When George W. Bush showed up late last year in Palo Alto, Calif., to flog his memoirs to Facebook Inc. employees, on hand to josh with the former president was Ted Ullyot. They go back a long way — Ullyot served as chief of staff in the Bush Justice Department.

As Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications, marketing and public policy noted to the Los Angeles Times, “Ted has extremely strong connections to the Republican Party, and we think that’s a good thing.”