Timmy Teepell

Timothy Patrick "Timmy" Teepell
Chief of Staff to Governor Bobby Jindal
In office 2008–2011
Preceded by	Andy Kopplin (under Kathleen Babineaux Blanco)
Succeeded by	Stephen Waguespack
Personal details
Born	February 15, 1975 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Sarah Lynn Parker Teepell
Children	6
Parents	Thomas Francis, Sr., and Brenda McArthur Teepell
Residence	Baton Rouge, Louisiana Alexandria, Virginia
Alma mater	Homeschooled in Baton Rouge
Occupation	Political consultant

Timothy Patrick Teepell, known as Timmy Teepell (born February 15, 1975), is a Republican^[1] political consultant from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who was chief of staff to Governor Bobby Jindal during most of Jindal's first term in office. Since 2011, Teepell has operated the firm OnMessage Inc., based in suburban Washington, D.C.^[2] Still an advisor to Jindal, Teepell is sometimes called the governor's "alter ego".^[3]

Background

Teepell is the second of four sons of Thomas Francis "Tommy" Teepell, Sr. (born 1951), a salesman for Lamar Advertising, and the former Brenda McArthur (also born 1951). After the eighth or tenth grade (sources vary),^[4] Teepell was homeschooled in Baton Rouge. His mother became an unofficial lobbyist for the homeschooling movement and spent considerable time at the Louisiana State Capitol promoting her cause. Young Teepell had an interest in basketball and the Louisiana State University great Pete Maravich.^[5] Teepell obtained his General Educational Development diploma and did not attend college. Instead he went directly to Washington, D.C., to work for Republican candidates, to promote conservative causes, to engage in fundraising, and to join the staff of the Republican National Committee, all activities which turned into his full-time career as a political consultant.^[6]

Teeple is married to the former Sarah Lynn Parker of Virginia. He has twin sons, Thomas and William, and four daughters, all named for U.S. states, Virginia, Georgia, Montana, and Tennessee.^[4]

Political life

At the age of eighteen, his first job was in 1993 as an aide to Michael Farris in Purcellville in northern Virginia, a Republican who organized the Home School Legal Defense Association and Patrick Henry College and ran unsuccessfully that same year for lieutenant governor, when such Moderate Republicans as then U.S. Senator John Warner refused to support him because of his conservative views. By his early twenties, Teepell had taken charge of the Madison Project, a political action committee founded by Farris that raised funds for Christian conservative candidates nationwide. He also worked in certain Virginia legislative campaigns.^[5]

Regarding his lack of formal education, Teepell said that he fell into political organization mostly by accident:

I learned a lot in the work world that I wouldn’t have learned as a political science major [including the work ethic from his parents] When [one doesn't] have a college education, [he] can't afford to fail at any job. I realized I had to work twice as hard as anyone else to be successful. ...^[6]

Regarding his perseverance in campaigning, Teepell said in second person:

It's not rocket science. To win a campaign you have to get a lot of people engaged in supporting you. Not just voters, but when you have somebody who's willing to go door-to-door in their own neighborhood telling their neighbors, asking people to vote for you. That's powerful. ... There are relationships you build in Louisiana where people put aside their partisanship and see people for who they are and build those relationships. That's something that being in D.C. I always missed about Louisiana, and it's one of the reasons I wanted to come back.^[5]

In 2003, Teepell began advising Jindal to continue in active politics after the latter's defeat in the governor's race that year by the Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. He managed Jindal's election in 2004 to Louisiana's 1st congressional district for the seat vacated by David Vitter, who instead became in 2005 his state's first elected Republican U.S. senator since Reconstruction. In 2007, Teepell managed Jindal's successful gubernatorial race against the Democrats Foster Campbell and Walter Boasso and several other opponents. He then joined Jindal as chief of staff in the first term^[2]at a salary of $165,000 annually.^[7] Many have noted the irony of the Jindal-Teepell relationship with Jindal being a Rhodes Scholar and Teepell having a GED.^[4]

In 2010, Teepell took a three-month leave of absence to work nationally in gubernatorial campaigns for the Republican Governors Association, of which Jindal became the chairman two years later. Jindal's executive counsel and later Teepeol's successor as chief of staff, Stephen Waguespack, subsequently the executive director of the interest group, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, was the acting chief of staff while Teepell was away.^[8]

In 2012, Teepell, along with John C. White, Jindal's appointee as Louisiana education superintendent, and Chas Roemer, president of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education became involved in the promotion of Jindal's educational reform package^[9] of expanded charter schools, educational vouchers,^[10] and enhanced teacher evaluations.^[11]

In 2011, Jindal hired one of Teepell's younger brothers, Taylor Teepell, as the governor's deputy for legislative affairs and thereafter as deputy chief of staff under Stephen Waguespack.^[12] Taylor Teepell was the director of the Louisiana Republican Party's Victory Fund in 2011 and is a former advisor to the former chairman of the Republican National Committee Haley Barbour, also a former governor of Mississippi.^[12]

Jindal in 2011 named Matt Parker (born 1984), formerly of Virginia, as his intergovernmental affairs director and then in 2012 assigned Parker as the legislative affairs director.^[12] Parker is Teepell's brother-in-law, the brother of Teepell's wife. Parker had been Jindal's 2011 campaign manager when the governor, with more than $9 million in campaign funds at his disposal,^[13] polled nearly two-thirds of the vote in the nonpartisan blanket primary against a large field of politically unknown candidates.^[14] In 2010, Parker had worked on the campaign of Governor Rick Scott of Florida.^[2]

In 2012, Timmy Teepell worked in the campaign of Republican U.S. Representative Bill Cassidy of Louisiana's 6th congressional district.^[15]In the spring of 2013, Teepeel abruptly departed the Cassidy campaign as Cassidy prepared to challenge U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu's bid for a fourth term in 2014.^[3]

Early in 2012, Teepell, with OnMessage Inc., based in Alexandria, Virginia, correctly forecast before the Press Club of Baton Rouge that U.S. President Barack Obama would defeat the Republican choice, which turned out to have been Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, by two or three percentage points but that there would be divided government with the Republican majority maintained in the U.S. House and possibly a GOP pickup of the U.S. Senate, which did not materialize.^[9]

In 2013, Teepell and OnMessage Inc. worked in the campaign of State Senator Neil Riser of Columbia in Caldwell Parish in Louisiana's 5th congressional district special election, 2013 to fill the seat vacated by Rodney Alexander, who left Congress to join the Jindal administration as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs.^[16]On November 16, 2013, Riser was handily defeated in a runoff election with fellow Republican Vance McAllister, a businessman in Ouachita Parish and a previously political unknown. According to the office of Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler in Baton Rouge, McAllister defeated Riser, Teepell's candidate, 54,449 (59.7 percent) to 36,837 (40.3 percent), with all 981 precincts reporting.^[17]

References

1. "Plug in Timothy Teepell, February 1975". voterportal.sos.la.gov. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
2. "Jindal hires relatives of former chief of staff, November 28, 2011". WBRZ-TV. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
3. "James H. "Jim" Brown, Will Landrieu And Jindal Face Off in Senate Race?, May 23, 2013". wjbo.com. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
4. "Meet Governor Jindal's Chief of Staff: Timmy Teepell, January 14, 2008". WAFB-TV. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
5. "Stephanie Stokes, Competitive spirit drives Jindal's top gun, October 28, 2007". New Orleans Times-Picayune. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
6. "Chuck Hustmyre, "Timmy Teepell," December 31, 2007". 225batonrouge.com. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
7. "Tom Aswell, "Timmy Teepell neglected to close out his state email account when he left the governor's office 11 months ago–or did he?", July 6, 2012". louisianavoice.com. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
8. "Jindal chief of staff back after GOP campaign work, November 8, 2010". WBRZ-TV. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
9. "Ed Anderson, President Obama's re-election likely, Gov. Jindal's former aide says, January 31, 2012". New Orleans Times-Picayune. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
10. "Bobby Jindal: War with feds over school vouchers still on, September 24, 2013". politico.com. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
11. "Bobby Jindal is governing like it's 2016, February 17, 2013". politico.com. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
12. "Governor Jindal Announces New Deputy Chief of Staff, Legislative Affairs Director, Intergovernmental Affairs Director, October 12, 2012". gov.state.la.us. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
13. "Jindal fundraising report to show $9.2M on hand, February 15, 2011". WBRZ-TV. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
14. "Results for Election Date: 10/22/2011 (Governor)". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
15. "Brandon Comeaux, Rep. Cassidy Hires Jindal's Top Campaign Strategist for Reelection Effort, February 15, 2012". KPEL. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
16. "Riser claims FEC mistaken". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, October 14, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
17. "5th congressional district special election returns, November 16, 2013". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 16, 2013.