From a campaign press release:
Casey Cagle today announced his team of campaign staff and advisers.
“I’ve always said: In business, you find someone who’s proven they can do a job and can go out and do it again,” Cagle said. “I have assembled a group of professionals who are experienced veterans of Georgia political campaigns and who have proven they can give us the support we need to win this governor’s race. Nita and I could not be more encouraged by the talented team we have behind us.
This staff and advisory team is just the tip of the spear of a statewide network of grassroots leaders, volunteers, donors and supporters. As I have always said, the most important people to a campaign are those who volunteer their own time in support of our conservative vision.”
The campaign will be led by campaign manager Scott Binkley who joins Cagle’s team after serving as the Executive Director of the Republican Lieutenant Governors Association and with the Republican Governors Association. Binkley began his political career serving in the congressional office of now-Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price.
The communications arm of the campaign will be advised by former Gov. Deal communications director Brian Robinson and led by communications director Joseph Hendricks.
A veteran political shop will be managed by former political director to Karen Handel’s successful congressional campaign, Ian Caraway, who also managed the successful race of the current Cobb County Commission chairman. Nathan Deal campaign veteran, Brian Harris, will serve as field director and another Handel campaign alum, Samantha Sheldon, will serve as deputy field director.
The finance team will be run by veteran Georgia fundraiser Rebecca Cummiskey and supported by Taylor Cheek, who joins the campaign from Peachtree Government Relations. DeAnna McDuffie will serve as the director of operations for the campaign after experience in the Georgia House Majority Caucus Office as well Troutman Sanders Strategies.
Cagle brings to bear a list of acclaimed experts in campaign politics with his advisory team, a group that has remained largely unchanged since his first statewide run in 2006. The advisory team will be led by the campaign’s chairman, Charles Tarbutton. Longtime Georgia campaign consultant Mitch Hunter will serve as the strategic adviser to the campaign. Nationally recognized pollster John McLaughlin will continue to serve as Cagle’s pollster. Sonny Scott will advise as media consultant to the campaign as he did for Nathan Deal in 2010 and 2014. Jay Williams, having helped a huge number of Georgia Republicans to victory, will assist the campaign as digital and mail strategist. Veteran Georgia political attorney Anne Lewis will provide counsel to Cagle’s campaign.
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Charles Tarbutton
Campaign Chairman
Charles is Treasurer and Director of B-H Transfer Co., a truckload motor carrier primarily serving industrial customers in the Southeast. Prior to joining B-H Transfer in September 2015, he had been in the short-line railroad industry for 27 years. Mr. Tarbutton is also President and Director of Katahdin Management Co., and the General Partner of an investment partnership focused primarily on transportation and real estate investments. Charles is a lifelong resident of Sandersville and a graduate of Emory University School of Business with a degree in finance. He is married and has three children. He and his family are active members of the Sandersville United Methodist Church.
Scott Binkley
Campaign Manager
Scott joins Cagle for Georgia as Campaign Manager after most recently serving as the Executive Director of the Republican Lieutenant Governors Association, an organization that more than doubled in size under his leadership; and the Republican Governors Association during the 2014 cycle, a record setting cycle for both fundraising and total Republican governors. Scott, a native of Georgia, began his career in Tom Price’s Capitol Hill office as legislative staff while also assisting with political fundraising. Scott has worked on U.S. House, U.S. Senate and state-level campaigns across the United States.
Mitch Hunter
Strategic Adviser
Mitch Hunter is a partner at GMHC 360, an Atlanta-based public affairs firm where he works with campaigns, corporations, associations and nonprofits to develop and execute strategic solutions. After his tenure in Washington as Chief of Staff for Congressman Phil Gingrey, Mitch returned to Georgia and has worked with other leading federal, state and local campaigns, including Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens and Congressman Austin Scott. Mitch is an honor graduate of the University of Georgia and lives in Marietta with his wife, Jaillene, and their four children.
Brian Robinson
Strategic Adviser
Brian Robinson has run a public affairs communications firm, Robinson Republic, since 2015. Robinson served as communications director for Deal for Governor in 2010 and 2014 and as deputy chief of staff for communications in the governor’s office for nearly five years. He joined the Deal team after working in Washington as a communications director in the Georgia congressional delegation, and before that as a copy editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is a regular political commentator in the Atlanta media market and on cable news networks. A University of Georgia graduate and devoted Dawg fan, Brian and his wife, Corinna, live in Brookhaven with their daughter Quinn Paces and their English cream retriever Asher.
Rebecca Cummiskey
Finance Director
Rebecca has served as the finance director for Lt. Gov. Cagle’s campaign for eight years. In addition, she has raised millions of dollars for other clients including Gov. Nathan Deal, Sen. David Perdue, former Gov. Sonny Perdue, former Rep. Jack Kingston, former Georgia Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, the Georgia Republican Party, and several ballot initiatives. Rebecca is a native of Milledgeville and lives in Atlanta with her husband, Chris, and two children.
Anne Lewis
Legal Counsel
Anne Lewis is a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Strickland Brockington Lewis LLP. Her practice involves election-related litigation, including redistricting, Voting Rights Act cases, election contests and candidate qualifying challenges. Anne is General Counsel of the Georgia Republican Party, a member of the Georgia Republican Party’s Executive Committee and State Committee and a member of the Executive Committee of the DeKalb Republican Party.
Jay Williams
Digital and Mail Strategist
Jay Williams is the Founder and Managing Principal of the Stoneridge Group (SRG), Georgia’s premiere voter communications agency for conservatives. Among SRG’s notable clients are Sen. Johnny Isakson, Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Attorney General Chris Carr, Congressmen Doug Collins and Austin Scott, and former Congressmen Tom Price, Phil Gingery and Lynn Westmoreland.
John McLaughlin
Pollster
John McLaughlin has worked as a pollster and strategic consultant for 35 years during which time he has helped win some of the toughest races in history. John’s clients have included President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, six incumbent U.S. senators and 20 sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives. His Georgia clients include Gov. Nathan Deal, Congressmen Doug Collins and Buddy Carter as well as every one of Casey Cagle’s successful races.
Sonny Scott
Media Consultant
With over 25 years of experience in campaign politics, Rising Tide Media Group partner Sonny Scott has developed winning media strategies, and produced thousands of television and radio ads, for Republican candidates and causes throughout the country. Sonny has led the media effort for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s resounding re-election wins in the past two elections and for then-state Sen. Casey Cagle’s victory in the 2006 GOP primary for lt. governor.
Joe Hendricks
Communications Director
Joe joins the Cagle for Georgia campaign after working for the Lt. Governor’s Office during the 2016 and 2017 legislative sessions. Joe is an honor graduate of the University of Georgia, and is also a co-manager of a large farm in Talbot County. He and his wife, Kat, currently reside in Druid Hills.
Ian Caraway
Political Director
Ian is a native of Conyers and has extensive campaign experience having worked on the successful campaigns of Cobb County Commission Chairman Mike Boyce and state Rep. Meagan Hanson. Ian most recently served as the Political Director for the campaign of Congresswoman Karen Handel.
Brian Harris
Field Director
Brian has worked on several political campaigns, most recently for Gov. Deal, and has also spent several years working in state government at the Technical College System of Georgia. He and his wife Caroline live in Decatur.
Sam Sheldon
Deputy Field Director
Sam graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Political Science. Sam has worked previously on the field staff for Congresswoman Karen Handel’s recent election and interned for War Room Strategies and former state Sen. Judson Hill’s congressional campaign.
Taylor Cheek
Deputy Finance Director
Taylor is the finance assistant for the campaign. She is a native Georgian but a LSU Tiger at heart having graduated from Louisiana State University in May of 2016 with a degree in political communication. Taylor joins the campaign after an internship with Peachtree Government Affairs in Atlanta.