» Trump picks Texan to oversee domestic agenda.
Former leader of TPPF appointed to oversee president’s domestic agenda amid reopening
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday night named Brooke Rollins — a Texas native who led the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation for 15 years — his acting domestic policy chief, the latest example of the Austin-based think tank’s growing clout in D.C. and beyond.
Rollins, who has worked in the White House since 2018, will lead the Domestic Policy Council, a group that oversees the president’s domestic agenda as Trump continues to press for reopening the nation amid the coronavirus outbreak.
And it comes as her old policy shop in Texas seeks to expand its influence well beyond Austin, opening an office in D.C. in 2018.
“This cements her as one of the key visionaries for the conservative movement,” said Kevin Roberts, executive director at the public policy foundation.
The think tank, which pushes for lower taxes, deregulation and criminal justice reform, has seen its star rise under the Trump administration, along with more established conservative policy groups such as the Heritage Foundation. The president has tapped several former TPPF staffers for spots in the White House and across the administration, including Vance Ginn, the TPPF’s chief economist who until earlier this year held a high-level post in the office that crafts the president’s budget proposal. Other exTPPF staffers have served in high and midlevel positions in the departments of Interior, Energy and State.
It also counts among its alumni U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a Central Texas Republican who worked as vice president of strategy for the group before being elected to Congress.
Rollins’ appointment is anoth
er big victory for the nonprofit foundation, which was founded in 1989 by James Leininger, a wealthy San Antonio doctor and Republican donor who wanted to produce conservative research at a time when Democrats controlled the state. It has since become one of the most influential — and well-funded — policy groups in the state, drawing some $12 millions in contributions in 2017, according to the most recent reports.
Roberts, the executive director, said he still talks to Rollins at least a few times a month, and he believes TPPF’s clout has grown “significantly, especially outside Texas, over the last few years.”
“Part of it has to do with Brooke being in that position and people realizing to go from heading a think tank to the White House, there must be something good about that think tank,” he said.
The head of the left-leaning
Center for Public Policy Priorities, often at odds with the TPPF, is not surprised to see the Trump administration “scoop up smallgovernment partisans who have a tendency to bend data and facts to meet their political objectives.”
“We are proud of many of our exports from the great state of Texas, but we wish the administration would bring in more people who understood the critical role that government plays in creating policies to improve people’s lives,” said the center’s CEO, Ann Beeson. “That’s more important than ever during a pandemic.”
Rollins has emerged as an influential behind-the-scenes voice in her two years with the administration, working closely with the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner in the Office of American Innovation, another key West Wing office.
Among the signature policies that office has pushed is criminal justice reform, for which Rollins has long advocated. Trump in 2018 signed the First Step Act, key bipartisan legislation that shortens sentences for some inmates and offers job training and other programs.
“Who in the world ever would have thought Donald Trump would be the biggest advocate for criminal justice reform?” Roberts said. “Brooke would never take credit for that, but that happened largely because of her ability to bring key people to the table.”
Ginn, who worked at the White House with Rollins for a year, agreed she was influential in those efforts, as well as the administration’s efforts to curb federal regulations on industry and cut the national budget.
“Really, Brooke was a breath of fresh air in the White House,” Ginn said. “She brought her perspective and understanding of the importance of federalism to the White House. It was very much appreciated throughout the White House.”
Roberts called Rollins “the defender of the common person” and said she has a disarming nature that he believes has helped her navigate a White House full of hard-driving “New York real estate guys and gals.”
“For anyone she encounters, she immediately comes across as their best friend,” he said. “It really disarms some of that edginess.”
Rollins steps into her new role as the White House pushes to reopen the country while facing criticism over the administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak and pressure to continue ramping up testing and contact tracing efforts.
Roberts said he believes Rollins is “probably where Gov. (Greg) Abbott is, in that we have to reopen as quickly as we can,” but in a safe way.
“Given the economic and political climate we’re in now, given COVID-19 and the shutdowns, I don’t think there’s anyone else better who can be in that position to make sure we come out of this as soon as possible, not only in an economic sense — but what I’m thinking about are human lives,” Ginn said. “She’s a great choice.”