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Scott Stanzel

Scott Stanzell
Scott Stanzel

"I missed politics"

Scott Stanzel returned to the nation's captial as the White House's deputy press secretary during President George W. Bush's second term.

Politics had dominated Scott Stanzel's professional life. But the long hours had taken its toll on the 1995 Iowa State journalism and mass communication and political science graduate.

He started to burn out.

So after helping get President George W. Bush re-elected in 2004 (he served as the Bush campaign's press secretary and worked in the White House during Bush's first term), Stanzel stepped back from politics and moved almost as far away from the Beltway as you can get.

"It was time for me to get away from politics for awhile," Stanzel said. "I had worked on the past three presidential campaigns and that was enough."

Stanzel moved to Seattle where he served as a communications executive with Microsoft. He traded in his Washington, D.C., suit and tie for a more casual look. The hours were shorter, press requests more manageable and job pressures weren't as great.

"It was a real eye opener," Stanzel said. "We would work on a project at Microsoft for months at a time. There wasn't that immediacy that I was used to at the White House."

While many individuals would love the new lifestyle, Stanzel started to get that itch again - the itch to be back in the political game.

He started a blog on political issues. He remained in contact with friends back on the other coast. He even served as a technical adviser on the last season of the television series "The West Wing."

But none of those activities came close to making the itch go away. So when Tony Snow, then the White House press secretary, called about a job, Stanzel jumped at the opportunity.

He worked down the hall from the most powerful man in the world as a deputy assistant to the President and deputy press secretary, a job he started right after the 2006 mid-term elections.

"I missed politics, the adrenaline rush that you get from working in the White House," he said. "I had the luxury of being fairly mobile. I didn't have any pets or even any plants to take care of." He also realized he may never see this opportunity again.

Stanzel made the most of the opportunity. Working closely with Snow and Snow's successor Dana Perino, he gave briefings to the White House press corps and traveled the world with the President of the United States. He had direct media relations responsibility for agriculture, education, energy, transportation, homeland security, energy and immigration.

Officially Stanzel's day started at 6:15 a.m., but in reality it started the moment he awoke.

"I'm in a constant consumption of the news in this job," he said in an earlier interview. "Literally from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep at night."

On his morning walk from his apartment to the White House, Stanzel read the Washington Post, New York Times and other newspapers on his Blackberry. He also listened to two radio stations before he left and viewed Tivoed newscasts of the three network evening news shows after he returned home at night.

"An important part of my job was to brief the press secretary on what's happening in the world before she went into senior staff meetings or met with the media," Stanzel said. "We peppered her with questions on the day's news."

Another key role Stanzel and the White House Press Office played was giving the "Gaggle," a morning overview of the President's day for reporters. Stanzel had given this briefing on numerous occasions. He had also conducted the on-camera briefing twice.

"The 'Gaggles' and briefings are stressful events," he said. "There are a lot of reporters throwing question after question to you on several different subjects. Preparing for all of those topics is a real effort. By the end of the day you've talked to reporters about a lot of interesting subjects."

However, he believes what he did made a positive impact in what appeared on television that evening and in newspapers the next day.

At the conclusion of President Bush’s second term in 2009, Stanzel moved back to the Pacific Northwest and founded Stanzel Communications, a firm specializing in public relations strategy, crisis communications and media training.