Dana Perino

Dana Perino
Perino in 2016
Member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors
In office
June 30, 2010 – December 31, 2012
26th White House Press Secretary
In office
September 14, 2007 – January 20, 2009
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
DeputyTony Fratto
Preceded byTony Snow
Succeeded byRobert Gibbs
White House Deputy Press Secretary
In office
January 20, 2005 – September 14, 2007
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Press SecretaryScott McClellan
Tony Snow
Preceded byScott McClellan
Succeeded byTony Fratto
Personal details
Born
Dana Marie Perino

(1972-05-09) May 9, 1972 (age 52)
Evanston, Wyoming, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Peter McMahon
​
(m. 1998)​
EducationColorado State University Pueblo (BA)
University of Illinois Springfield (MA)

Dana Marie Perino[1] (born May 9, 1972) is an American political commentator and author who was the 26th White House Press Secretary, under President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007, to January 20, 2009. She was the second female White House Press Secretary, after Dee Dee Myers who served during the Clinton administration.[2]

Perino is a political commentator for Fox News, while also serving as a co-host of the network's talk show The Five, and was a book publishing executive at Random House. On October 2, 2017, she began hosting The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino on Fox News.[3] In early 2021, Perino left The Daily Briefing to co-anchor America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer.[4]

Early life and career

Born in Evanston, Wyoming on May 9, 1972,[2] she grew up in Denver, Colorado.[5] Two of her paternal great-grandparents were Italian immigrants.[6][7][8] She attended Ponderosa High School in Parker, a suburb southeast of Denver.[5] Perino graduated from Colorado State University Pueblo with a bachelor's degree in mass communications and minors in both political science and Spanish.[2] She was on the university's forensics team and worked at KTSC-TV, the campus-based Rocky Mountain PBS affiliate.[9] She also worked at KCCY-FM on the 2 to 6 a.m. shift.[10] Perino went on to obtain a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS).[11] During her time at UIS, she also worked for WCIA, a CBS affiliate, as a daily reporter covering the Illinois Capitol.[12]

Perino next worked in Washington, D.C. for Congressman Scott McInnis (R-CO) as a staff assistant before serving nearly four years as the press secretary for Rep. Dan Schaefer (R-CO), who then chaired the House Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power.[9][13]

After Schaefer announced his retirement in 1998, Perino and husband Peter McMahon moved to Great Britain.[5]

In November 2001, Perino returned to Washington, D.C., and secured a position as a spokesperson for the Department of Justice,[14] at which she served for two years.[15]

Perino then joined the White House staff as the associate director of communications for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), where she provided strategic advice on message development, media relations and public outreach.[16][17]

Press secretary

Dana Perino, George W. Bush, and Tony Snow

Perino was hired by White House chief of staff Andy Card two months after the September 11 attacks. Initially, she was associate director of communications for the White House CEQ in 2002.[18]

Perino served as Deputy Press Secretary from 2005 to 2007. From March 27 through April 30, 2007, she was the Acting White House Press Secretary while Tony Snow underwent treatment for colon cancer.[19]

On August 31, 2007, President George W. Bush announced Snow would be resigning his post for health reasons where Perino would become his replacement.[20] Perino served as Assistant to the President and as White House Press Secretary from September 14, 2007, until the end of the Bush administration in January 2009.[21][22]

On December 14, 2008, a TV journalist, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, threw two shoes at Bush during a Baghdad press conference. Bush successfully dodged both, but Perino's eye was injured by a microphone stand during the commotion surrounding al-Zaidi's arrest.[23][24][25][21]

Post-Bush administration career

Perino speaking at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

Since leaving the White House, Perino became a political commentator on Fox News. She is a regular co-host on the talk show, The Five. In November 2009, she was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an agency overseeing government-sponsored international broadcasting,[26] and was confirmed by the Senate on June 30, 2010.[27] In 2010, she started teaching a class in political communications part-time at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.[28] In March 2011 the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., announced Perino had joined its books imprint Crown Forum as editorial director[29] but she has since left this position.[citation needed]

Beginning September 18, 2016, Perino's podcast Perino & Stirewalt: I'll Tell You What, co-hosted with Chris Stirewalt, premiered as a weekly limited series on the Fox News Channel. A new show was released weekly until Stirewalt's firing from the network after the 2020 presidential election.

In 2022, she served as a guest host of Fox News' late night talk show Gutfeld!, as of 2023 she continues to serve as a regular fill in for host for Greg Gutfeld.[30]

In August 2023, it was announced Perino would host a new podcast entitled Perino on Politics on Fox News Radio ahead of the 2024 presidential election.[31]

On August 30, 2023, Fox News Media announced Perino would moderate the second GOP presidential primary debate on Fox Business alongside Stuart Varney and Ilia Calderón.[32] Towards the end of the debate, she asked the candidates to "vote [one of their fellow candidates] off the island." None of the candidates was willing to take her offer with the exception of Chris Christie, who later refused to reveal whose name he wrote down after a couple of candidates began criticizing the question.[33] The audience responded with laughter.[34] Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismissed the question outright. "I'm not going to do that, with all due respect, we're here, we're happy to debate, I think that that's disrespectful to my fellow competitors," he said. The other candidates nodded in agreement.[35]

Other media appearances

In May 2012, Perino appeared on Jeopardy! during its "Power Players" week, facing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and CNBC's David Faber.[36]

Personal life

Perino met her future husband, English-born Peter McMahon, in August 1997. They were married in 1998.[37]

Perino has been a resident of Bay Head, New Jersey.[38] Perino had a Vizsla dog named Jasper who died on September 4, 2021.[39] A few months later, she announced on the Fox News Channel that she and her husband purchased another Vizsla named Percy.[40]

In May 2023, Perino was awarded an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from CSU Pueblo, her alma mater. [41]

See also

Bibliography

  • And the Good News Is...: Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side. Twelve Books. 2015. p. 256. ISBN 978-1455584901.
  • Let Me Tell You about Jasper . . .: How My Best Friend Became America's Dog. Twelve Books. 2016. p. 272. ISBN 978-1455567102.
  • Everything Will Be Okay: Life Lessons for Young Women (from a Former Young Woman). Twelve Books. 2021. p. 240. ISBN 978-1538737088.

References

  1. ^ The Five : FOXNEWSW : March 10, 2014 2:00pm-3:01pm PDT, FOXNEWSW, March 10, 2014, retrieved January 28, 2021{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. ^ a b c Keller, Susan Jo (November 26, 2007). "Dana Perino". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 2, 2010.
  3. ^ "DETAILS: Fox News Channel to Launch New Daytime Lineup". Fox News Insider. September 26, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  4. ^ "Dana Perino co-hosts America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer". Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Barge, Chris (March 31, 2007). "Coloradan steps right into the media spotlight". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on March 27, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
  6. ^ Ruffino, Elissa (2008). "White house press secretary dana perino to address public policy lecture series". National Italian American Foundation. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  7. ^ "Dana Perino – Voce Italiana Online – Washington DC". Voceitaliana.com. January 1, 2004. Archived from the original on September 2, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  8. ^ Dana Perino Interview: "Minute Mentoring Interview with Janice Perino (a.k.a. My Mom)" March 28, 2013
  9. ^ a b Zaletel, Cora (January 18, 2009). "White House Press Secretary to present Spring commencement address at CSU Pueblo". Colorado State University Pueblo. Retrieved March 24, 2010. [dead link‍]
  10. ^ "Perino's Faux Pas: Brian's Boner Recalled". wordpress.com. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
  11. ^ "Dana Perino – U of I grad makes good". University of Illinois Alumni Association. Fall 2007. Archived from the original on February 27, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
  12. ^ "Dana Perino – UIS grad makes good". University of Illinois Alumni Association. Fall 2007. Archived from the original on February 27, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
  13. ^ Baxter, Sarah (December 14, 2007). "Bush's cool blonde is a northern gran". The Times. London. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2007.
  14. ^ Roberts, Michael (September 19, 2007). "New Forecast". Denver Westwood News. Archived from the original on September 6, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
  15. ^ Brass, Kevin (September 21, 2007). "Media Watch: The Improbable Rise of Dana Perino". Retrieved December 17, 2008.
  16. ^ Marshall, Christa (August 31, 2007). "Coloradan takes over for Tony Snow". PoliticsWest, The Denver Post. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
  17. ^ "Dana Perino – Assistant to the President and Press Secretary". U.S. Government. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
  18. ^ Goldsmith, Jan (September 21, 2021). "Someone San Diego Should Know: Dana Perino". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  19. ^ Abramowitz, Michael (September 1, 2007). "Tony Snow Resigns as White House Spokesman". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  20. ^ "White House Daily Briefing". C-SPAN. August 31, 2007. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  21. ^ a b "Dana M. Perino". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  22. ^ Carswell, Sue (December 2008). "Dana Perino's Ready for a Glass of Red Wine". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  23. ^ "Sole Survivor". Checkpoint Baghdad. December 14, 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  24. ^ "Bush ducks flying shoes during Iraq visit". CTV Television Network. December 14, 2008. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  25. ^ "Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at Bush". The New York Times. December 15, 2008. Archived from the original on June 25, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  26. ^ "Obama taps former Bush aide to key government post", AFP, November 19, 2009. Footnote augmented March 14, 2010.
  27. ^ Kane, Paul (June 30, 2010). "Former Bush, Reid aides approved for broadcasting board". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  28. ^ "Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino to Teach at GW's Graduate School of Political Management". George Washington University. July 14, 2010. Archived from the original on July 22, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  29. ^ Yin, Maryann (March 30, 2011). "Dana Perino Appointed Editorial Director of Crown Forum". GalleyCat. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  30. ^ "'Gutfeld!' highlights the best in animal videos". Fox News Video. August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  31. ^ Steinberg, Brian (August 14, 2023). "Fox News' Dana Perino to Launch 'Perino on Politics' Podcast for 2024 Election Cycle". Variety. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  32. ^ Mastrangelo, Dominick (August 30, 2023). "Stuart Varney, Dana Perino to moderate second GOP debate on Fox Business". The Hill. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  33. ^ Vazquez, Maegan (September 28, 2023). "Asked whom they'd vote off the island, Republican candidates stage a mutiny". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  34. ^ Robertson, Nick (September 28, 2023). "GOP candidates at debate refuse to pick a challenger to 'vote off the island'". The Hill. Archived from the original on November 17, 2023.
  35. ^ McHardy, Martha (September 28, 2023). "Republican candidates refuse to answer 'Survivor' question at debate". The Independent. Archived from the original on November 9, 2023.
  36. ^ "Dana Perino's 'Jeopardy!' performance". Fox News Video. May 16, 2012. Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  37. ^ Justich, Kerry (November 14, 2018). "How Fox News' Dana Perino met her husband by chance on an airplane: 'He's cute, and he's not wearing a wedding ring, and he has a British accent'". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  38. ^ Cotter, Kelly-Jane. "Coronavirus NJ: Fox News with Dana Perino, and her dog, broadcasts from Bay Head", Asbury Park Press, April 10, 2020. Accessed April 11, 2020. "Like many broadcast journalists, Fox News anchor Dana Perino now does this every day. Since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted social isolation measures in New York City, Perino has been broadcasting remotely from her home in Bay Head."
  39. ^ "Dana Perino: Goodbye, Jasper". Fox News. September 6, 2021.
  40. ^ "Dana Perino: America, meet Percy Vizsla". Fox News. November 8, 2021.
  41. ^ "Colorado State University Pueblo Announces Dana Perino as 2023 Commencement Speaker". CSU Pueblo. January 30, 2023. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dana Perino.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Dana Perino.
Political offices
Preceded by White House Press Secretary
2007–2009 		Succeeded by