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Paul Dans

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Paul Dans
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (BA, MCP)
University of Virginia (JD)
Political partyRepublican

Paul Dans is an American conservative political operative best known for leading Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's 2025 presidential transition project intended to reshape the United States federal government to reflect right-wing policies.[1][2] Dans was later fired by the Heritage Foundation on July 25, 2024.[3]

Early life and education

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Dans' father was a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and his mother had worked for National Institutes of Health and then became a schoolteacher. Dans has three siblings.[4][5][6] His ancestors' roots are in the Catholic faith.[7]

Dans earned his bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[8]

Dans worked at architecture and planning firms before attending law school at the University of Virginia, where he was president of the law school's Federalist Society chapter. He later practiced law in New York City.[8][9]

Career

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Law

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Following law school, Dans worked at multiple law firms, including LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and Debevoise & Plimpton, before running a solo law practice for a number of years.[10] In 2009, Dans was hired to help defend Chevron in a class action lawsuit for oil pollution in Ecuador.[10]

Trump administration

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Dans worked as a senior advisor in the Office of Community Planning and Development at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.[11]

Dans then served in the Trump administration as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management where he managed the federal agency in charge of human resources policy for the more than two million federal workers. He also served as the Office of Personnel Management's White House liaison and worked with the White House Office of Presidential Personnel to staff the approximately 4,000 presidential appointees across the federal government. Dans was seen as a Trump loyalist and worked closely with John McEntee to remove longtime public servants from government who did not demonstrate sufficient loyalty to Trump. Dans was hired without the knowledge of Dale Cabaniss, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, who resigned abruptly in 2020.[11][12][13]

Project 2025

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Dans helped to launch Project 2025 in April of 2022 and led it until August of 2024.[14] Dans described the project as "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army [of] aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state".[15]

In 2023, Dans stated that Project 2025 had a "great" relationship with former President Donald Trump.[16] However, RealClearPolitics reported that Dans had, in fact, repeatedly clashed with the 2024 Trump campaign.[3]

On July 30, 2024, Dans announced he was stepping down from his position as project director, the following month following public criticism by Trump.[17] However, RealClearPolitics reported that Dans was terminated from his position after Heritage had concluded an investigation into his alleged abusive and demeaning behavior, especially towards women.[3] His request for a $3.1 million lump sum, following the termination of his tenure, was rejected.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Berman, Russell (September 24, 2023). "The Open Plot to Dismantle the Federal Government". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  2. ^ "Inside the Next Republican Revolution". Politico. September 19, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Wegmann, Phil (September 27, 2024). "Heritage: Director of Project 2025 Did Not Resign—He Was Fired". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  4. ^ Alec MacGillis (August 1, 2024). "The Man Behind Project 2025's Most Radical Plans". ProPublica. Retrieved August 1, 2024. Paul Dans was raised, in the 1970s and '80s, in a family that embodied liberal idealism. Peter Dans was a professor of medicine who had enlisted in the Public Health Service; started an STD clinic and a migrant health clinic while on faculty at the University of Colorado; and served in the office of Sen. Gaylord Nelson, the Wisconsin Democrat who founded Earth Day. Paul's mom, Colette Lizotte, was a French teacher who had previously worked as a chemist at the National Institutes of Health.
  5. ^ Dans, P. E. (January 2002). "Peter Emanuel Dans, MD: a conversation with the editor". Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. 15 (1): 59–69. doi:10.1080/08998280.2002.11927814. PMC 1276336. PMID 16333407.
  6. ^ "Colette Dans, 65, French teacher in Baltimore County public schools". Baltimore Sun. September 30, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  7. ^ MacGillis, Alec (August 1, 2024). "The Man Behind Project 2025's Most Radical Plans". ProPublica. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Paul Dans Named National Capital Planning Commission Chairman". www.ncpc.gov. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  9. ^ "Paul Dans at Republican National Lawyers Association". Republican National Lawyers Association. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  10. ^ a b MacGillis, Alec (August 1, 2024). "The Man Behind Project 2025's Most Radical Plans". ProPublica. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Lippman, Daniel (March 17, 2020). "OPM chief Dale Cabaniss abruptly resigns". Politico.com.
  12. ^ Rein, Lisa (March 18, 2020). "Federal personnel chief quits abruptly amid coronavirus planning for the workforce of 2.1 million". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  13. ^ Swan, Jonathan (June 14, 2020). "Scoop: Trump's loyalty cop clashes with agency heads".
  14. ^ McGraw, Meridith; Lippman, Daniel (July 30, 2024). "Head of Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 steps down". Politico.
  15. ^ Gira Grant, Melissa (January 4, 2024). "The Right Is Winning Its War on Schools". The New Republic. Archived from the original on January 13, 2024. Retrieved January 13, 2024. systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, [of] aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state.
  16. ^ Walker, Josephine (July 11, 2024). "Project 2025 Director in Resurfaced Interview: Trump's 'Very Bought In'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  17. ^ Restuccia, Andrew (July 30, 2024). "Head of Project 2025 Steps Down Following Trump Criticism". The Wall Street Journal.

Further reading

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