Presidential candidate Rick Perry's N.H. campaign staff is no more

CONCORD, N.H., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The staff supporting Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry in New Hampshire has dissolved, the latest in a series of campaign setbacks for the former Texas governor.

Michael Dennehy, Perry's former senior adviser in New Hampshire, told CNN no team exists in New Hampshire and that Perry has no plans to visit. He said he advised Perry to set up camp in Iowa and stay there.

Dennehy also said Perry's staff in New Hampshire had not been paid since June. His former political director there, Dante Vitagliano, said he joined Republican candidate John Kasich's efforts in New Hampshire earlier this week, saying Perry's future is not contingent on that state.

Dennehy told WMUR he will not be " severing ties" with Perry and still believes strongly in the former governor's candidacy. The campaign is out of money, he said, and Iowa is the site where the largest investment in "financial and human resources" has taken place over the last five years.

Another New Hampshire staff for Perry, Ryder Selmi, left for a position at the Republic National Committee.

This isn't the first campaign staff setback for Perry in recent weeks. On Aug. 24 his Iowa campaign manager, Sam Clovis, withdrew, and in August it was reported he stopped paying staff at his national headquarters in Austin, and staffers in South Carolina.

Meanwhile, Kasich is polling high in New Hampshire, competing with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for the top spot. Both still trail front-runner Donald Trump.

Campaign spokeswoman Lucy Nashed has said that Perry remains committed to competing in Iowa and South Carolina and that many staffers are still working on his campaign elsewhere.