Bush names Gillespie to White House post

President Bush today named Ed Gillespie as his counselor, replacing Dan Bartlett as one of the president’s top advisers.

“He’s a seasoned hand. He’s got excellent judgment. He’s a strategic thinker. And I know he’ll do a fine job,” said Mr. Bush, with Mr. Gillespie sitting at his right hand in the Oval Office.

Mr. Bartlett, who has worked for Mr. Bush for 14 years and become one of Mr. Bush’s closest advisers, was also seated in the room.

“I never thought I’d be able to find somebody to possibly do as good a job as he’s done,” Mr. Bush said of Mr. Bartlett.

Mr. Gillespie, 45, who will begin work June 27, resigned yesterday from his post as chairman of the Virginia Republican Party after seven months on the job.

“Obviously, if seven months ago I had any idea that I would be asked to serve our president and our country in this new capacity less than a year after being elected to lead the RPV, I never would have sought the chairmanship,” Mr. Gillespie wrote in a letter today announcing his resignation to members of the party.

Mr. Gillespie, who chaired the Republican National Committee from 2003 to 2005, will also leave his post as a lobbyist with Quinn, Gillespie & Associates, the firm he founded several years ago.

After working for several years on Capitol Hill, Mr. Gillespie worked for Mr. Bush’s first presidential campaign, and became a key figure in the 2000 Florida recount.

He came close to joining the Bush administration in 2001, but decided to stick with his lobbying firm instead, which he co-founded with Jack Quinn, former chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, who also served as White House Counsel to President Clinton.

Mr. Gillespie also played a pivotal role in shepherding Mr. Bush’s two Supreme Court nominees — Samuel Alito and John Roberts — through their nomination processes.

Ken Mehlman, who succeeded Mr. Gillespie as RNC chairman and now is a partner at a D.C. law firm, said Mr. Gillespie will be “a great asset” to Mr. Bush.

“He has a smart sense of message, is trusted by the press and on the Hill, and is a good team player,” Mr. Mehlman said by e-mail from Shanghai.

Mr. Gillespie’s ties to Capitol Hill will be helpful at a time when Mr. Bush’s relations with congressional Republicans have frayed over the immigration issue, the war in Iraq, and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’ handling of the U.S. attorneys controversy.

“He brings an understanding and resprct of many of the key constituencies to getting out the message — the Hill, the press, the new media, the grassroots. He’s also smart at formulating the message,” Mr. Mehlman said.

Mr. Gillespie’s office at his lobbying firm directed phone calls to the Virginia GOP.

Mr. Bartlett, 36, has worked for Mr. Bush for 14 years, since his first campaign for governor in Texas, and has become one of the president’s most trusted advisers in the White House.

Mr. Bartlett said earlier this month that he wanted to have a job that allowed more time with his family and three young children. He plans to leave the White House around July 4.