SCHotline

By Jeffrey Sewell [SCHotline.com]

Katie Levinson: Rudy Giuliani National Communications Director [Bio] [Audio]

Katie Levinson currently serves as Communications Director to the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Campaign. Levinson is responsible for all aspects of strategic communications, managing a staff of over twenty including the press office, rapid response team, war room, regional press operation and nationwide surrogate activity. Levinson also serves as the campaign’s chief spokeswoman appearing in national, international and local broadcast and print media. The Washington Post called Levinson “…a major recruit in the 2008 presidential staff sweepstakes.”

Immediately before joining the Giuliani campaign, Levinson served as Communications Director for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s historic landslide re-election victory in California. Levinson was responsible for all strategic and day-to-day communication for the campaign. The communications operation Levinson ran in California was described in the San Francisco Chronicle as “among the most technologically advanced and effective… ever seen in the state” and the Washington Post remarked the campaign “drew wide praise in the political world.”

Prior to the Schwarzenneger re-election campaign, Levinson served as Director of Television at the White House where she was the primary liaison and spokesperson for all television network executives, anchors and producers. As a senior member of the White House Communications team, Levinson was involved in a wide range of issues including foreign policy and the war on terror, the economy, Supreme Court confirmations and crisis communications.

Before serving in the White House, Levinson was the Director of Broadcast Media and senior spokesperson for the Republican National Committee (RNC) during President Bush’s successful bid for re-election in 2004. During her tenure at the RNC, Levinson oversaw a national and regional television operation, directed a multi-million dollar operating budget, and managed media relations for both the Republican National Convention in New York and each Presidential and Vice Presidential debate.

Levinson has also spent time as a political producer with MSNBC in New York and worked in the public affairs firm of Hill and Knowlton in Washington , counseling Fortune 500 corporations on media outreach and issue advocacy strategies.

Levinson began her Washington career in the office of her hometown Congressman, Christopher Shays, of Connecticut. Working her way up from answering the telephones in his office, Levinson was appointed Shays’ Communications Director serving as primary spokesperson and managing strategic communications in both the congressional and campaign offices.

Originally from New Canaan, Connecticut, Levinson holds a Masters degree with honors in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics and earned her Bachelors Degree summa cum laude from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York .

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SCHotline: Tell us a little bit about yourself: Where and when were you born? Where did you go to college? What have you done in the past?

SCOTT MALYERCK: I was born on the coast of New Hampshire in 1962 on a wintry January afternoon in a city called Portsmouth. It’s one of the older New England cities. I’ve also thought of it as a smaller, more northern version of Charleston. I came to South Carolina to attend USC as my brother did nine years prior. My first real political campaign was in 1984. I ran a State Senate campaign in New Hampshire. We set a spending record. It was $30,000. Try that today. Well, we lost. However I helped that same candidate get elected to congress six years later. My first real break was working on Governor John Sununu’s campaign for governor. He was elected for three (2 year) terms. I then took the job as executive director of the NH Republican Party. I think I was the youngest in the nation at the time. I was 26. I moved back to South Carolina in the early 90’s and worked for a public relations firm, in state government, for a trade association, and as the executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party. I’m thinking about moving to Iowa soon.

SCHotline: What is the book you are currently reading
or what is your favorite book?

SCOTT MALYERCK: I think my favorite book remains A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. I’m not currently reading a book, but my last book read was Leadership by Rudy Giuliani.

SCHotline: What is the best moment you had in a campaign?

SCOTT MALYERCK: One was in 1987. I was driving in Vice President Bush’s motorcade on the back roads of western New Hampshire talking about USC football with fellow alumni Lee Atwater. Another was seeing the first political commercial that I wrote and directed on television.

SCHotline: What is the worst moment you had in a campaign?

SCOTT MALYERCK: The loss of Dickie Jones in the Sumter State Senate race in 2004 by about 50 votes. Dickie is one of the most decent and honest men I’ve ever met in politics and was one of the finest candidates the Republican Party has ever had run for office. He would have made an outstanding representative for the people of Sumter and Lee counties. The election was stolen in one precinct (sour grapes, I know).

SCHotline: Do you have any hobbies besides politics?

SCOTT MALYERCK: As a youngster, I was a coin collector. It has really gotten out of hand. Coin collecting is now a very expensive hobby. I have a 1795 Flowing Hair Dollar if anyone’s interested. For years my hobbies were sports related, golf, running etc. I completed the Marine Corps Marathon in 2001. I will not tell you my time, but I did run every mile of the way. The pursuit of a good golf game remains a major hobby.

SCHotline: Who is your political hero?

SCOTT MALYERCK: Ronald Reagan, no question. He personified what America was and what it hoped to be. I was lucky enough to meet President Reagan several times. His hair always seemed grayer in person. I’d have to mention George Washington. He was offered a “Kingship” in a newly formed republic but knew what America had to be and was humble enough to give it all up after eight years. His actions truly set the framework for a successful executive branch of government.

SCHotline: What is your best political accomplishment?

SCOTT MALYERCK: Taking a candidate with almost zero name ID and defeating the N.H. Speaker of the House in a Republican Primary for congress.

SCHotline: What would do if you were president for a day?

SCOTT MALYERCK: Get up very very early.

SCHotline: What are the Secrets of you success?

SCOTT MALYERCK: Being as honest and as straightforward as possible.

SCHotline: What are your biggest gripes?

SCOTT MALYERCK: Political consultants who believe they are more important than the candidate and artificial turf.

SCHotline: What are your predictions for 2007?

SCOTT MALYERCK: A battle between Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination. Hillary Clinton growing stronger and the Red Sox really competing for the pennant.

JEFFREY SEWELL BIOGRAPHY

There aren’t too many political consultants in South Carolina who can pull off a Frank Sinatra-style ascot at a down home country barbecue, but that’s the first thing you need to know about Jeffrey Sewell: He’s not afraid to be himself. And speak his mind.

True to a debonair style that belies his brass tacks, “run it like a business” approach to campaign management, this former dot-com executive turned campaign operative is quickly making a name for himself in Palmetto political circles as a go-to inside player, a big-picture strategist, a talent manager extraordinaire and (not to neglect his bread and butter) a technological guru with the best data in the business.

“Being successful in business or politics boils down to two things – managing people and managing data,” Sewell says. “Winning strategies rest in the identification of superior personnel, the utilization of superior information and the creative, efficient management of both.”

In a very short period of time, Sewell’s strategies are having a major impact on South Carolina’s political landscape.

Since assuming co-ownership two years ago of SC Hotline, the state’s most popular political website, Sewell has pushed the creative envelope and helped transform the site into a major media player, eclipsing most mainstream in-state media in visits per day and using cutting edge online video technology to conduct exclusive interviews with America’s biggest political luminaries.

Along the way, he’s become a fixture at top-dollar political events, on the opinion pages of the state’s largest newspapers and most importantly, on winning political campaigns.

“Jeffrey helped assemble the talent we needed to win,” says State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, who hired Sewell to help manage his successful GOP Primary in 2006. “He was instrumental in getting our campaign team – and our campaign network – up and running and firing on all cylinders.”

When it comes to campaign networks, Sewell’s data services have helped drive the grassroots efforts of successful candidates ranging from City Council all the way up to Gov. Mark Sanford’s office, and his company Sewell Consultancy boasts some of South Carolina’s heftiest political heavyweights on its client roster.

“These guys are as good as it gets,” says Randy Page, President of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, the state’s largest conservative advocacy group.

Sewell, who has helped manage large scale software implementations and data services for Six Sigma industry giants like Geico, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, Owens Corning and SCANA in the past, now brings his technological proficiency and managerial expertise to bear on getting leaders elected and good ideas across the finish line.

Jeffrey Sewell and his wife Vee reside in West Columbia, South Carolina.