Ben Carson Hired a Magic-Loving, Castle-Owning, Crisis-Management "Fireman" to Plot His 2016 Bid

[KamaAina]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/terry-giles-ben-carson-2016

Ben Carson's résumé doesn't read like those of your average presidential aspirant—pediatric neurosurgeon, best-selling author, motivational speaker. And to help plot his long-shot path to the White House, this unlikely candidate has turned to a man with an even more unconventional background: a magic-loving entrepreneur and celebrity lawyer named Terry Giles who made a cameo in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, defended serial killers, and for 14 years chaired the board of a controversial self-help empire created by a mercurial pop psychologist. That is, not the usual political operative.

When Carson formally announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday, he gave a shout out to Giles, his campaign chairman. "When I started this endeavor…I asked him to put together the rest of the team in order to be able to do this," Carson said, introducing Giles to the audience. With no more political expertise than the candidate himself, the 66-year-old attorney has spent the last nine months assembling a campaign outfit from scratch, including mining Newt Gingrich's 2012 operation for key hires.

For Giles, putting together a presidential bid is the latest venture in an eclectic career that has included stints as a car dealer, chateau baron, and magic-club owner. "I have adult ADD," he says in an interview. But Giles is no dilettante; as a lawyer, he has been ruthless in defending his clients' interests—a trait that may be particularly useful during what will likely be a combative GOP primary contest.

Giles' wife has dubbed him "the fireman" for his crisis management skills, which he has put to work on behalf of a roster of embattled celebrity clients. That list includes comedian Richard Pryor, who on a cocaine-fueled summer night in 1980 literally lit himself on fire after dousing himself in Bacardi 151 and striking a match. While Pryor recovered from the third-degree burns that covered half his body, Giles took over Pryor's business affairs, scrapped with the tabloids, and eventually arranged for the comic to fly to Washington, DC, to headline a White House celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Pryor got his moment of redemption; President Ronald Reagan got good press; and Giles hit it off with the young Department of Agriculture appointee who had organized the event, Armstrong Williams.

Yes, that Armstrong Williams.

And raiding Newt's 2012 team? Until I read that, I had forgotten that Newt ran last time!

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. So he hired a "Crisis Manager"? ...

Based on the thoughts that find their way out Carson's mouth ... I suspect Giles will be grossly under-paid, unless he is going to be paid by the fire.