Two in Jeb Bush's inner circle have Michigan ties

With Jeb Bush officially in the presidential race and
some pundits declaring that he has done all the right things by assembling a
top-notch campaign team and lining up key Republican donors, it’s interesting
to note that two members of the former Florida governor’s inner circle have
Michigan ties.

Trent Wisecup is Bush’s director of strategy and Emily
Benavides is the campaign’s Hispanic communications director.

Wisecup

Wisecup, a veteran political operative, worked for former
senator Spence Abraham and former congressman Joe Knollenberger. Benavides was
Gov. Rick Snyder’s communications director during his successful re-election
bid last year.

Wisecup served as media spokesman for Abraham during the
2000 campaign, spokesman on Ronna Romney’s 1994 and 1996 U.S. Senate campaigns,
and his work for Knollenberg for several years* included the title of chief of
staff.

According to the Washington Post, during the 2012 cycle
Wisecup was strategist to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He’s
also worked for former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen.
Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Bush and Mitt Romney when they served as
governors.

Benavides’ post on the Jeb 2016 team is a unique role
among top-tier GOP presidential campaigns, according to the Post. Her job entails
keeping in touch with reporters for Spanish-language newspapers and television
reporters working for Univision, Telemundo and their affiliates.

Benavides

In a story published last October, “40 under 40 Latinos in American politics,” the Huffington
Post described Benavides this way:

“At 29 years old, she is already one of the Republican
Party’s top Latina communications operatives. Emily rose from working as a
congressional staffer to being handpicked by Mitt Romney as his National
Hispanic Press Secretary during the 2012 presidential election.
“After the
election, the Spanish Embassy to the United States chose Emily to meet with the
Crown Prince of Spain in Madrid as an ambassador for the U.S. Hispanic
community. … In her extremely limited free time, Emily volunteers as one of the
founders of RightNow Women PAC,
which raises funds for center-right women to run for federal office.”

* Wisecup’s
controversial departure from Knollenberg’s staff may inevitably resurface at
some point during the long presidential campaign. He left in 2007 after
engaging in an angry rant against a MoveOn.org anti-Iraq War protester in
Oakland County who was shadowing the congressman with a video camera. The
blow-up made its way onto YouTube.