Current Position: White House Political Director (since January 2009)
Credit: The White House
Why He Matters
President Barack Obama was drawn to Gaspard because of their similarities - both are community organizers with family roots in Africa.
At first, Gaspard demured, but eventually he signed on, serving as Obama's political director in the White House. He was also the President's choice to lead the White House Office of Political Affairs. President Ronald Reagan established the office, and it has since been attacked for politicizing the presidency. Karl Rove was political director during George W. Bush’s first term and used his perch to substantially broaden the office’s portfolio.
Gaspard is a community organizer who spent most of his career working with labor unions to organize protests and lobby for health care and education benefits. Until shortly before he joined Obama’s 2008 campaign as political director, Gaspard was a registered lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). During the Democratic presidential primary, Gaspard used his labor ties to drive huge get-out-the-vote efforts in states with large union populations like Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio.
The “loves of his life are his family [and] his workers,” said Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of SEIU. Gaspard will recuse himself from issues related to his lobbying for a year, transition spokesperson Dan Pfeiffer said.
At a Glance
Current Position: White House Political Director (since January 2009)
Career History: Service Employees International Union Local 1199 Political Director (1999 to 2007); National Field Director for America Coming Together (2004)
Birthday: N/A
Hometown: Democratic Republic of Congo
Alma Mater: N/A
Spouse: N/A
Religion: N/A
DC Office: N/A
Email N/A
Web site
Path to Power
Gaspard was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Haitian parents and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He spent the first part of his career working in New York politics, and nearly his entire career working with one of the most powerful labor unions in the country.
Gaspard started in politics in 1988 when Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for the Democratic nomination for president. The next year, Gaspard worked on the campaign of David Dinkins (D), who became the first black mayor of New York. He was working as chief of staff for council member Margarita Lopez when Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times and killed by police in 1999.
SEIU’s Local 1199 coordinated a “March for Justice” against police brutality and a variety of other forms of civil disobedience in the months after the shooting. Dennis Rivera, the president of Local 1199, and Bill Lynch, the union’s political director, asked Gaspard to help organize the march. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed political director. SEIU is the largest service workers union in the country, with more than 300,000 members, and Politico.com described it as “politically potent.” Gaspard worked as a registered lobbyist for the union working on labor issues, in particular universal health care.
Gaspard supported Howard Dean during the 2004 Democratic contest, and he was national field director for America Coming Together, a 527 group that focused on getting out the vote. While he was there, ACT came under fire for using convicted felons as canvassers in Missouri, Florida and Ohio during the 2004 presidential election. The organization decided to re-vet all of its canvassers to make sure it didn’t have any violent criminals on its payroll.
In 2006, Gaspard used his powerful SEIU position to help Democrats recapture the Congressional majority. He joined the 2008 Obama presidential campaign as its political director. After that race, he said he wanted to return to the union to help push for universal health care.
But when offered a position on the transition team as the associate personnel director, Gaspard took it. And in November 2008, he was named to head the political affairs.
The Issues
Gaspard is a thoroughly liberal Democrat. He has consistently supported liberal candidates and has worked closely with labor unions throughout his career. Asked in 2006 what his goal was for 2008, he said, “That's the easiest question I've ever been asked — I want to begin to repair the imbalance in the Supreme Court by electing a Democratic president.”
Though he is highly competent, he is one of the lowest-profile members of Obama's inner circle. He is the White House's link to Democratic campaigns, gateway to grassroots and labor organizations and a "clearing house for information," according to a The Washington Post profile. His focus is making the politics organization work for policy.
He has been criticized for focusing too much energy into races based in New York (the former New York operative still reads political blogs).
Office of Political Affairs
Every president since Ronald Reagan has had an Office of Political Affairs, but the existence of the office is still considered controversial.
Many purists, Republicans and Democrats, contend that politics has no place in the White House. House Energy and Commerce Chair Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), former chair of the House Government and Oversight Reform Committee, has recommended that it be abolished. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) vowed to eliminate the office if he were elected. “It's time to show the American people that politics will not be part of this massive effort we're going to have to go on, to restore our nation's economy," he said.
During the campaign, Obama said he wanted to change the way things worked in Washington, including the permanent campaign, a statement some took to mean he would move the political director out of the White House. “Many voters will be disappointed that Barack Obama is doing nothing to make his White House less political,” Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant said.
But others consider the office necessary. “Every White House needs a political operation,” Edward J. Rollins, the White House political director under Reagan, wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times urging Obama to retain the office. “When he takes office, Mr. Obama will face major challenges. A political office that lets him communicate with his supporters and mobilize them for important battles will be essential.”
Health Care
Gaspard focused on health care during his career with the SEIU. He lobbied for extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and helped Democrats pass the bill before Bush vetoed it. Gaspard, who was a registered lobbyist until shortly joining Obama’s White House, will recuse himself from any issues relating to his lobbying, transition spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said.
Electing Democrats
Gaspard has played a behind-the-scenes role in several key Democratic races in 2009. He pushed for crucial endorsements in the governors races in Virginia and New Jersey, to limited success. When a moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava was pushed out of a House race in New York just days before the election because a group of right-wing Republicans including former Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed a much more conservative third-party candidate, Gaspard convinced Scozzafava to endorse the Democrat.
He is also trying to ensure that 2010 races feature viable Democratic candidates. It was Gaspard who tried to convince Gov. David Paterson, whose approval numbers are in the tank, not to seek a second term. News of the meeting was leaked to the press, embarrassing Paterson and Obama. The meeting was criticized as "amateur hour" by some New York house members.
The Network
Gaspard has spent most of his career working with one of the country’s most powerful unions. Dennis Rivera, who is Chair of SEIU Healthcare, hired Gaspard as the union’s political director in 1999.
Gaspard has worked with SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Burger, who was also chairwoman of Change to Win, a coalition of labor unions that supported Obama in the 2008 race; and Andrew Stern, SEIU president.
