Person

Ethan Rome

Nationality:

American

Occupation:

Political campaign director

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Ethan Rome is a left-of-center campaign director who is known for his activism surrounding taxation, healthcare, and labor unions. He is as of May 2022 chief of strategy and program at Issue One, a cross-partisan organization seeking to affirm views that the 2020 U.S. Presidential elections were “the most secure in history.” 1 2 Rome is also a member of the National Task Force On Election Crises, a nonpartisan task force founded specifically to combat those who question the validity of the 2020 elections. 3

Education and Early Career

Rome attended Wesleyan University from 1982 to 1985, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Radical Democracy. 4 He became an organizer for the eastern Connecticut chapter of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, which advocates for left-of-center causes such as health care for unauthorized migrants. 5 Before departing in 1992, Rome was legislative and political director, leading the organization’s communications and political campaigns to “help grassroots leaders build progressive power.” 6

In 1992, Rome cofounded and directed the Taxpayers Alliance to Serve Connecticut (TASC) in their two-year tax reform campaign, which won the enaction of a new state income tax in Connecticut. TASC was a coalition created to respond to a state budget crisis caused by overspending and over-reliance on high sales and property taxes, which had backfired during the 1989 New England recession. 7 8

Shortly after, Rome joined the Connecticut Office of the Speaker of the House as policy and communications director, where he provided “comprehensive services” to Democratic state house campaigns. 9

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees

Rome spent a decade as director of public affairs at the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), where he coordinated communications, campaigns, and branding, and acted as union spokesperson. 10 AFSCME is a national union of government workers and a major donor to left-of-center campaigns, having contributed more than $62 million to the Democratic Party since 1990. 11 The union promotes left-of-center causes quite openly, having advocated in favor of the Affordable Care Act, and recently supported President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. 12 13

Health Care for America Now

In 2009, Rome left AFSCME for Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a left-of-center coalition that advocated for passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and then defended it from repeal. 14 As executive director, Rome led the $60 million campaign to “define the [ACA] debate as a battle between the insurance industry and the right of everyone in America to quality, affordable health care.” 15 Rome expounded on this viewpoint in a 2017 op-ed for HuffPost in which he argued that Republicans wanted to slash expanded healthcare and hand the average American over to the mercy of insurance companies. 16

Issue One

In 2018, Rome became chief of strategy and program at Issue One, a left-leaning but nominally cross-partisan coalition to “protect U.S. elections, lessen political polarization, limit the influence of big money over politics, and improve the ability of Congress to solve problems.” 17 Issue One has asserted that the 2020 elections were secure and fairly conducted, 18 characterized the January 6, 2021 protests at the U.S. Capitol as “a violent insurrection” against fair elections, and criticized former President Donald Trump for questioning the 2020 presidential election results. 19 20

At Issue One, Rome oversees communications and branding campaigns. During the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections, Rome led the Count Every Vote campaign, a $15 million effort to prove and defend the validity of the election. Later, according to his LinkedIn page, Rome was instrumental in creating the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, a committee intended to investigate what it refers to as a “domestic terrorist attack.” 21 22

References

  1. Team. “Ethan Rome.” Issue One. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://issueone.org/team/ethan-rome/
  2. Elections and Voting. “2020 Election.” Issue One. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://issueone.org/issues/elections-voting/2020-election/
  3. “Members.” National Task Force on Election Crises. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.electiontaskforce.org/members
  4. Ethan Rome. LinkedIn. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-rome-b07b9188
  5. “Health Care.” Connecticut Citizen Action Group. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.ccag.net/health-care.html
  6. Ethan Rome. LinkedIn. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-rome-b07b9188
  7. Louis Uchitelle. “Tough Choices for Connecticut as Boom Ends.” New York Times. December 13, 1990. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/13/nyregion/tough-choices-for-connecticut-as-boom-ends.html
  8. Miles Rapoport. “Winning With Tax Reform: The Connecticut Story.” The American Prospect. December 19, 2001. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://prospect.org/infrastructure/winning-tax-reform-connecticut-story/
  9. Ethan Rome. LinkedIn. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-rome-b07b9188
  10. Ethan Rome. LinkedIn. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-rome-b07b9188
  11. “American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees.” Open Secrets. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/american-fedn-of-state-county-municipal-employees/totals?id=D000000061&totalsaffilcycle=A
  12. “Our Issues.” American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.afscme.org/priorities/issues
  13. Natalia Perez Sanchos. “Saunders: Jackson confirmation a ‘joyous day’ and ‘watershed moment.’” American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.afscme.org/press/releases/2022/saunders-jackson-confirmation-a-joyous-day-and-watershed-moment
  14. “About HCAN.” Healthcare For America Now. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.healthcareforamericanow.org/about/about-hcan/
  15. Ethan Rome. LinkedIn. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-rome-b07b9188
  16. Ethan Rome. “Club for Growth Hits Airwaves to Make a Bad Health Care Bill Worse.” HuffPost. April 18, 2017. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/club-for-growth-hits-airwaves-to-make-a-bad-health_b_58f692ffe4b071c2617f00a5
  17. “About Us.” Issue One. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://issueone.org/about-us/
  18. “Imagining a New Path Forward.” Issue One. Accessed April 22, 2022. http://issueone.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Issue-One-2021-Agenda.pdf
  19. “2020 Election.” Issue One. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://issueone.org/issues/elections-voting/2020-election/
  20. Amisa Ratliff. “60% of President Donald Trump’s post-election tweets sought to undermine legitimacy of presidential race.” Issue One. February 9, 2021. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://issueone.org/articles/60-of-president-donald-trumps-post-election-tweets-sought-to-undermine-legitimacy-of-presidential-race/
  21. Ethan Rome. LinkedIn. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-rome-b07b9188
  22. “About.” Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://january6th.house.gov/about
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