Politics on the Hudson

State GOP chairman Ed Cox today announced Thomas Basile will serve as executive director of the New York Republican State Committee.

Basile has worked with Cox on his bid for state chairman and also on his failed U.S. Senate bid in 2005. He was highlighted by the party at its convention last month as a rising star in the party.

He worked on the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign and was a consultant to the Republican National Committee during the 2004 presidential election.

Basile also served as director of communications for the EPA under the Bush administration. He also spent seven months in Baghdad in 2004-04 as a senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority under Ambassador L. Paul Bremer and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. While in Iraq, he was a spokesperson for the coalition.

He has founded Empire Solutions, a strategic communications consultancy that handles a range of corporate, non-profit and political clients. He also works for Middleberg Communications in Manhattan.

“We have an historic opportunity to reinvigorate the debate about the direction of this state,” Basile said in a statement. “I thank Chairman Cox for the opportunity to help make a difference not only for the party, but for all New Yorkers. Our government is in crisis and with a vibrant Republican Party we can bring common sense solutions to the chronic problems we face as a state.”

The GOP also announced that Matt Walter, who was executive Director and communications director, will service as director of strategic planning.