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With the field in disarray over the departure of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle from the race for governor, Secretary of State Karen Handel picked Monday to announce her campaign staff for the Republican contest.
Most notable in the stack of names was the return of Dan McLagan, who served as Sonny Perdue’s acid-tongue spokesman during his historic 2002 campaign.
Others include:
— Campaign manager Marty Ryall, who most recently ran U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s unsuccessful re-election bid. (McLagan helped out on that one, too.)
— Leigh Ann Wood Gillis, who served as state finance director for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2008.
— Whit Ayers, a longtime Republican consultant, will act a pollster. Ayers, now of Virginia, was once based in Roswell, where Handel began her political career.
— Emotive will act as the Handel campaign’s online consultant.
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12 comments Add your comment
Wonder Donkey
April 20th, 2009
3:10 pm
Glad to see Handel is sticking with Perdue’s spokesman. It really proves that she is no different than Perdue…with a little less education, of course. Sounds like a perfect way to continue ruining Georgia… Perdue minus eduction= Karen Handel (smart choice guys). I really hope the state will see right through Handel and vote for the best candidate, which is certainly not Handel. Party loyalties (meaning Republican loyalties) are certainly not the way to go in this election… they will only put Georgia even further behind.
SouthGARepublican
April 20th, 2009
3:17 pm
Looks like Handel has assembled a great team. I have met her a few times, and she is no Sonny Perdue. She will be a great leader for the state
Jefferson
April 20th, 2009
4:42 pm
What next, Hanna Montana for office ??
Betrayed
April 20th, 2009
4:46 pm
My only vice with Ms. Handel is her breech of campaign promise on “secure and traceable voting ballots”. She failed to deliver and has no excuse (of merit) on the matter. I can see why she would want that delayed until AFTER her campaign to the State’s highest office.
As far as her “staff” is concerned, she could campaign with “the staff of Moses” and still not get my vote.
KempSoS
April 20th, 2009
6:08 pm
While doing research for the SoS office I discovered it was going to cost between $50,000,0000 and $75,000,000 for new machines. New machines would be required to have a a paper audit trial.
Not Feeling It
April 20th, 2009
8:26 pm
So let’s see. Louisiana has a Rhodes Scholar, Florida has an accomplished lawyer, Tennessee has a Harvard graduate, and Georgia has a high school graduate . . . . . . from Maryland.
usoo
April 20th, 2009
8:31 pm
Dan McLagan is scum. Period.
doomed
April 20th, 2009
8:56 pm
Someone needs to look into the claims that Handel was a high level executive at Ciba and KPMG. I’m pretty sure all she did was pr or government relations at those companies. Of course she only got those jobs because she was Marilyn Quayle’s personal assistant. So funny that she now runs an agency where she doesn’t have the minimum educational qualifications for 70% of the positions.
Asa Pearl
April 21st, 2009
6:21 am
Thats odd. She bans sos employees from working for diebold but herself took gov relations jobs with companies that wanted her because of her government experience and had key government contracts like diebold does. Hypocrite.
Oxendine takes on Handel | Gold Dome Live
April 22nd, 2009
3:48 pm
[...] And it’s true: Handel has hired acid-tongued spokesman Dan McLagan, who worked for Perdue; as finance director she has Leigh Ann Gillis who worked on both of Perdue’s gubernatorial campaigns, as well as uber-ad man Fred Davis, he of the famous “Rat” video during Perdue’s first race. Davis, in fact, also worked on Oxendine’s 1998, 2002 and 2006 insurance commissioner campaigns — an additional fact that has to hurt just that much more. [...]
SMARTERTHAN YOU
April 27th, 2009
2:47 pm
SONNY PERDUE SUCKS BALLS!!!!
SMARTERTHAN YOU
April 27th, 2009
2:49 pm
SONNY PERDUE HAS PUT A HOLD ON MANY PEOPLES MONEY SO HIS FATHEAD CAN MAKE MORE MONEY AND KISS BOYS LOL… NO BODY LIKES YOU SONNY BESIDES UR BIG NASTY FAT SELF!!!!!