Mitt Romney taps longtime aide Beth Myers to lead running mate search

By Matt Viser

April 16, 2012

3 minutes to read

WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney on Monday said that longtime confidant and top adviser Beth Myers would be in charge of vetting potential running mates for his presidential bid, putting her in charge of what will become one of the most scrutinized decisions of his campaign.

The former Massachusetts governor told ABC News that he had started thinking about who he would choose as his running mate, and wanted Myers to begin putting together the plan for scouring the records and personal backgrounds of possible choices.

“I’ve asked her to be the person who oversees the process of the vice presidential selection and vetting,’’ Romney told Diane Sawyer in an interview taped at Fenway Park that will air Monday night. “And so she’s begun that process and is putting together the kinds of things you need to do to vet potential candidates.’’

Romney declined to reveal other specifics about his vice presidential search process, other than to say that he’s started to think about it.

“It would certainly be by the time of the convention,’’ he said of the deadline for the pick. “I don’t think we’ve chosen the time we’d actually make an announcement.’’

Ann Romney, who joined her husband for the interview, said this weekend was the first time they had started speaking seriously about vice presidential picks.

“You know it’s been interesting this weekend was the first time we seriously really talked about it and there are some wonderful people out there,’’ she said. “So we’re thinking about it now and we haven’t allowed ourselves to go there yet and I think this is a time when we realize it’s very important and it’s time to think about it.’’

Myers, who lives in Brookline and graduated from Tufts University, has been part of Romney’s tight inner circle for the past decade. She advised Romney on a volunteer basis during his 2002 gubernatorial bid, and was the stand-in for Democratic rival Shannon O’Brien during his debate practices.

Once he was elected, Myers served as Romney’s chief of staff. Several months before his term was up, she left to serve as director of the Commonwealth Political Action Committee, which Romney used to support his travel and gear up for his 2008 presidential bid.

Myers then became chief of staff for the unsuccessful 2008 campaign. This time, she’s a senior adviser and has overseen Romney’s debate preparations, among other things.

Prior to that, she was chief of staff to Massachusetts Treasurer Joseph D. Malone. She was also active in Texas Republican politics through the 1980s, working with Karl Rove, who was the top strategist to President George W. Bush, and more recently has been involved in the campaigns for US Senator Scott Brown, of Massachusetts.

But she has become most closely linked to Romney. In Michigan earlier this year, during a press conference the day of the Republican primary, Romney brought her up by name as a way to illustrate that those around him have stuck by him for a long period of time.

“If you see that someone like Beth Myers, for instance, that we’ve been together since I’ve been governor,’’ he said, in response to a question about why he was failing to connect with voters. “She was my chief of staff. She continues to work with me on my campaigns. When you find people like that who stick with you for a long time you say, ‘Okay. People who know him best who are close to him on a day to day basis stay with him and are loyal to him and I’m loyal to them.’’’