Ricky "Rick" Allen Dearborn (born July 19, 1965) is an American government official and lobbyist who served as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Intergovernmental Affairs and Implementation in the

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

for less than a year from 2017 to 2018. Prior to this role, he was the executive director of Donald Trump's

presidential transition team In the United States, a presidential transition is the process during which the president-elect of the United States prepares to take over the administration of the federal government of the United States from the incumbent president. Thou ...

and served in various positions on the U.S. Senate staff.

Career

Dearborn worked for six

U.S. Senators The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

, including two members of Senate leadership, and spent more than 25 years working on

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

. He was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

and

confirmed In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on o ...

by the Senate to become the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

, where he worked with the Senate, House, and Tribal Governments on achieving President George W. Bush's Energy Agenda. After leaving the Department of Energy in 2004, Dearborn worked as the Chief of Staff for Senator

Jeff Sessions Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 84th United States Attorney General from 2017 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as United Stat ...

from 2005 to 2017. He succeeded Armand DeKeyser. Dearborn was one of two former senior Sessions staffers appointed to senior roles in the Trump White House, the other being White House Senior Advisor Stephen Miller.

Trump administration

Presidential transition team

Dearborn was a member of Donald Trump's presidential transition team. The transition team was a group of around 100 aides, policy experts, government affairs officials, and former government officials who were tasked with vetting, interviewing, and recommending individuals for top cabinet and staff roles in Trump's administration. Vice President Mike Pence was named Chairman of transition after Chairman

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in ...

was fired, with Dearborn as staff director. Dearborn, alongside

Marc Short Marc Short (born March 3, 1970) is an American political advisor who served as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Prior to holding this role, Short was the director of legislative affairs at the White House from 2017 to 2018. He becam ...

, and Andrew Bremberg, coordinated with aides of Senator

Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConn ...

in employing the

Congressional Review Act The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a law that was enacted by the United States Congress under House Speaker Newt Gingrich as Subtitle E of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 () and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on Mar ...

to reverse 13 regulations made late in the

presidency of Barack Obama Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

by creating an Excel spreadsheet of targets, eventually being able to eliminate over twice as many regulations as they had anticipated.

White House staff ouster after less than a year

Dearborn took a relatively low-key approach while serving in the White House. On November 10, 2017,

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

reported, that "Deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn's departure would make him the latest in a growing conga line of West Wing aides who started on Inauguration Day but failed to last a full year." On December 21, 2017, the White House announced that Dearborn would resign in early 2018.

Post-White House career

Dearborn joined a consulting firm after leaving the White House.

References