris forwarded to Pullen a Dec. 16 text from “Bobby” requesting multiple decades’ worth of detailed voter information from all 15 counties in Arizona, not just Maricopa. Harris’s canvassing operations have recently been in the news again, with Harris denying any formal connections to the audit.

Trump Lawyers and Allies

In December, according to records previously obtained by American Oversight, One America News reporter Christina Bobb — who later began raising money for the “audit” — provided Fann with purported “evidence” of voter fraud, writing that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had “asked me to send you these declarations.” The newly released records include a group text from March 31 involving Fann and Bobb, with Giuliani also included, in which Fann passes along a document with a title that began “Pres. Fann audit hiring.”

Another Trump lawyer, Cleta Mitchell, was also looped in on a number of communications, including an Aug. 2 email chain started by Scott Sigman, a Pennsylvania attorney who appears to be handling the issuing of checks related to the “audit.” Sigman emailed Mitchell, Logan, Pullen, and Thomas Datwyler (the treasurer of a group called the American Voting Rights Foundation) seeking signatures for payments.

Pullen also received a text on April 22 from Jeff DeWit, the former CFO of NASA who previously served as Arizona treasurer, in which DeWit said he was preparing to send $175,000 to Guardian Defense Fund, the organization set up as a legal defense fund for Gosar, state Rep. Mark Finchem, and former state Rep. Anthony Kern following their attendance at the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally. DeWit asked Pullen, who was the fund’s treasurer, where to send the money; Pullen responded that “200 would be better but take what I can get.”

The next week, DeWit asked Pullen about a group called Fund The Audit, which Pullen said was being funded by former Overstock CEO (and current election conspiracist) Patrick Byrne. DeWit asked whether the group was “ok to donate to,” adding, “Trump asking.” Pullen said yes, and that it had raised $1.2 million so far.

In May, Pullen asked whether DeWit was familiar with Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who had worked with Giuliani on Trump’s farfetched legal challenges to the election. And on July 19, Pullen asked DeWit to call him, saying that “arpaio has some information for 45” — likely a reference to former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and further suggesting that DeWit was relaying messages to the former president.

Audit Costs

...

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an 12 23

in leaked recordings from conversations with prosecutors in Michigan, former Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro explained how he sold former President Donald Trump false hope about overturning the 2020 presidential election.

CNN published the audio on Wednesday. Chesebro can be heard talking about an Oval Office photo op with then-lame duck President Trump. During his interactions with Trump, Chesebro apparently defied instructions from fellow attorney Jim Troupis — who tried and failed to challenge election results in the battleground state of Wisconsin — to not say anything to the outgoing president to get his hopes up about overturning the election.

"I ended up explaining that Arizona was still hypothetically possible — because the alternate electors had voted," Chesebro said in one of the recordings. "Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg and [Harvard law professor emeritus] Laurence Tribe had both written that January 6 was the real deadline."

"So it was, I think clear in a way that maybe it hadn't been before that we had until January 6 to win," Chesebro said, while clarifying his comments emphasizing the importance of the January 6 deadline.

According to CNN, Chesebro was chastised after his interaction with Trump by former White House Chief of Staff (and former Republican National Committee chairman) Reince Priebus, who was reportedly "visibly angry" following Chesebro's conversation.

"Right after that meeting, Troupis said Reince Priebus was extremely concerned with what I told the president about Arizona and about the real deadline being January 6, and that he was going to do damage control," Chesebro is heard saying. "Reince was going to follow up and was going to try to mitigate whatever optimism I had created."

Chesebro, along with other Trump attorneys like John Eastman and Jeffrey Clark, was a primary architect of the so-called "fake electors" plot. That plot involved GOP activists from swing states Joe Biden narrowly won presenting themselves as members of that state's electoral college, whereupon they would cast their electoral votes for Donald Trump in defiance of their state's voters.

After entering his guilty plea in Fulton County District Court in Georgia in late October, Chesebro has since cooperated with investigators in four other states: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin. While cooperation won't guarantee that Chesebro avoids jail time altogether, it could result in lesser sentences.

To listen to the recordings, scroll up or click this link.

---

https://crooksandliars.com/2021/09/newly-released-documents-show-az-fraudit

it is not like we didn’t already know that the so-called audit is a fraudit. But the American Oversight group has recently obtained thousands of pages of records related to the “audit” as the result of a public records lawsuit.

American Oversight is still reviewing the records. VICE News notes that the trove includes communications that suggest Donald Trump wanted to fund it and that his allies were involved from the start.

one prominent Trump ally who turns up in the documents is Trump’s former chief of staff and formerRNC chair Reince Priebus. American Oversight found that audit spokesman Randy Pullen texted Priebus in December, before Pullen was officially involved in the audit.

That month, Pullen texted Priebus to tell him about the potential for a “Forensic audit,” and in March asked Priebus for “suggestions on election audit firms.” (Priebus said he would check.) Another text from Pullen to [AZ Republican Committee’s Bruce] Ash, sent on March 8, appears to reference Priebus: “I texted Reince and ask if he would like to help out on the audit,” Pullen said, then followed up to say they were speaking later that morning.

Trump lawyers also show up in the documents. They communicated with with OAN “reporter” Christina Bobb, who helped launch the fraudit, helped fund it and was given special access to its proceedings. More from American Oversight:

In December, according to records previously obtained by American Oversight, One America News reporter Christina Bobb — who later began raising money for the “audit” — provided Fann [Arizona's Senate president] with purported “evidence” of voter fraud, writing that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had “asked me to send you these declarations.” The newly released records include a group text from March 31 involving Fann and Bobb, with Giuliani also included, in which Fann passes along a document with a title that began “Pres. Fann audit hiring.”

Another Trump lawyer, Cleta Mitchell, was also looped in on a number of communications,including an Aug. 2 email chain started by Scott Sigman, a Pennsylvania attorney who appears to be handling the issuing of checks related to the “audit.” Sigman emailed Mitchell, Logan, Pullen, and Thomas Datwyler (the treasurer of a group called the American Voting Rights Foundation) seeking signatures for payments.

Then there is Shiva Ayyadurai, aka “Dr. Shiva,” an anti-vaxxer, pro-Trumper who dubiously claims he invented email and has falsely accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of being hellbent on forced and mandatory vaccines. American Oversight reported that its newly-obtained documents include a signed contract between Cyber Ninjas, the unqualified firm conducting the audit, and Ayyadurai.

Priebus plans to bring Dr. Shiva to Wisconsin for its "investigation":

Last month, Priebus reportedly said during an interview that the Wisconsin investigation would be bringing in “Dr. Shiva.” https://t.co/232ivCy3ol

— American Oversight (@weareoversight) September 1, 2021

Some of the frauditors made some darned good money, too!

Some of the positions paid up to $125/hour. pic.twitter.com/RPY7XYpymB

— TRAPEZOID OF DISCOVERY (@get_innocuous) September 1, 2021

There’s still plenty left to be discovered. VICE notes that 2,500 of the Arizona Senate’s most sensitive documents, including almost all direct communications with Cyber Ninjas and CEO Doug Logan, have been withheld as privileged. Meanwhile, you can dive into the documents already released here.

an 220 joined navy?!

https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-rehires-reince-priebus-and-sean-spicer-to-white-house-roles

new

mma 120

CBS hired Reince Priebus as a commentatorand introduced him on air as simply Trump’s first White House chief of staff. Since his humiliating tenure at the White House, Priebus has accepted a senior role at lobbying and legal firms that have collected over $280,000 in fees from Republican campaign groups.

Priebus is currently employed by Michael Best & Friedrich LLP as President and Chief Strategist and Chair of the Board of Advisors for Michael Best Strategies LLC, the firm’s government relations and public affairs group.

The company has lobbied for companies that include NACCO Industries (the public holding company for the North American Coal Corp.), Plains All American Pipeline, and the Primex Family of Companies.
The company has also received over $280,000 in legal fees from Republicans.
Stefan Passantino, a former White House deputy counsel and current partner at the firm, also represents the Trump Organization regarding congressional inquiries into the president’s business.
There may be more conflicts of interest: Public relations work is not subject to federal disclosure rules.

While Priebus himself has not registered to lobby for clients, these conflicts of interest were not disclosed in his first appearance on CBS.

In addition, Priebus is a serial misinformer, who was corrected by CBS for lying just a few months prior to his hire.⁠

new

https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/treasure-trove-of-mueller-memos-shows-trump-benefited-the-russians-beyond-their-wildest-expectations/

Sunday morning, an MSNBC “AM Joy” panel took up the release of a batch of memos from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that were released on Saturday that shed light on even more connections between aides to the president and Russian officials.

Reviewing the documents obtained by Buzzfeed News, conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin said Russia lucked out with Trump as a presidential candidate...

ref

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/mueller-report-secret-memos-1

no lnx many docs

THE MUELLER MEMOS

The Mueller Report’s Secret Memos

BuzzFeed News sued the US government to see all the work that Mueller’s team kept secret. We have published the first installment, with revelations about the Ukraine conspiracy theory, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, and more.

Posted on November 2, 2019, at 12:08 p.m. ET

Paul Manafort was pushing the unfounded conspiracy theory — now part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump — that Ukraine hacked the Democratic National Committee's emails as early as 2016.

The president’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, "had to keep Trump out of the messaging related to Russia” in preparation for his testimony to Congress under oath and that the false testimony was "not his idea."

Top Trump campaign aide Rick Gates said the campaign was “very happy” when a foreign government helped release the hacked DNC emails.

These are some of the revelations that BuzzFeed News pried loose after pursuing five separate Freedom of Information Act lawsuits for all the subpoenas and search warrants that then–special counsel Robert Mueller’s team executed, as well as all the emails, memos, letters, talking points, legal opinions, and interview transcripts it generated.

[Read the documents here.]

In response to a court order, the Justice Department released the first installment of documents: hundreds of pages of summaries of FBI interviews with witnesses, available here for the first time. Another installment will be released every month for at least the next eight years.

The documents revealed Saturday, known as “302 reports,” are summaries of interviews with former White House official and Trump campaign manager Stephen Bannon, Cohen, Gates, and more. They are some of the most important and highly sought-after documents from Mueller’s investigation. They reveal what key players in the campaign told FBI agents about Russia, Trump, the email hack during the 2016 presidential campaign, and Trump's associates’ handling of the special counsel’s investigation.

Mueller’s 448-page report last March was the most hotly anticipated prosecutorial document in a generation, laying out the evidence of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the Trump administration’s efforts to obstruct the inquiry. The report, however, reflected only a small fraction of the billions of primary-source documents that the government claims Mueller’s team may have amassed over the course of its two-year investigation.

[We want your help! If you see something in these memos, you can email reporter Jason Leopold at jason.leopold@buzzfeed.com or reach us securely at tips.buzzfeed.com.]

Those documents are a crucial national legacy, a key to understanding this important chapter in American history. But the public has not been allowed to see any of them. Until now.

After years of speculation and accusation, these documents offer a chance for everyone to view a key function of American democracy. That opportunity — hard-won, but enshrined anew with each additional FOIA release — commences today. It will last long after all the players have departed.

Some takeaways from the memos:

Manafort was pushing the conspiracy theory that Ukraine hacked the DNC as early as 2016

In an April 2018 interview with the special counsel’s office, Rick Gates, who had served as deputy Trump campaign chair and had long been Paul Manafort’s right hand, told investigators that after the campaign learned the DNC had been hacked, Manafort pushed the theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had orchestrated the attack. It’s a conspiracy theory that’s persisted in right-wing circles, even after the US Intelligence Community concluded Russia was involved, and one that Trump brought up in his July 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a written memorandum of the July call released by the White House, Trump at one point says to Zelensky, “I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say CrowdStrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it.”

Early life and career:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Reinhold Richard Priebus was born on March 18, 1972 in Dover, New Jersey, and lived in Netcong, New Jersey, until his family moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, when he was seven years old.^[6] His father is a former union electrician and his mother a real estate agent. Some sources, including his biography on the Republican Party website, identify his parents' names as "Richard and Dimitra", with "Roula" as a nickname for his mother.^[1][7][8][9] His father is of German descent and his mother, who was born in Sudan, is of Greek descent.^[10][11]

At 16, he volunteered for several political campaigns in high school.^[12] After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, where he majored in English and political science,^[13] and joined the Delta Chifraternity.^[14] Priebus graduated cum laude in 1994 and prior to that had been elected to serve as student body president^[15] and was president of the College Republicans.^[16]

After graduation from Whitewater, Priebus served as a clerk for the Wisconsin State Assembly Education Committee.^[13]He then enrolled at the University of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Florida.^[13] While studying for his law degree, he worked as a clerk for the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida,^[7] and also interned at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in California.^[17]

In 1998, he graduated with a J.D. degree cum laude from the University of Miami after serving as president of the Law School Student Body.^[12] He moved back to Wisconsin and became a member of the State Bar.^[13] Subsequently, he joined Wisconsin law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, where he became a partner in 2006,^[13][8] practicing in the firm's litigation and corporate practice groups.^[18]While working at Michael Best & Friedrich, he was named as one of Wisconsin Super Lawyers magazine's "Rising Stars" in 2008^[8] and was included in the Milwaukee Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list, also in 2008.^[12][18]

Political career:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Early political career:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

He ran for election to the Wisconsin State Senate in 2004 but lost to the Democratic incumbent, Robert Wirch.^[19] In 2007, following a successful campaign, he was elected chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party.^[7] He was the youngest person to have held that role.^[20] Two years later, in 2009, he also became the general counsel for the Republican National Committee.^[7][21]

As chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, Priebus led the party to success in the November 2010 elections in Wisconsin, which was previously a state held by the Democratic Party.^[22] The party won control of the State Senate and Assembly, and a Republican candidate was elected Governor.^[22][23] In particular, his work to bring Wisconsin's Tea Party movement together with the mainstream Republican party organization, and avoid conflict between the two, was credited by commentators as contributing to the party's success.^[22][24] Following the success of the 2010 elections, Priebus, together with Paul Ryan and Scott Walker, became known as part of a rising Republican movement in Wisconsin that was influential on the national level and focused on conservative ideologies, particularly fiscal conservatism.^[24][5][25]

Priebus continued as Wisconsin party chairman and general counsel to the RNC to late 2010,^[23] when he stepped down as general counsel to run for election to chairman of the committee.^[21]

2011 RNC chairmanship election:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

Main article: Republican National Committee chairmanship election, 2011

On December 5, 2010, Priebus stepped down as general counsel for the Republican National Committee (RNC). The next day he sent a letter to all 168 voting members of the RNC announcing his candidacy for chairman. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker supported Priebus' bid from the beginning, attributing the party's victories in Wisconsin to "Priebus' leadership and involvement in the grassroots Tea Party movement that swept the state and the nation".^[26] Priebus told delegates in his letter: "I will keep expenses low. I will put in strong and serious controls. We will raise the necessary funds to make sure we are successful. We will work to regain the confidence of our donor base and I will personally call our major donors to ask them to rejoin our efforts at the RNC."^[27]

...On January 14, 2011, after seven rounds of voting, Priebus was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee.^[28]

At the start of his first term as chairman of the RNC in January 2011, Priebus had inherited a $23 million debt from his predecessor Michael Steele, as well as severely strained relationships with "major donors".^[29][30] Priebus stated that his goals for his leadership were to reduce the debt, rebuild the organization's finances and improve relationships with major donors and party leaders, as well as aiding Republican efforts in the 2012 presidential elections.^[24][25] In particular, he aimed to develop a strong voter mobilization program, including improved voter registration and absentee ballot programs to identify unregistered voters and those who had not returned their ballots, using funds raised through his initial outreach to major donors.^[30]

By the end of 2011, Priebus had raised more than $88 million^[31] and cut the RNC's debt to $11.8 million.^[29] Former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie described his work in glowing terms: "He's completely restored faith at the RNC amongst donors and activists, he's been on message and he has done a great job raising money, which is the principal role of the RNC chairman."^[29] According to Priebus, at the end of his first year in the role, there were 1,000 donors of $30,000 or more annually.^[32] Also, after his first year, Priebus received praise from Republican Congress members for the increased communication from him and his team, compared with the previous chair.^[29]

During the 2012 State of the Union Address^[33] and presidential primary of 2012, Priebus and his RNC team were credited with keeping the focus on President Barack Obama.^[34] Despite such focus, Obama won re-election by soundly defeating his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, by an electoral college voting margin of 332 to 206 (while the popular vote margin was four percent). Priebus was actively engaged in pointing out what he considered errors and shortcomings in the work of Obama and Democratic leaders.^[35] In 2012 Priebus appeared on such political talk shows as Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, and State of the Union with Candy Crowley.^[36][37] Also in 2012, he continued to focus on rebuilding the RNC's finances by reaching out to donors, and at the end of the year the organization reported no debt.^[32]

After the Republican losses in 2012, Priebus ordered broad reviews of RNC operations. Of particular concern was voter outreach, including the party's failed messaging to young people, women, and Hispanics. 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney lost each of these groups to Obama.^[38] The analysis of the election cycle would include gathering feedback from numerous volunteers and staffers who were involved at various levels.^[39][40] He began development of a political plan including a long-term strategy to reach demographic groups that had voted mainly Democratic in the November 2012 elections. The plan was labeled "The Growth and Opportunity Project".^[32]

On January 25, 2013, the election for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee took place in Charlotte, North Carolina during the committee's winter meeting. Priebus was elected to serve another term.^[41] Priebus was being challenged for the nomination by Maine's National Committeeman Mark Willis.^[42][43][44]

Second term:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

For Priebus' second term he set the goal of "transforming the party – to be a force from coast to coast."^[45] In his re-election speech he stated that the party would no longer approach electoral politics from a "red and blue state" perspective.^[45]

On March 18, 2013, Priebus presented the completed Growth and Opportunity Project report developed from a listening tour and four-month analysis^[46] carried out by Priebus and Republican strategists including Henry Barbour, Sally Bradshaw, Ari Fleischer, Zori Fonalledas and Glenn McCall.^[32] The report outlined a comprehensive plan for the party to overhaul its operations.^[46] Specific plans outlined in the report included: improving the Republican Party's digital and research capabilities; a $10 million outreach effort to minority communities; supporting immigration reform; and reducing the length of the presidential primary season.^[46]

In September 2013, Priebus was successful in persuading both CNN and NBC to cancel planned biopics of Hillary Clinton, which had been criticized as "free campaigning on Clinton's behalf", according to columnist Jennifer Rubin. Priebus stated that the networks would not be allowed to moderate a Republican primary debate if the films went ahead.^[47]

The following year, Politico reported that Priebus had made progress with efforts to make the RNC a year-round operation, particularly through investment into digital technology and field staff.^[48] In a March 2014 CNN op-ed, Priebus said that the RNC had established a data management and predictive analytics initiative called Para Bellum Labs, with an office in Silicon Valley.^[49] Continuing Priebus' aim to create an initiative to rival the voter mobilization efforts of the 2012 Obama campaign, in May 2014, the RNC launched the Victory 365 program.^[50] The program focuses on communicating with and encouraging the efforts of volunteers across the U.S. to reach others in their communities.^[50][51] Priebus also worked to reduce the length of the presidential primary calendar, generating support for a RNC rules change to make the primary calendar shorter by up to three months and bringing the national convention forward to late June at the earliest. The rules change was passed almost unanimously in January 2014.^[48][52]

Also following the Growth and Opportunity Project report (also called "the autopsy" and "the post-mortem"^[53]), Priebus led efforts to reach out to black, Latino and Asian American voters. In July 2014, he spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, where he said that to support these efforts the Republican Party was spending approximately $8.5 million per month and had established offices in 15 states.^[54]

In a speech on October 2, 2014, Priebus laid out the RNC's "Principles for American Renewal", covering 11 goals of the Republican party in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.^[55] The principles include three economy-related proposals for the Senate to move forward: approval of construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline; federal healthcare law reform; and a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. constitution. Other goals included in the principles include job creation, care of veterans, immigration and government spending.^[56] Following the speech, the Democratic National Committee issued a statement criticizing Priebus, arguing that Republicans are "out of step with the American public".^[55]

On January 16, 2015, the election for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee took place in San Diego, California. Priebus was reelected to a third term on a near-unanimous vote, making him the first chairman to lead the RNC for three consecutive terms with a Democratic president in the White House.^[57][58][59] Priebus was credited for his fundraising skills, healing relations with major Republican donors, and the ability to maintain "generally warm acceptance" by conservatives and moderates alike, among other accomplishments.^[57]

Third term:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

third Republican presidential debate in Boulder, Colorado, in which there were clashes between the Republican candidates and the debate moderators,^[60][61] the RNC announced that NBC News would no longer host the February 26, 2016, debate in Houston. Priebus showed concerns that an NBC-hosted debate could result in a "repeat" of the CNBC debate, as both are divisions of NBCUniversal, although NBC News is editorially separate from CNBC. Priebus explained that CNBC had conducted the October 28 debate in "bad faith", arguing that "while debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates' visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC's moderators engaged in a series of 'gotcha' questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates' policies and ideas."^[62]

On April 22, 2016, Priebus appealed for party unity, regardless of who would become the Republican Party's nominee.^[63][64] After Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee, Priebus said in mid-May that a third-party candidate would be tantamount to a suicide mission.^[65]

Priebus went on to forge a positive relationship with Trump^[66] and was personally involved in quashing efforts by anti-Trump delegates to prevent Trump's nomination.^[67] On October 4, 2016, Priebus called Trump a role model. "You know, I think everyone's a role model in different ways. When you look at someone who has built businesses, lost businesses, came back, lived the American dream, a person who sets goals, he's a winner." ^[68]

Priebus continued supporting the Republican nominee despite releasing statements critical of Trump. On August 1, 2016, after Trump criticized the Gold Star family of Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim soldier who was killed in Iraq and whose father criticized Trump, Priebus stated, "I think this family should be off limits, and we love them and I can't imagine being the father of a little girl and boy going through the unbelievable grief of them not coming home one day in battle."^[69]

During the summer of 2016, several publications reported that Priebus was considering a run for a fourth consecutive term as RNC Chairman.^[70][71][72] If re-elected, he would become the second-longest serving RNC Chairman in party history. Mark Hanna of Ohio served as chairman of the RNC from 1896 to 1904.^[72]

Trump Administration:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

After the 2016 election of Donald Trump to the presidency, Priebus was selected as the future president's White House Chief of Staff. On November 13, Trump announced his choice of Priebus for the Chief of Staff position, at the same time as announcing Stephen Bannon as Chief Strategist and Senior Advisor.^[73][74]

References:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reince_Priebus#cite_ref-GOPBio_1-1) "Reince Priebus". GOP.com. Republican National Committee. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Schouten, Fredreka (January 21, 2011). "Reince Priebus: Fundraising top job as RNC chairman". USA Today. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
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:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ "Debate fallout: GOP suspends debate partnership with NBC". Washington Examiner. October 30, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Martin, Jonathan (April 22, 2016). "Reince Priebus Calls on G.O.P. to Back Nominee, Even if It's You-Know-Who". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25,2016.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Holland, Steve (April 24, 2016). "Donald Trump's Unlikely Villain: Piano-Playing Reince Priebus". Reuters. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Duran, Nicole (May 15, 2016). "Priebus: Independent candidacy a 'suicide mission:{':(style="padding-right:0.2em"):}:". Washington Examiner. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Cheney, Kyle; Vogel, Kenneth P. (August 22, 2016). "RNC ready to give Priebus another shot". Politico.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Kopan, Tal (July 15, 2016). "Anti-Trump movement quashed in Cleveland". CNN.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Griffiths, Brent (October 4, 2016). "RNC's Priebus declares Trump 'a role model:{':(style="padding-right:0.2em"):}:". Politico.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ McCaskill, Nolan D. (August 1, 2016). "RNC chief rebukes Trump: Khans 'should be off limits:{':(style="padding-right:0.2em"):}:". Politico.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ "Priebus on Trump: 'He's trying:{':(style="padding-right:0.2em"):}:". Retrieved 2016-08-21.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Rupert, Evelyn (2016-07-09). "Priebus considers running for fourth term as RNC chairman". Retrieved 2016-08-21.
^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reince_Priebus#cite_ref-nationaljournal.com_72-1) "Priebus Mulling Fourth Term as RNC Chairman". Retrieved 2016-08-21.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Rappeport, Michael D. Shear, Alan; Haberman, Maggie (2016-11-13). "Donald Trump Picks Reince Priebus as Chief of Staff". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
:{Jump up:(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Bender, Michael C. (November 13, 2016). "RNC Chair Priebus Is Named Donald Trump's Chief of Staff". Wall Street Journal.

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http://www.npr.org/2016/11/14/501984948/who-is-reince-priebus-trumps-new-chief-of-staff

As head of the RNC, Priebus saw that the party's apparatus and organization were in place to shore up the bare-bones Trump campaign. And while Trump clashed with many in the GOP establishment, he remained on good terms with the party chairman.

Priebus, 44, has been the longest-serving RNC chairman, winning the job in 2011 after serving as its general counsel. He unseated his boss, Michael Steele, and took over a party that was some $24 million in debt.

Priebus led the famous "autopsy" of the GOP after its loss in the 2012 election, which recommended shortening the primary season and endorsing immigration reform as a way of reaching out to Latino voters.

Born in New Jersey, Priebus was raised in Kenosha, Wis. He made an unsuccessful run for the Wisconsin state senate and in 2007 became chairman of the state GOP. In 2010, he helped elect Republican Scott Walker as governor and a GOP majority in the state Legislature, and it was clear his star was on the rise.

In 2004, Priebus ran an unsuccessful bid to challenge Democraticstate Sen. Robert Wirch, despite having raised more money than his opponent.

In 2007, Priebus was elected chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party. The position granted him membership to the RepublicanNational Committee.

Priebus was named by the Milwaukee Business Journal as one of the city's "40 under 40" in 2008.

In 2009, Priebus managed former RNC head Michael Steele's campaign for the chairmanship.[See 10 things you didn't know about Michael Steele.]

This story is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

At last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, GOP chair Reince Priebus had some strong words about how President Barack Obama prioritizes threats to national security.

“Democrats tell us they understand the world, but then they call climate change, not radical Islamic terrorism, the greatest threat to national security,” he said. “Look, I think we all care about our planet, but melting icebergs aren’t beheading Christians in the Middle East.”

The comment came after the president, in a lengthy interview with Vox,said that the media often overplays the danger of terrorism relative to climate change. It’s not the first time Obama has made a point along those lines. In his State of the Union address in January, he said that “no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations” than climate change. A few weeks later, in his 2015 national security strategy, the president referred to global warming as an “urgent and growing threat” to national security.

But while Priebus’ jab earned him a hearty round of applause at CPAC, new research indicates that his iceberg comment doesn’t hold water.

For the last couple years, Middle East experts have pointed to the ongoing civil war in Syria as a prime example of how climate change can contribute to violent conflict. The country’s worst drought on record arrived just as widespread outrage with President Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorial regime was reaching critical mass; as crops failed, an estimated 1.5 million people were driven off rural farms and into cities. While grievances with the Assad regime are many, from economic stagnation to violent crackdowns on protesters, the impacts of the drought were likely the final straw.

The narrative in Syria fit perfectly with what many top military leaders, including at the Pentagon, were beginning to project: In parts of the world where tensions are already high, the impacts of natural disasters and competition for resources are increasingly likely to ignite violence. A 2013 study by analysts at Princeton found that in some parts of the world, global warming could lead to a 50 percent increase in conflict by mid-century.

But in Syria, there was some uncertainty about whether that drought in particular was a product of human-made climate change. In other words, is the climate-driven conflict there merely representative of what might happen more often in the future, or is it an actual consequence of burning fossil fuels?

An answer to that question was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Colin Kelley, a geographer at the University of California-Santa Barbara, found that a multiyear drought as severe as the one that hit Syria from 2007 to 2010 was made two to three times more likely because of climate change, compared to natural variability alone.

The study is the first to examine a century’s worth of precipitation and temperature data for the Fertile Crescent (the lush region surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that was hit hardest by the drought) for clues about a possible human fingerprint on the recent drought. Sure enough, the data shows that “three of the four most severe multiyear droughts have occurred in the last 25 years, the period during which external anthropogenic forcing has seen its largest increase.” Here’s the relevant data from the study:...grist 3/15

Who Is Reince Priebus?

January 14, 2011 5:21 pm ET

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus was today elected to succeed Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Despite his age — he's under 40 — Priebus has spent time carving out his place as a Republican politician, running an unsuccessful campaign for Wisconsin state senate in 2004, and, more recently, serving as the RNC's general counsel. He's largely stuck to strictly conservative positions, coming out against gay marriage during the RNC chair debate and suggesting that anyone who favors a woman's right to choose is "not a Republican." Priebus' conservative credentials are mildly tainted by service in a law firm that supports health care reform and worked to channel stimulus funds to clients, but as the RNC chair elections approached his fellow Republicans' biggest criticism was his close ties to Steele.

Priebus' Political History

Priebus Served As RNC General Counsel Until Bid For Chairmanship. From National Journal's Hotline On Call blog:

Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee's top legal counsel, resigned his position early Sunday morning, The Hotlinehas learned, a move that will be widely interpreted as a major step toward running for chairman of the organization and a big blow to current chairman Michael Steele.

Priebus, the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, was once Steele's closest ally on the committee. Priebus pushed to elect Steele in 2009, and in the two years since has served as Steele's conduit with committee members.

"In a private letter to Chairman Steele, I did resign today as General Counsel. I appreciated the opportunity to work with all of the members that make the RNC so special," Priebus confirmed in an email to The Hotline. *National Journal*'s Hotline On Call, [12/5/10]

Priebus Is Currently Chairman Of The Wisconsin Republican Party. According to his bio on the Republican Party of Wisconsin website, Reince Priebus has held the position of chairman since 2007. WisGOP.org, accessed [1/14/11]

Priebus Is The Youngest Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman In History.From the Milwaukee Business Journal: "At 35, Priebus, who first began volunteering for candidates at 16, is the youngest chairman in the history of the Wisconsin Republican Party." *Milwaukee Business Journal* via MichaelBest.com, [2/22/08]

Priebus Lost Run For Wisconsin State Senate In 2004. From the Associated Press: "Priebus ran for the state Senate himself in 2004 but was defeated by Democratic Sen. Bob Wirch." *Associated Press*, [12/6/10]

Priebus Has Served As An Education Clerk For The Wisconsin Legislature.From Priebus' bio on the Republican Party of Wisconsin website: "Chairman Priebus also previously worked in the Wisconsin legislature as the Committee Clerk for the State Assembly Education Committee." WisGOP.org, accessed [1/14/11]

Ties To Steele Are Fellow Republicans' Primary Criticism Of Priebus

Priebus' Ties To Steele Criticized By Connecticut GOP Chairman Healy. From National Journal's Hotline On Call blog:

"At no time until he chose to run did Preibus [sic] issue any directive, memo or public utterance on Steele's disastrous tenure," Healy wrote in the memo. "Now he wishes to walk into breach and rescue us from Chairman Steele, his legions and supporters who have done quite well for themselves at the expense of our Party."

"When Steele made several inane comments about Rush Limbaugh, the double-standard he was held to because of his race or the war in Afghanistan, Preibus [sic] was put in charge of damage control, often asking members to sign letters of support," Healy went on. "There was no doubt about his loyalty to Steele and his eagerness to show other members he was speaking for the chairman." *National Journal*'s Hotline On Call, [1/1/11]

Priebus Supported Steele As RNC Chairman. From National Journal's Hotline On Call blog: "In 2009, Priebus was Steele's top backer on the committee. As general counsel, he was frequently asked to serve as Steele's top liaison to committee members and to put out fires after Steele uttered an embarrassing comment or angered a faction of the GOP. In a memo to RNC members, Connecticut Party chairman Chris Healy, who is supporting former RNC political director Gentry Collins, said that makes Priebus culpable for the RNC's poor performance." *National Journal*'s Hotline On Call, [1/1/11]

Priebus' Law Firm Doesn't Add To His Conservative Credentials

Priebus Is A Partner In The Litigation Practice Group Of The Law Firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP.From his bio on the Michael Best & Friedrich website: "Reince Priebus is a partner in our Litigation Practice Group, Co-Chair of the Construction Group and Government and Public Policy Group. Currently, Mr. Priebus handles all aspects of corporate litigation." MichaelBest.com, accessed [1/14/11]

Priebus' Law Firm Supports Health Care Reform. From Think Progress:

Over the summer, the firm created a series of presentations to explain health reform to its clients and to pitch the firm's services for employers looking to comply with new health reform regulations. In one presentation, John Barlament, a colleague to Priebus at the firm, said that a health reform repeal is not only unlikely, but that the lawsuits brought by Republican Party allies to declare the law unconstitutional probably have no merit. Referring to the controversy over the individual mandate, Barlament explained that the commerce clause of the constitution "gives Congress authority to act on his legislation." [...]

Presentations from Priebus's law firm also tout health reform benefits routinely ignored by right-wing partisans, like generous subsidies to small businesses, vastly expanding health insurance coverage in America, closing the Medicare Part D donut hole, and the end to egregious insurance company abuses (ending the program of capping benefits, ending "rescissions," ending discrimination based on pre-existing conditions). Think Progress, [12/30/10, emphasis added]

Priebus' Firm Steered Stimulus Money To Clients. From Think Progress: "It's not the first time Priebus's law firm has contradicted his role as a Republican partisan. As FrumForum reported, the website for his law firm indicated that Priebus had been part of a team dedicated to steering projects from the Recovery Act to clients. Despite the multiple pages on the law firm website indicating Priebus's involvement in obtaining stimulus grants, he denied ever working on that part of his law firm's business." Think Progress, [12/30/10]

Notable Statements

Priebus "Believe[s] Our Country Is In A Time Of Great Peril." From ABC News: "'I'm not running for chairman because I think I'm better than anyone or because I think I have all the answers' Priebus said in his announcement video. 'I'm running for chairman for only one reason: I believe our country is in a time of great peril and we have to do something about it.'" ABC News, [12/6/10]

Confusing The President With Osama Bin Laden, Priebus Accidentally Called For Obama's "Execution." From the Huffington Post:

Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, referred to the "execution" of Obama three separate times during a recent media conference call.

"Feingold had mentioned that he thought that it would be good if we captured Obama in the battlefield setting and that he suffered the quote-unquote ultimate punishment there," Priebus told reporters while attempting to explain that Sen. Feingold (D-Wis.) was "out of the mainstream" because of his opposition to using capital punishment -- even on Osama bin Laden -- as a tool of the American criminal justice system.

"I find this point that he's made to be completely disgusting. I think it's offensive to the people of Wisconsin, I hope he has an explanation as to why he thinks Obama ought not to be executed and why he thinks we ought to bring Osama bin Laden to the United States that he should be captured alive and actually have a trial," Priebus said later. *Huffington Post*, [10/7/10, emphasis added]

Priebus Argued Against Gay Marriage Because "It's Really Hard" For Single Parents. During the RNC Chairman debate, Preibus stated: "I don't believe that judges can rewrite the Constitution and redraft what marriage is. I-I think marriage is-there's a sanctity of marriage, I believe that. I believe and I agree with Michael that certainly it's foundational in our lives. I believe my kids and believe children should grow up with one father and a mother if possible, certainly with support - single parents, it's really hard. I don't believe anybody, ah, should be denied dignity in this discussion, everyone should be loved.But at the end of the day, ah, I believe that ah, marriage, through the sanctity of marriage, should be between one man and one woman." Republican National Committee Chair debate, [1/3/11]

Priebus: "If You're Pro-Abortion, Pro-Stimulus ... You Might Not Be A Republican." During the RNC Chairman debate, Preibus stated: "Well I think that being a standard-bearer for the Republican Party has to take into account that our country's in great peril. As I said before, we're about to walk off a fiscal cliff. And I think that the RNC chairman ought to take a chance and promote that conservative platform every time that he or she has an opportunity to do it, because right now just without anything Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi did these past two years, normally it costs about 19 cents on every dollar made in America to run the federal government. Without anything that they've done it will cost by the time by son, who is five years old, is my age, it will cost 40 cents for every dollar made in America to run this country. And if we don't have a chairman who understands that being a Republican means something, that if you're pro-abortion, pro-stimulus, pro-GMC bailout, pro-AIG, well guess what. You might not be a Republican." Republican National Committee Chair debate, [1/3/11

big data:

Steve Adler, a Rhode Island programmer who helped start one of the companies that became NGP VAN, has switched sides and developed a parallel system for Republicans called rVotes.

Adler’s company has had meetings or calls to present its system to some of the most influential Republican data consultants — from the Romney campaign’s digital gurus Zac Moffatt and Michael Beach (who got a demonstration in the spring of 2011) to the RNC (first back in 2009 and again in March, when he pitched to chief of staff Mike Shields and top adviser Jeff Larson) to Rove (who talked with an rVotes supporter after the election).

Despite the meetings, Adler says there’s a reluctance among GOP bigwigs to award data contracts to anyone who’s not part of the insider Beltway consultant class. “They just don’t know what they’re doing,” Adler charged, adding “They’re not qualified.”

As for his efforts to get traction for rVotes among Washington’s GOP elite, he said, “It’s like trying to sell beauty products to ugly people, but they’re blind, so they don’t know that they’re ugly.”

His company failed to land any big federal or state GOP contracts last year, with federal records showing rVotes earned only $18,000 in 2012 mostly from longshot or tea party congressional candidates such as Will Cardon of Arizona, Barry Hinckley of Rhode Island and Jamie Radtke of Virginia.

Moreover, Adler says there’s little incentive for consultants to let anyone else try their hand, since “even though they’ve failed, they succeeded, because they still made money off of ORCA and Data Trust.”

To wit, the companies that handled the bulk of the data business for Romney’s campaign and the RNC — Targeted Victory, FLS Connect and Target Point Consulting — since the beginning of 2011 have received $190 million from Romney, the RNC and other federal Republican candidates, committees and groups,FEC records show.

The huge windfalls drew harsh criticism from Republicans, who — noting the firm’s close ties to the folks picking vendors (Targeted Victory was created by Moffatt and Beach, while Target Point was founded by Alex Gage, whose wife Katie Gage was Romney’s deputy campaign manager, and FLS Connect was founded partly by Larson and counted Romney political director Rich Beeson among its partners) — called it everything from “racketeering” to the “incestuousbleeding of the Republican Party.”

RNC chairman Reince Priebus defended Larson, who served as RNC chief of staff during the 2012 election, pointing out that he stepped down from FLS Connect. But the decision to open the data file to outside firms was seen in some quarters as a response to the argument that the party didn’t welcome outsiders.

The idea, as expressed in the autopsy, was that the RNC should be “supporting competition in the marketplace to ensure that the best ideas rise to the top.” But even that announcement was greeted skeptically, with grass-roots critics pointing out that the RNC only recently created GOP Data Center, which it pays FLS Connect to maintain and encourages state parties to adopt.

“Volunteers have been very frustrated” with GOP Data Center, said Steven Kuivenhoven, a Michigan GOP official during the 2012 cycle who encouraged activists to use alternative voter outreach interfaces last year. He has emerged as an rVotes evangelist, supporting a proposal Adler submitted this month to the state party, and he expressed concern about state parties relying primarily on GOP Data Center, which Michigan’s GOP this year agreed to use.