Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene this week is taking steps to build on her campaign to be a national voice for the America First movement, influence the 2022 elections and nudge the GOP congressional caucus to the right.
In her first move today, she told Secrets that she has hired an aggressive new chief of staff with long, and controversial, experience fighting in the Washington political trenches.
And later this week, she plans to announce endorsements of 2022 candidates that she believes can help Republicans regain control of the House. “I need some helpers in there,” she said.
Nearly a month after her former chief of staff, Patrick Parsons, resigned to work on conservative projects, Greene said that she has brought former House Majority Leader Tom Delay’s former chief of staff, Ed Buckham, out of retirement.
Buckham, tied to the 2006 Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal but never charged, is expected to boost her office and guide a new round of hiring of nationally focused aides.
In an interview, Greene brushed aside the criticisms about Buckham. “What I am more interested in doing is bringing on a chief of staff that will help me achieve the things that I think need to be done for our country. And that is forcing the Republican Party to be the Republican Party they say they are on television and on the campaign trail, but actually doing it in action in the conference.”
Greene, a strong ally of former President Donald Trump, added that Buckham is “a strong conservative, definitely believes in the America First agenda, has had more experience in the swamp, so to speak, probably than most people working on the Hill right now, and I need that wisdom and experience on my team to achieve what I’m looking to do. And so this is a serious hire. It’s the first of more to come, and I’m not afraid of the controversy.”
Buckham has been away from Capitol Hill for years. In 2016 he was being eyed to chief the House Freedom Caucus, but the job went to somebody else.
In a statement to Secrets, he welcomed the chance to join Greene, long controversial herself for statements criticized by Democrats and media and even kicked off House committees in a power play orchestrated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top liberals.
“I wouldn’t come back for just any member, and I’m excited to get started,” said Buckham. “I see Marjorie Taylor Greene as an absolute game changer, and that’s why I’m coming back to the Hill to join her team. Congresswoman Greene is fighting to secure our border and make our country safe, stop the mountain of debt burying future generations, and to end the genocide of abortion in America. MTG truly wants to change Washington and put America First,” he added.
In less than a year in Washington, Greene has taken the hard line against centrist Republicans, challenged Pelosi’s mask policies, and used her time freed up by a lack of committee assignments to mount floor fights on the Biden agenda and take her effort national.
Liberal critics have delighted in bashing her, but it hasn’t had much of an impact on her growing influence inside the Trump-dominated party.
For proof, her office offered endorsements of Buckham’s hire from key conservatives.
Former senator and Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint said, “Marjorie is playing to win. Nobody knows how to do that better than Ed Buckham.”
Club for Growth President David McIntosh said of Buckham, a minister, “Ed brings discipline and wisdom, born out of his strong Christian faith.”
Former Rep. Bob McEwen, executive director of the Council for National Policy, said, “Ed is a skilled legislative strategist who knows how the floor works.”
Greene said that she did not know Buckham before his name was suggested to her in the last month.
But in several meetings, she said that she was convinced he could help expand her influence.
“I think he has the experience needed to help me take things to a more serious level. Especially pulling together other members, pulling together their staffs, pulling together more of an agenda, which is what I’m working on. I’m very interested in building an America First agenda that any Republican candidate can run on across the country. I believe that I need more people in Congress that are like me, that are interested in a career, that are interested in actually saving our country. And that’s literally how I see it, Paul. I believe the Democrats are communists, and I think we’re seeing that play out in real time, especially what we’ve seen over the past nine months, and it’s only been nine months, and that’s terrifying, and I’m building a coalition. And so I need people on my team that can help me do that, and Ed Buckham has got the experience, and he’s proven he’s been able to do that.”
