11-23-2002
POLITICS: People for November 23, 2002
Hill People
Working as chief of staff for Sen.-Elect Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., won't be
an unfamiliar experience for Frank Hill: He spent 10 years as chief of
staff for then-Rep. Alex McMillan, R-N.C. Still, Hill says, in the seven
years since he left Congress the place has "changed a lot, and the
Senate is very different from the House." In 1984, at age 28, Hill
himself made a run for Congress. He lost his race in North Carolina's 2nd
District, but McMillan, a candidate in the 9th District, didn't lose his.
"I lost, he won, and he called me up and said, `How'd you like to
come to Washington?' " Hill said. "So I did." In 1995, when
McMillan retired from Congress, Hill joined him to form a lobbying firm,
McMillan Hill & Associates. Last year, however, he decided it was time
to get back into politics and joined the Dole campaign as a policy
adviser. In his spare time, Hill, 46, has his hands full with three sons
and a hyperactive coaching schedule: He's been chairman of the Northern
Virginia Youth Lacrosse League for the past two years, and a youth
basketball coach for the past six.
Political Stripes
When former Sen. Harris Wofford, D-Pa., was coming out of the Army Air
Corps after World War II, he encountered a group of Mormons on a ship
bound for Europe. He recalls that one said to him, "We don't have to
question `will we serve,' but `where will we do our service years?' "
Wofford says he was struck by the insight. "I thought that really
should happen" for everyone, he told National Journal. "Young
people should perform service." Since then Wofford has made it his
mission to further the national community-service movement: at the Peace
Corps, which he helped establish as an assistant to President Kennedy; at
the Corporation for National and Community Service, where he served as
CEO; as a senator from 1991 to 1995; and as the current chairman of
America's Promise-The Alliance for Youth, founded by Colin Powell. Now
Wofford, 76, has taken on yet another role: professor at the University of
Maryland. He has already begun lecturing and will teach courses in the
school's Democracy Collaborative, an international consortium of more than
20 universities and civics groups. His focus, naturally, is on service and
its role in citizenship and democracy. Of the challenges facing the
service movement, Wofford said, "Just a call for volunteering is not
enough.... The call to service needs concrete objectives."
Around the Agencies
Capitol Hill veteran Jack Horner has just landed at the executive branch
as his former boss, House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts of
Oklahoma, prepares to retire. But he'll still spend plenty of time on the
Hill: Horner, 53, is the new congressional relations director of the
Consumer Product Safety Commission. A native Washingtonian, Horner got his
start on the Hill in 1971 as an aide to then-Rep. Margaret Heckler,
R-Mass. In 1980, he joined incoming Rep. Hal Daub, R-Neb., before
rejoining Heckler in 1986-this time in Ireland, where she was U.S.
ambassador. Horner spent two years as Heckler's special assistant, then
returned to the States to work for lobby shop Campbell Crane &
Associates. His Hill comeback in 1995 was prompted by the Republicans'
takeover of Congress. "I had served on Capitol Hill for 15 years in
the minority, and the opportunity to serve in the majority was
appealing," he said. It also didn't hurt that he was working for
Watts, who "had such a vision for the party," Horner said.
Horner switched over to the Conference in 1999 to be legislative director
after Watts became chairman.
The Transportation Department has lured Hill aide Jessie Torres from the
legislative branch to serve as associate director of governmental affairs.
Torres, 29, said she originally considered her Hill work a temporary gig
until she could make it back to her native New York City. A physiology
major in college, Torres spent time searching for a clinical job before
snagging a position as a scheduler in the office of Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., in late 1996. Torres-who, like Ros-Lehtinen, has
Cuban roots-recalls, "I had every intention of going back home and
being a clinician, but I fell in love with the whole political
process." Six months after joining the office, she was promoted to
legislative assistant. She left as a senior legislative assistant, having
focused much of her energy on immigration-"a huge issue in
Florida," she says-appropriations, and social policy. Now Torres is
learning the ropes at Transportation, where she'll keep her eye on NAFTA's
effects on the trucking industry and fuel-economy standards and, like her
colleagues, gear up for the 2003 highway bill.
Since the Senate confirmed Federal Aviation Administrator Marion C. Blakey
in September, the FAA has seen some personnel changes, including the
departure of two top aides. Thomas Zoeller, who previously served as chief
of staff to then-Administrator Jane Garvey and briefly was Blakey's senior
policy adviser, has joined the American Association of Airport Executives
as vice president for regulatory affairs. He succeeds Carter Morris, who
now leads the group's new transportation security policy department.
"Few have Tom's firsthand knowledge of Washington combined with a
specialized and in-depth airport and aviation background," said
President Charles M. Barclay. Zoeller has also worked with the Federal
Election Commission and as a Hill aide, most recently as legislative
assistant for then-Sen. Wendell H. Ford, D-Ky., who was the ranking member
of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee's Aviation panel.
Also saying goodbye to the FAA is spokesman Scott Brenner, a former press
secretary to then-Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud
Shuster, R-Pa. Brenner has moved to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.
Interest Groups
For Marjory Searing, there's no better job than one that involves
international trade. "I love dealing with other cultures, I love
working with foreign governments ... and representing the U.S. in both
industry and government," she says. Now Searing, a longtime Commerce
Department aide, will focus on the medical industry as the new executive
vice president for global strategy and analysis at AdvaMed, the world's
largest medical technology association. Searing, 57, got her start at
Commerce in 1967. Later, while working on her doctorate in economics, she
got involved in a Nixon initiative on Soviet economic development-and
found her calling. After seven years with Treasury, Searing returned to
Commerce and, starting in 1990, spent seven years as deputy assistant
secretary for Japan. Then she became deputy assistant secretary for Asia
and assistant secretary and director general of what was then the U.S.
& Foreign Commercial Service. Last year she left to serve as a senior
vice president at Civic Service, a consulting firm for U.S.-Japanese
relations. Searing says she expects more travel in her post at AdvaMed:
"There's nothing like sitting down face-to-face if you really want to
tackle a problem."
With two young children at home, Sheila F. Maith was waiting for something
really inspiring to open up before she would return to work. When the
Fannie Mae Foundation offered her a position as vice president of
leadership and practice development, she went for it. "The foundation
produces a tremendous amount of information," she said, "and I'm
running the leadership programs that help share that information and
develop knowledge in the field." Maith, 41, worked for Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., as senior counsel on the Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee until January 2001, when she departed to spend time
with her children, now 1 and 8. Before that, she was director of federal
policy for the Local Initiatives Support Corp., a national nonprofit that
provides community-development grants. That followed a stint as program
director at a place with a similar mission, the Enterprise Foundation.
Maith began her public policy career as special assistant to the director
of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, an experience that still informs
her work. "Once you work in local government, you always are a junkie
for local development," she says.
Techno-File
Microsoft has created a new position in its Washington-based government
division: director of homeland security. Signing on is decorated Coast
Guard officer Thomas Richey. Richey, 46, joined the Coast Guard in 1981.
He tried his hand at government in 1998, when he became the Coast Guard's
liaison to the Senate, and since then, he says, he hasn't lost his desire
to work on policy issues. "The Senate liaison [position] gave me
experience that I will always cherish in terms of seeing the Hill up
close, how it works." Richey retired from the military last year and
joined the staff of Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., as senior policy adviser.
With Microsoft, Richey will collaborate with policy makers, bureaucrats,
and systems integrators to develop an information-technology framework for
homeland security, one that stresses cross-agency cooperation. He'll be
leading the effort to fulfill "what we recognize as a leadership
responsibility in helping the government achieve its potential and goals
in terms of homeland security. We believe we have the right technology at
the right time for both short-term and long-term solutions."
Lobby Shops
Tyson Foods, a $24 billion corporation that ranks on the Fortune 500 as
the third-largest U.S. food production company, is opening a Washington
office for the first time. When choosing its first director of
federal-government affairs, the company went for experience and hired Sara
Lilygren. Lilygren, 44, had spent the past 18 years with the American Meat
Institute, most recently as senior vice president for legislative and
public affairs. Before that, she spent two years on the media staff of the
National Food Processors Association. Tyson had long kept tabs on policy
matters from its Springdale, Ark., headquarters and had intended to open a
Washington office sooner, Lilygren said. But officials were sidetracked by
the company's 2001 acquisition of IBP, a major beef supplier. "It's a
very rare opportunity to start an office from scratch when you're a
company this size," she said. "It's great because you can make
your mark, but daunting because there's so much to do." Lilygren said
she's in the process of hiring one additional staffer, with one or two
more expected within the next year or so.
Telecom specialist Andrew Levin, a longtime aide to Rep. John D. Dingell,
D-Mich., has left Capitol Hill to join Clear Channel Communications, the
San Antonio-based radio, television, advertising, and entertainment firm.
He'll open the company's new Washington lobbying office and serve as
senior vice president for government relations. Levin has spent the past
seven years as the minority counsel to the House Energy and Commerce
Committee and chief telecom adviser to ranking member Dingell. Said
Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, R-La., "Andy is one
of the rising young stars of the telecommunications industry. Clearly he
has a unique understanding of both telecom policy and law." Added
Dingell, "His counsel will be greatly missed." Levin, 40, was a
key negotiator on the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and at one point his
name was said to be under consideration for the slot left open on the
Federal Communications Commission by the departure of Gloria
Tristani.
Shorts
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is taking on two new
visiting scholars: Globalization expert Ngaire Woods, on leave from
University College at Oxford, and Scott Vaughan, former head of trade,
economics, and environment at the North American Commission for
Environmental Cooperation.... Thomas O'Donnell has left Rep. Lane Evans,
D-Ill., after 13 years to join the Continental Consulting Group....
Transportation image-maker Jennifer Ellison has jumped from Strat@comm to
Shirley & Banister Public Affairs.... Janine L. Jones, formerly of
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, has switched gears to join America's
Second Harvest, the nation's largest hunger-relief group, as Washington
counsel.... One of the newest lobby shops in town is Perennial Strategy
Group, formed by Lamell J. McMorris, former executive director and CEO of
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Erin Heath
National Journal
