Taylor Teepell

Teepell, 34, had spent a decade working as a Republican political operative and was campaign manager for former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s campaign for president. He had worked in the executive offices of Jindal and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and worked campaigns in Louisiana and Mississippi. For 14 months, the Louisiana native served in a top position in the Department of Economic Opportunity — as head of growth management oversight in Florida. Before Gov. Rick Scott named Taylor Teepell to be the finance director of the New Republican Super PAC, the governor gave him a $110,000 job in Florida government for which he had no experience. Taylor Teepell’s brother, Timmy, was Jindal’s chief political adviser. Timmy Teepell left Jindal’s office after the 2011 election and started the Baton Rouge office of OnMessage, the Maryland political consulting firm led by Curt Anderson, now Scott’s chief strategist. Taylor Teepell was hired to be Jindal’s deputy for legislative affairs and, subsequently, deputy chief of staff. In March 2015, Jindal announced he was running for president and then assigned Taylor Teepell and his legislative affairs director, Matt Parker, to Iowa to operate the campaign. Parker is Timmy Teepell’s brother-in-law, but he also has a Rick Scott connection. He left Louisiana to work as Scott’s field director on his 2010 campaign. In 2016, Parker came back to Florida and served as campaign manager for Carlos Beruff’s short-lived campaign for U.S. Senate.