From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Karl Rove (born December
25, 1950 in Denver,
Colorado) is as
of 2004 U.S. President George W. Bush's Senior Advisor and chief political
strategist.
Karl Rove began his political career with the College
Republicans, which he chaired from 1973-1974. For the next few years, he
worked in various Republican Party circles and
assisted George
H. W. Bush's 1980
presidential campaign.
In 1981, Rove founded a direct mail
consulting firm, Karl Rove & Co., based out of Austin, Texas.
This firm's first clients included Republican Governor Bill Clements
and Democratic Congressman Phil Gramm, who
later became a Republican. In 1993, Rove began advising George W. Bush's
gubernatorial campaign. He continued, however, to operate his consulting
business until 1999, when he sold the firm to focus his efforts on Bush's bid
for the presidency.
After Bush became the 43rd president, Karl Rove became a
Senior Advisor to the President. Rove is generally considered one of the most
influential advisors in the Bush administration, and he has earned a reputation
as an aggressive campaigner.
History
Rove is known for his political tactics when he was a protege
of Donald
Segretti, convicted Watergate
conspirator. In 1970, he
sneaked into the campaign office of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon and stole some
letterhead. He printed fliers on the letterhead promising "free beer, free
food, girls and a good time for nothing" and distributed the fliers at
rock concerts and homeless shelters. Admitting to the incident much later, Rove
said, "I was nineteen and I got involved in a political prank." [1]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/rove072399.htm)
[2]
(http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010305&c=2&s=dubose)
[3] (http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/2/reich-r.html)
In 1986, just before a crucial debate in the election for
governor of Texas, Karl Rove announced that his office had been bugged by the
Democrats. There was no proof, and it was later alleged he had bugged his own
phone for the media coverage the incident generated, but there was no proof of
that, either, and no charges were ever filed. [4] (http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen1101.html)
After dropping out of the University
of Utah in 1971, Karl Rove started his political career as the executive
director of the College Republican National Committee. He held
this position until 1972 when he became the National Chairman of the College
Republicans (1973-1974). As chairman, Rove had access to many powerful
politicians and government officials during the Watergate
scandal, including then CIA
director George
H. W. Bush. For the next few years, he worked in various Republican circles
and assisted George H. W. Bush's 1980 presidential campaign. Rove's
greatest claim to fame at the time was that he had introduced Bush to Lee Atwater. A
signature tactic of Rove was to attack an opponent on the opponent's strongest
issue.
In 1993,
according to the New York Times,
John Ashcroft's
campaign paid Karl Rove & Co. over $300,000 to aid his Senate race. In 1999, the George W. Bush
campaign effort paid Karl Rove & Co. $2.5 million for July through December.
According to Rove, "About 30 percent of that is postage."
In early 2000,
during the Republican primary, Senator John McCain led
George W. Bush in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and won
several state primaries. A push poll was allegedly launched against McCain:
telemarketers were allegedly hired to place calls throughout South Carolina
asking potential voters how they may react about a candidate, in this case
McCain, had they known some negative, possibly untrue fact, about the
candidate. In this particular instance, voters were asked “Would you be
more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he
had fathered an illegitimate black child?” A reporter, Wayne Slater,
suggested in print that Rove might be behind the whisper campaign. Rove denied
any involvement. McCain's support subsequently dwindled, and Bush won the
nomination. (There were other factors in that primary contest as well,
including a long exchange of negative television advertisements between the two
candidates.)
After the presidential elections in November 2000, Karl Rove organized an emergency migration of Republican
politicians and supporters to Florida to assist the Bush campaign during the
recount.
George W. Bush was inaugurated in January 2001. Karl Rove accepted a
position in the Bush administration as Senior Advisor to the President.
In March 2001,
Rove met with executives from Intel,
successfully advocating a merger between a Dutch company and an Intel company supplier. Rove
owned $100,000 in Intel Co. stock at the time. In June 2001, Rove met with two
pharmaceutical industry lobbyists. At the time, Rove held almost $250,000 in
drug industry stocks. On 30
June 2001, Rove divested
his stocks in 23 companies, which included more than $100,000 in each Enron, Boeing, General
Electric, and Pfizer.
On 30 June 2001, the White House admitted
that Rove was involved in administration energy policy meetings, while at the
same time holding stock in energy companies including Enron.
On 10
April 2003, Arnold
Schwarzenegger met with Rove to discuss whether the actor should run for
Governor of California in 2006.
On 14 May
2003, during a meeting with
South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, President George W. Bush
brought only Rove and Condoleezza Rice.
On 29
August 2003, retired
ambassador Joseph
C. Wilson named Rove as the White House official who leaked to the press the identity of a CIA operative as the wife of a
prominent journalist and Bush administration critic. The White House denied the
allegation. See Valerie
Plame.
