While her work history list might be lengthy, her dating track record isnt very long. Just before he was sworn in, de Blasio yielded to Peysers prodding and cut Smith loose just before he moved into the mayors office. And although Smith would never say it, it plays on political reporters' narcissism, too. He was a once-in-a-generation talent, someone who perfectly met the moment. The former New York mayor later divorced his wife and was spotted in places like Montego Bay and a Knicks game cozying up with Smith. This 35-Year-Old Mayor From Indiana Is Wowing National Democrats The New Republic declared. Democratic operative Lis Smith on Monday savaged her former boss, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, over his municipal coronavirus response, while offering effusive praise for Gov. [24], Smith authored the 2022 book Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story. If you had any balls you would have said what I told you to say.. Adam Wren is national politics correspondent at POLITICO. Its that everyday when I go into work to try and get these people elected its because it will impact lives. Between 1987 and 2013, Spitzer had been married to Silda Wall Spitzer. Hes someone I ask for advice. Smith: Democrats love to bitch that we dont have a bench. Maybe Im done. How much of his success was because of you, and how much was because of him? Like we saw with Hillary Clinton, women are sometimes held to a different standard. What I realized from my time working in politics is how much mystery there still is around this industry. Neither Eliot nor I was gonna win a gold medal in the not reckless competition at the Olympics. He weighed in after the Supreme Court decision. What is this new phase of your career about? Buttigieg reignited Smiths love for politics, she says, after a really difficult 2015 and 2016 due to her breakup with former New York Gov. [11][12] In 2018, Smith became spokeswoman for Andrew Cuomo's successful re-election campaign, who had endorsed the political entity. Whats that like? It wasnt an ideal situation, but it taught me a lot, Smith says. The two of us talked this week about Buttigiegs political future, whether Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow could jump into politics, and the ingredients of a good political candidate. Does something like Buttigieg Derangement Syndrome exist? | After 20 campaigns flacking for candidates such as Transportation Secretary and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill,. Even TMZ got in the act LEO DICAPRIO OFFERED BUTTIGIEG HELP DURING 2020 RUN, trumpeted the chyron. Gripping reads, smart analysis and a bit of high-minded fun. They are doing things that are more directly relevant to peoples lives. And what Pete understood, and why I believed in him, was that to beat Trump, we didnt need to be him. Smith had moved to New York in 2013 to work for Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor who had stepped down in a prostitution scandal. And when it happened, the story was her. Wren: Youre a very competitive person. I am a liberal Democrat, but I was so into the McCain thing. Everyone thought I was crazy. He was a once-in-a-generation talent, someone who perfectly met the moment, says Smith. With her signature black bob, dark sunglasses, and red lipstick, Lis Smith cuts a striking figure in the world of politics . When I met him was right after Trump won the election, and Democrats are running around with their hair on fire for good reason. Smith said she learned a hard lesson: Even a professional cant try to manage a personal crisis without help. There may be nobody more central to Mayor Petes media successbesides the candidate himself, and arguably his social-media-savvy husband, Chasten Buttigiegthan Smith, who serves as a communications adviser and all-around aide. She recalled tellingde Blasio chief of staff Phil Walzak over drinks that she and Spitzer were a couple. I am humbled and flattered and appreciative of when people recognize the hard work I put in on our media strategy, and the fact that we employed a media strategy that was radically different from everyone else in the field. [7] As communications director for the DGA, she oversaw gubernatorial campaign efforts in Kentucky and West Virginia. She has extensive experience in public affairs, media relations, and crisis communications at the local, state and national levels. This story has been shared 102,835 times. For example, you write in your book about going to a pop-up bar in South Bend with Pete and his best friend and campaign manager, Mike Schmuhl. She knew Axelrod from 2012, when she worked as director of rapid response for President Barack Obamas reelection effort. The whole saga also taught her the rhythms of the New York tabloids, which have similarities to the national political press. There is nothing too big for her. There were, Smith guesses, probably 150 such meetings with the national press corps, and when he traveled across the country, speaking to local county party dinners and fundraisers across the Midwest and Great Plains, they would make time for one-on-ones with the local political press there, too. She is practically shaking with excess energy. So I wanted to write a book to tell people, Hey, if you want to know what politics is like the ins and outs, the good, bad, and the ugly this is a book for you.. Meet the DNC dark horse: Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg is shaking up the race for Democratic chair, added Salon. Hes someone who is involved fighting childhood hunger. [8], In 2012, she became director of the rapid response team for Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. Riley Keough has been married to Australian stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen since 2015. I knew from the beginningthat our relationship would be a big tabloid story when it became public. But to me it was more just revealing [the] nature of the sliding doors of campaigns, and I think thats what youre getting at. Regular voters and the media were primed for it.. Now more than ever, people are seeing politics touch everything in our lives. Smith double majored in government and anthropology at Dartmouth College, graduating in 2005. A lot of people thought that to beat Trump, you had to be Trump. I think now more than ever, people need to understand how the media works. They are already well-known.. At the newsstand around the corner, you could buy a New York magazine with Buttigiegs beatifically smiling face splashed across the cover, and a New York Times with an A1 story about his time at Harvard. I think thats always been part of Joe Bidens appeal. So what I try to do is to meet candidates where they are, and to help work with them on what their strengths are and not to erase the things in them that are quirky or not, but see if we can use them as assets. How did that manifest itself with Pete, the first candidate youve ever advised who was approximately the same age as you? Most people do have nerdy sides to them. We are humble and kind, to quote Tim McGraw. That means that shes held to a different standard than sometimes other candidates. Weve seen a lot of cataclysmic things happen. It was a long shot. He was an incredible leader at Louisiana State University someone that team could rally around, and such a maturity to him. News has confirmed her daughter Riley Keough welcomed a daughter with husband Ben Smith-Petersen, who mentioned their child at the singer's. I was blindly ambitious, versus blindly loyal, and where the shiny object of being a New York City press secretary was more alluring to me that I was willing to overlook his very clear deficiencies. Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images. They feel like if they dont respond within two minutes, that the crisis is going to fester. (For the record, I can totally envision him sitting on the floor singing Kumbaya just not for me. Although Smith and Spitzer attempted to keep the affair under wraps, a photographer for the New York Post spotted the pair at her SoHo walkup apartment, exchanging loving looks.. After winning the election, the candidate joined the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), and Smith consulted briefly for the group. I want Republicans to read this book. I had that early rush of love on the brainI wasnt thinking clearly. But its not just about the 18-year-old girl. I see Donald Trump win the White House, which like everyone else, Im flabbergasted. Most people do have earnest sides to them. Then, in an instant, everything changed, Smith writes in her tell-all, Any Given Tuesday., It came in the form of a text from [fellow consultant] Hari [Sevugan]: `Call me. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, De Blasio didnt trust NYPD security to keep secrets, ex-aide Lis Smith claims, Gross unshowered de Blasio wanted to get in bed with Spitzer but I beat him to it: ex-aide Lis Smith, How Americas gov became Americas ahole: Ex-Cuomo staffers new book, Chris Cuomo could be a dk to disgraced ex-govs staff, new book claims. In what ways does your brand benefit from Petes, and in what ways does Petes brand benefit from yours? The spotlight turns to Kamala Harris, the only Black candidate on stage. She then switched to de Blasios general election campaign for mayor. The attack we had been dreading was coming. Now she has carefully orchestrated her own books launch doling out choice anecdotes to her beloved New York tabloids: De Blasio didnt trust NYPD security to keep secrets, ex-aide Lis Smith claims, blared one headline, which elicited an on the record statement from De Blasio himself. [13][14], Smith met Pete Buttigieg on the recommendations of Axelrod and OMalley when he was considering running for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017 and became a consultant for the campaign. Letting Pete be Pete. Did I think I was going to walk into his office and tell him that I was dating Eliot Spitzer? A New York Post photographer had been surreptitiously posted outside my SoHo walkup apartment. In the past several months, Buttigieg has been not just all over cable and in the newspapers, but in Our Daily Planet, an environmental morning newsletter with just over 5,000 Twitter followers; in a financial planning podcast called Pete the Planner; and on West Wing Weekly, the obsessive episode-by-episode podcast breakdown of The West Wing. Spitzer and Smith stayed together for more than two years, with the tabloids following them pretty much the whole time. Wren: Could see a political career for him? | Mark Peterson/Redux, Yuki Iwamura/Redux. A lot of people people whose opinion you respect told you that you were nuts when you chose to work for Pete. I think I am impressive because I am a violinist and I went to Dartmouth and I speak French and have traveled all over the world and, I dont know, I know a lot about great apes, she says. If there is one thing that makes Smith unique, its not her knowledge of great apes or her particular skill eviscerating her opponents on Twitter; Its that her skin was toughened by a stretch of time in the rawest, roughest media environment of all, the NYC tabloid scrum. Click here. The 54-year-old disgraced ex-governor. Its a local-politics mentality to find the people that are going to be telling this story, and if nothing else, making sure they have a real understanding of who you are. David Freedlander writes about politics and culture. But another thing is that Im not someone whos just worked in New York. Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Wren: This book is in some ways a tell-all about the role of a political consultant. I dont live and breathe politics every day. ELIOT AND DeBABE blared the cover of the New York Post, which ran several photos of the pair on its inside pages and in a column from the acid-tongued Andrea Peyser which called Smith not just any ordinary bimbo and called her an ambitious, youngish cookie who presumably does not charge Eliot for any services rendered., Eliot Spitzer and Lis Smith at a Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in 2014. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News) "They're both consenting adults and can do what they want," said a former Spitzer. She led Buttigieg on a series of one-on-one meetings over beer, coffee, lunch or cigars with what used to be known as the Gang of 500those reporters, producers and pundits who shape much of the nations political coverage. The photographer also snapped Spitzer leaving Smiths apartment early the next morning wearing a skullcap and hooded sweatshirt, Not exactly the wardrobe of an innocent man, she notes. I would give Pete 95 percent of the credit and give me five percent of the credit. Still, she said, I wasnt exactly a PR neophyte. He didnt feel the need to go out there and be the coolest guy or the hippest guy on stage. She doesnt give a fuck. I think we saw that Kamalas attack on Biden was obviously was pretty pointed. Theyre just not looking in the right places. Its just that I think with both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that it would do the administration good to get out there a little bit more, and not to let the media and the Twitter dialogue get in your head, because most people dont speak like Pete Buttigieg in these beautiful, poetic, perfectly formed sentences. The one thing you saw on our campaign in 2020 is that everywhere we went, he was introduced by young leaders, young mayors. | Elijah Nouvelage/REUTERS. February 5, 2020 younolly Biography 0. It was by no means an obvious career move for Smith. Click here. It meant a lot to me as a woman to have someone like that. 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