Romney hires former top Bush campaign policy adviser

BOSTON --Gov. Mitt Romney, continuing to build a political operation reaching outside Massachusetts, has hired a domestic policy adviser who held that key role for George W. Bush during his first campaign for the presidency.

Sally Canfield, currently policy adviser to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, will move to Boston and join the payroll of Romney's political action committee in mid- to late-March.

After working on Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, Canfield served as a top adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson before helping draft the founding legislation for the Department of Homeland Security following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

She served as the department's first deputy chief of staff under Secretary Tom Ridge.

"I've followed Gov. Romney from afar and been impressed both by his job in Massachusetts and at the Republican Governors Association. He was looking for somebody who could help him on a national scale and that's where my experience has been," Canfield said Thursday.

She said her hiring should not be construed as affirmation that Romney is running for president in 2008, even though the Republican chief executive announced in December that he was not seeking a second term this fall. The governor has publicly acknowledged he is considering a run for president.

"We're dealing with the '06 cycle now and whatever happens in '08 will happen then. We're focused on electing Republican governors and helping other Republicans around the country," she said.

Romney's committee, the Commonwealth PAC, was founded in July 2004. It is intended to boost his stature around the country by paying for some of his travel and supporting like-minded political candidates.

It is constructed not only as a federal entity to support national candidates, but it also has state operations in Iowa, South Carolina, and Michigan, and is about to open in New Hampshire -- all early or key presidential voting locales. In 2004, it distributed $225,000 to candidates or party committees in 18 states.

The committee is run by Trent Wisecup, a business partner of Mike Murphy. Murphy is a political consultant who advised Sen. John McCain during the 2000 presidential campaign and more recently served as top political adviser to Romney and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Romney decided in December not to extend Murphy's contract, but Wisecup has remained an adviser and Canfield will join him at the committee.

Romney has a separate political committee, but the governor is expected to consolidate his political activities in the future.

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EDITOR'S NOTE -- Glen Johnson has covered local, state and national politics since 1985. He can be reached at glenjohnson(at)ap.org.