White House aide Adrian Saenz
WASHINGTON –The president is dispatching a top aide to Dallas to coordinate Ebola response.
Adrian Saenz, a seasoned political operative from Texas who has worked in Congress and, for the last 13 months, at the White House will serve as the administration’s Dallas-based liaison.
“Saenz will be on the ground in Dallas and in close coordination with senior White House officials involved in the Ebola response, including Ron Klain, the Ebola Response Coordinator,” a White House aide said.
The deployment helps to “fulfill the president’s pledge that state and local authorities are able to call upon any and all necessary federal resources,” he added.
Saenz joined the White House staff in September 2013 as deputy director of Intergovernmental Affairs, leading a team that works with state and local officials. In the 2012 Obama campaign he served as National Latino Vote Director. He was Texas state director for the Obama campaign during the 2008 primary. In 2006 he was national field director for the Democrats’ U.S. House campaign arm. He was a top immigration strategist at Organizing for America, the group that evolved from the Obama campaign apparatus, before joining the administration.
In Congress, he served as chief of staff to then-Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, and in other roles.
In other measures, the White House also is naming a Texas coordinator for Ebola response “to ensure we adequately leverage appropriate state-level assets.” Gov Rick Perry has selected W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Assistant Director, Texas Department of Public Safety, for that post.
The president also has named a FEMA coordinator, Kevin Hannes, to work with Kidd and ensure adequate federal assistance in Dallas. Hannes currently oversees FEMA operations in North Texas.