The new GOP chairman is a "former lobbyist" indeed. Here's a sampling of a few of his clients from the past couple of years:

- Enron: helped Enron get the ear of Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force for around $700,000, and helped influence the House's August 2001 energy bill on behalf of the "21st Century Energy Project," a coalition of some of Gillespie's clients which included Enron and Dailmler-Chrysler (who both contributed $50,000 to the project).
- Daimler-Chrysler: in addition to lobbying for the Daimler-Chrsyler as part of the 21st Centrury Energy Project, also lobbied to have higher fuel efficiency standards pulled from Bush's energy bill in March 2002.
- Big Steel: helped convince the Administration to impose a tariff on imported steel, which were declared illegal by the World Trade Organization in May.

He was also one of the primary writers of the GOP's "Contract with America" back in '94.

Gillespie, was referred to by The New Republic as "the most important operative you've never heard of in the Bush presidency." Although they say he was a "senior communications advisor" in the first CNN article, he was much more heavily involved with the campaign than that humble title implies. He did work with many of Bush's top advisors, and was program chairman of the 200 Republican Convention, which was responsible for trying to promote the Republicans as a party of compassion and inclusion by doing such things as putting entertainers like Chaka Khan on stage,

Most of this info comes by way of Arianna Huffington's book Pigs at the Trough.