Gillespie Strategies

A Great Loss By Ed Gillespie January 9, 2012 12:32 P.M. Comments1 The conservative community lost a sage and distinct voice Saturday evening with Tony Blankley’s passing, and I lost a dear friend who’d been a mentor to me. I came to know Tony when I handled press for then–House Republican Conference chairman Dick Armey and he did the same for then–Minority Whip Newt Gingrich. In the culture of Capitol Hill, press secretaries tend to be competitive (as opposed to legislative staffers, who tend to be collaborative.) Especially in the ’90s, when the old traditional media were dominant, the mentality of most flacks was a zero-sum one. Every inch of coverage another member of Congress got was an inch your boss didn’t. A bad story about someone else was good for you, and if you needed to go “on background” to help foster that, well, so be it.

A Great Loss By Ed Gillespie January 9, 2012 12:32 P.M. Comments1 The conservative community lost a sage and distinct voice Saturday evening with Tony Blankley’s passing, and I lost a dear friend who’d been a mentor to me. I came to know Tony when I handled press for then–House Republican Conference chairman Dick Armey and he did the same for then–Minority Whip Newt Gingrich. In the culture of Capitol Hill, press secretaries tend to be competitive (as opposed to legislative staffers, who tend to be collaborative.) Especially in the ’90s, when the old traditional media were dominant, the mentality of most flacks was a zero-sum one. Every inch of coverage another member of Congress got was an inch your boss didn’t. A bad story about someone else was good for you, and if you needed to go “on background” to help foster that, well, so be it.