Potomac Flacks

REMAINDERS: McDowell joins Blue Engine; Beirne & Vargas To WH; Gor to Rand 2016

Occasionally, we miss some important flack-related items.  Here are a few:

• First reported in Politico’s “Playbook,” Amber McDowell has joined DC-based strategic communications firm Blue Engine Message & Media.  She was most recently Communications Director for U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA).  She also was Speechwriter and Press Secretary for Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-TN) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM).  She worked on the Obama-Biden re-elect and at the 2012 DNC Convention in Charlotte.  (Politico’s “Playbook”)
• Katherine Vargas is the new Director of Hispanic Media at the White House.  She was previously Communications Director for the National Immigration Forum, and also worked at the National Immigration Law Center and the International Rescue Committee.  She is a native of Colombia who immigrated to the U.S. in 1997.
• Katie Beirne, the Staff Director for the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center has replaced Jennifer Palmieri as Deputy Communications Director at the White House.  According to Politico, she will be in charge of outreach to surrogates and message coordination with outside groups.  (Politico)
• Sergio Gor has been named Spokesman for RAND PAC, the political action committee, and presidential campaign in waiting, of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).  Gor was formerly spokesman for Rep. Michele Bachman (R-MN) and on the campaign of Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA. (Politico)

Flack Colburn named CoS at HUD

First reported in Politico’s “Playbook,” Brent Colburn, a veteran of Obama administration and both presidential campaigns, is the new chief of staff to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

Colburn, 37, was National Communications Director for the president’s re-election campaign, and was Communications Director of this year's Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Before moving to Chicago for last year's campaign, he was Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

He’s a graduate of William & Mary.  (Politico’s “Playbook”)

DNC Flack Roussell Appointed HUD A/S for Public Affairs

Melanie Roussell, the DNC Press Secretary since August 2011, has been appointed U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.

Roussell returns to HUD where she served as Press Secretary from 2009-2011.  Previously she was spokesperson for the 2008 presidential Inaugural Committee and southern Regional Communications Director for the Obama campaign.  She was also Communication Director for the House Judiciary Committee (majority) under Chairman John Conyers (D-MI).

Roussell graduated from Florida A&M University and earned a Master’s from American University.  (PF tipster)

Former Giffords CoS and DHS A/S for Public Affairs to run new Giffords PAC

First reported in Politico “Playbook,” Pia Carusone, longtime chief of staff to former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), just left her post as Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, to be executive director of the new Giffords PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions.  (Politico “Playbook”)

Top Treasury Communicator LeCompte Departing, Wyeth Earnest to Replace

First reported in Politico’s “Playbook,” Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Jenni LeCompte will conclude her Treasury tour of duty this Friday.  Per Politico, “LeCompte, the first political appointee sworn in at Treasury in the Obama Administration, will continue to help Geithner with communications matters but otherwise take time off before pursuing other opportunities.”

LeCompte was Deputy CEO for Public Affairs for the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. She was a Regional Communications Director for the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign, Deputy Communications Director for the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston and on Capitol Hill for Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY).  She also served in the Clinton White House.

Natalie Wyeth Earnest, another longtime veteran of the Treasury public-affairs team, picks up the Acting Assistant Secretary title. (Politico’s “Playbook”)

NHTSA Flack Tran Joins 270 Strategies

First reported in Politico’s “Playbook,” Lynda Tran, communications director for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is leaving on Feb. 6 to become a partner at 270 Strategies, the new firm of Obama campaign veterans Mitch Stewart and Jeremy Bird.

Tran was national press secretary for Organizing for America, communications director for Governor Tim Kaine (D-VA), and worked at SEIU and in Ohio during the ’04 and ’08 cycles.  (Politico’s “Playbook”)

Hill Veteran Canipe Appointed Top Flack at TSA

LuAnn Canipe was recen tly appointed Assistant Administrator for Strategic Communications and Public Affairs at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Canipe replaces Kristen Lee, who is now working at Microsoft.

In that role, Canipe oversees all external and internal communications responsibilities across the agency, developing strategic communications initiatives that are implemented nationwide.  Canipe heads a team of public affairs professionals responsible for media relations, speech writing, graphic arts, internal and external websites, and employee communications.

Previously Canipe served on Capitol Hill as Senior Adviser and Communications Director for the congressional office of U.S. Representative Brad Miller (D-NC), also managing strategic communications for his three re-election campaigns.  Before that she served as the Press Secretary for U.S. Representative Grace Napolitano (D-CA).

Canipe began her career in communications as a broadcast journalist, which spanned 14 years and included work in five different television newsrooms including WBFF-TV in Baltimore and WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C.

Canipe earned a B.S. in Merchandising with a double-major in Communications from Western Carolina University.  (PF tipster)

Doug Wilson New GW Fellow

Douglas Wilson, former assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, will join the George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs as a distinguished fellow for the 2012-2013 academic year. He will be lecturing and participating in major events for GW students and the general public. 

He served as the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for public affairs from February 2010 until his retirement from government in March 2012.  As the Pentagon’s senior spokesman and communications advisor, Wilson was responsible for the development and implementation of communication strategies on issues including Afghanistan, Iraq, the “Arab Spring,” the DADT repeal, Wikileaks and counterterrorism.  He coordinated Pentagon communications following the death of Osama bin Laden. Wilson served in senior Pentagon communications positions twice previously under President Clinton and has three times been awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Pentagon’s highest civilian honor. 

Prior to his appointment as assistant secretary, he was the executive vice president of the Howard Gilman Foundation, overseeing the foundation’s domestic and international policy programs at White Oak. Wilson has also served as national political director of the Democratic Leadership Council; director of congressional and intergovernmental affairs for the U.S. Information Agency; foreign policy advisor to U.S. Sen. Gary Hart; and director of the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election effort in his home state of Arizona. (PF Tipster)

Former Hutchison Flack Nelligan Joins FDA

Per Politico’s “Huddle,” Jeff Nelligan, a frequent Huddle trivia champ and former Press Secretary for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), has landed a new gig.

He now heads up external communications for the FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs.

Nelligan is a 12-year Hill vet, having spent time as spokesman for Reps. Bill Thomas (R-CA), Bud Shuster (R-PA), the former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and Dave Walker when he headed the Government Accountability Office.

Before joining Sen. Hutchison, he served as Senior Director for Strategic Communications for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore from 2009-2010 and was Director of Media Affairs at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS) from 2006-2009.

He is a native of Santa Monica, CA.  (Politico’s “The Huddle”)

Buzzfeed Profiles former Obama White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

You may not have heard much from the once ubiquitous Robert Gibbs over the past year, until his turn on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday and Monday on NBC's "Today Show" and MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Buzzfeed’s Michael Hastings profiles him now, as he returns to the Obama campaign as public spokesman, detailing some of his turbulent time in the White House, what really happened with Facebook, how the speaking gigs have been going and what he’ll do now.  It’s worth a read.  Full article here.  (Buzzfeed)