Perry Campaign Shoots Down Reports of Staff Shakeup

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(DERRY, N.H.) -- Members of the Rick Perry campaign are shooting down reports of a staff shakeup within the team leading the Texas governor’s run for the White House. Ray Sullivan, communications director for Perry, and four other members of the Perry team told ABC News there have been “no staff changes.”

Earlier Tuesday, Politico cited unnamed sources claiming Joe Allbaugh had assumed the role of campaign manager; Tony Fabrizio was becoming chief strategist; and Dave Carney, who has been a top strategist to Perry since he was lieutenant governor, was returning to New Hampshire to lead the campaign’s efforts in the state.

Sullivan noted Allbaugh and Fabrizio were brought onto the campaign in late October along with a number of other strategists, but there have been no changes in titles or management as the Politico story suggests.

Sullivan said Allbaugh, whose official title is “senior advisor,” adopts a role of ensuring “everything’s on time, trains running on the tracks, making sure the schedule is manageable.” Allbaugh was in Iowa in recent weeks and may return in the future.

Despite being in New Hampshire since Thanksgiving, Carney currently remains in his role as a chief strategist. Sullivan said “no one knows New Hampshire better” than Carney and his business partner James McKay, but there are no plans at this time to place Carney permanently in the Granite State.

Rob Johnson, who managed Perry’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign and briefly worked for Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign prior to Perry’s, continues to serve as campaign manager but is beginning to have a more visible presence on the trail. In the past three weeks, he has spent time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

The entire Perry team will heighten their presence in Iowa after Christmas as they head into the final days of campaigning before the Iowa caucuses.

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