Betsey Ross Wright (born July 4, 1943) is an American lobbyist, activist, and political consultant who worked more than a decade for Bill ClintoninArkansas.[1][2][3] She served as chief of stafftoGovernor Clinton for seven years. As deputy chair of the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign, Wright established the rapid response system that was responsible for defending Clinton's record in Arkansas and promptly answering all personal attacks on the candidate.[4] During the 1992 campaign, Wright coined the term "bimbo eruptions" to describe rumors alleging extramarital affairs by Clinton.[2] In the 1990s, Wright was an executive for the Wexler Group, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C.[1] She currently resides in Rogers, Arkansas.[2][5]
Wright worked for George McGovern's unsuccessful 1972 presidential campaign.[7] It was during this campaign when she met Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham.[1] Wright became close friends with Rodham, a woman she thought had the potential to become a U.S. senator or America's first female president.[8][9] In 1973, Wright moved to Washington, D.C. and began working for the National Women's Political Caucus, hoping the job would further Rodham's political viability.[10] During Clinton's unsuccessful run for the House of Representatives in 1974, Wright commuted on the weekends to Arkansas to assist his campaign.[11]
During the late 1970s, Wright founded and served as executive director of the now-defunct National Women's Education Fund, an organization based in Washington, D.C. which raised funds for women candidates.[12][13] While there, she designed, organized and conducted training programs throughout the country for women candidates, campaign managers, and officeholders.[13] in 1977, Wright became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP).[14]
In 1980, ten days after his defeat for re-election as governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton asked Wright to come to Little Rock and help organize the campaign's records and files. Bringing only her suitcase, Wright traveled to Little Rock and began formulating Clinton's political comeback.[15] She organized and ran Clinton's successful 1982 gubernatorial campaign, as well as his re-election campaigns in 1984 and 1986.[1]The New York Times credited Wright as being "an architect of [Clinton's] rise to power in Arkansas."[1] In 1982, Wright was appointed as chief of staff to Governor Clinton. Her duties included managing public support for Clinton's controversial education reforms. Wright resigned from her position in 1989, citing exhaustion.[16]
While visiting a death row inmate in 2005, Wright was accused of trying to smuggle money into the prison. After the incident, Wright lost visitation privileges for six months.[2] In August 2009, the Arkansas State's Attorney's office filed 51 felony charges against Wright, accusing her of attempting to smuggle a knife, tweezers, a boxcutter, and 48 tattoo needles into the Varner Unit on May 22.[3][5] During an interview with the Associated Press, Wright denied any wrongdoing, saying that the needles were in a bag of chips that she got from a prison vending machine.[2] In April 2010, Wright agreed in a plea bargain to plead no contest to two misdemeanors; in exchange, 48 felony counts were dropped. She was sentenced to one year of probation and a $2000 fine.[20]