Ed Rollins - Early Career

Early Career

Rollins's college years were interrupted by health and money problems. For a year (1964–65), he worked in Oakland, running a program for disadvantaged kids under the new federal Office of Economic Opportunity, the first of the LBJ Great Society social welfare agencies. Student government proved his entry into politics, serving as Student Body President of his junior college, then again at Chico State (where he tried to attract an ROTC unit to the campus—unusual, during the Vietnam War). Rollins's activism led to his being selected to intern in Sacramento for California's legendary Democratic leader, Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh in 1967. Unruh introduced Rollins to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy; in early 1968 he worked for Kennedy as a campus coordinator, then later as a paid operative for his primary campaign in Northern California.

After graduating, Rollins served briefly as an assistant to the President at Chico State, then in Sacramento as a state budget analyst. After the 1968 election and the GOP takeover of the California Assembly, he was hired by Republican Assemblyman Ray Johnson as his Chief of Staff, despite his prior service under the Democrats. Later, he left California for Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. From 1969 to 1972, Rollins served assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, also teaching political science and public administration. There, he personally witnessed violent student protests, including the burning of an ROTC building.

In the summer of 1972, Rollins was hired by Robert T. Monagan, former speaker of the California Assembly, to work as a paid operative for the California campaign to re-elect President Richard Nixon. This gave Rollins his first close contact with Governor Ronald Reagan, who chaired Nixon's California campaign, and Lyn Nofziger, who ran the West Coast Nixon political operation. It was at this time that "blue-collar Democrat" Rollins made his permanent switch to the GOP.

After Nixon's sweep in California failed to result in a GOP-controlled legislature, Rollins moved to Washington in 1973, to serve as principal assistant to Monagan overseeing congressional relations at the Department of Transportation. Ultimately, he continued as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs through the end of the Ford administration.

From 1977 to 1979, he served as dean of the faculty and deputy superintendent at the National Fire Academy in Washington. In early 1979, Rollins returned to Sacramento as chief of staff for the Assembly Republican Caucus. During this period, he was offered but ultimately declined the position of chief of staff to former President Nixon. Under Rollins, the Assembly Republicans netted a three-seat gain in the 1980 legislative elections.

Ed Rollins appears in the 2008 award-winning documentary film Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story. In the film, he says "Strom Thurmond was trying to get Lee a job in the White House. And you know, here's this young kid without a real resume. He came into my office. He was fidgety — hands, legs, everything moving — but there was something about his eyes. He had these piercing eyes that— you know, and as I've always thought, those— those are the eyes of a killer. This was someone who was going to get what he wanted..”