Bill Stepien

Bill Stepien (born 1978) is a Republican political strategist.

He managed both of Chris Christie's gubernatorial campaigns and served as his Deputy Chief of Staff before being fired after Christie said he "lost confidence" in Stepien's judgment.^[1] He works for the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign.

Early career

Stepien began his political career working on Anthony Bucco's 1997 State Senate campaign, and on Bob Franks' 2000 U.S. Senate race. He worked for Public Opinion Strategies and DuHaime Communications before managing Bill Baroni's 2003 bid for New Jersey State Assembly—the only Republican to oust a Democratic incumbent that year, and one of PolitickerNJ.com's Best Campaigns of the Year.^[2]

Stepien served as Political Director of the 2004 Bush/Cheney campaign in New Hampshire, and as Director of the Republican National Committee's 72-Hour Campaign in 2005 and 2006.^[2] In 2008, he was a Regional Campaign Manager for Senator John S. McCain's presidential campaign^[3] before serving as National Field Director,^[4] a role in which he also served for New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in 2007-08. He also served in the same role for Presidential hopeful Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Campaign.

Chris Christie scandal

Stepien served as campaign manager in Chris Christie's successful campaign for Governor of New Jersey in 2009.^[5] Christie's first major announcement after winning the election was the naming of four top staffers, including Stepien as a Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.^[6] In April 2013, Stepien resigned from that position to become the manager of Christie's re-election campaign.^[7] His replacement as Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs was Bridget Anne Kelly.^[8]

After he was re-elected Governor, Christie announced that he wanted Stepien to take over the chairmanship of the New Jersey Republican Party from Sam Raia. On January 7, 2013, Christie said, "I’ve asked Bill Stepien to be our new State Party Chairman because no one better understands how to grow our party, communicate our message and, most importantly, win elections...Bill Stepien is the best Republican operative in the country, and New Jersey Republicans will be fortunate to have him leading our Party."^[9] However, just two days later, on January 9, Christie announced that he had "lost my confidence in Bill's judgment," and he asked Stepien to withdraw his name from consideration for the state Republican chairman.^[10]

The shocking turnaround was a result of Stepien's work on Christie's re-election campaign, where he became embroiled in the criminal closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Investigators eventually discovered that Stepien was in a romantic relationship with Bridget Kelly, his replacement as Christie's deputy chief of staff. Their relationship lasted until August 2013, just as the plan to close the lanes was being implemented.^[11] Though their personal relationship was over, Stepien was kept abreast of the lane closures and the intended fallout. It was the emails between Stepien and those involved in the lane closures that sealed his fate. Christie said, "I was disturbed by the tone and behavior and attitude of callous indifference that was displayed in the emails by my former campaign manager, Bill Stepien."^[12]

Two months after losing Christie's confidence, Stepien made a "soft landing" at the data and phone bank giant FLS Connect, which hired him to work on sales and strategy.^[13][14] Stepien then received a subpoena to submit documents to the New Jersey Legislature panel investigating in the lane closures. In a 19-page letter sent to Reid Schar, special counsel to the joint Senate and Assembly committee, Stepien's lawyer cited Stepien’s Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination, noting that in addition to the legislative probe, a federal criminal inquiry into the lane closures was also underway.^[15][16]

Judge Jacobson of the New Jersey Superior Court ruled that Stepien was not required to comply with the legislative subpoenas to produce documents since they were written too broadly, and he was also protected under the Fifth Amendment.^[17]In May his lawyer also contended that a report produced on behalf of the Governor's Office misrepresented his client.^[18][19]

In the trial in September 2016 about the lanes closures, federal prosecution witness David Wildstein said that Stepien was aware of the lane closures as they were happening.^[20][21]

Nassau Strategies

Stepien's firm, Nassau Strategies LLC, is based out of a residential home on Knob Hill Road in Hackettstown, New Jersey. The firm benefited from Christie's chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association, as did many other New Jersey-based consulting firms. In December 2013, the RGA paid Stepien's firm $15,000, just a month before Christie cut ties with Stepien.^[22] On December 8, 2014, GOPAC made a retainer payment of $6,000 to Nassau Strategies for political strategy consulting.^[23][24][25]

Trump campaign

In August 2016 Stepien was hired to work for the Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016^{[26][27] [28]}

See also

• Governorship of Chris Christie
• List of people involved in the Fort Lee lane closure scandal

References