Staff changes announced for Sen. Kerry's office.

[TayTay]

Douglas Frantz to be chief investigator for Senate panel

The former Times managing editor will work for the Foreign Relations Committee under its new chairman, Sen. John F. Kerry.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-frantz8-2009jan08,0,3263189.story">From A Times Staff Writer
January 8, 2009

Washington -- Douglas Frantz, a former managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, has been chosen to be chief investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as it reorganizes under its new chairman, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

Frantz was the managing editor of The Times from 2005 to 2007 and has also been an investigative reporter for The Times, the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. He was the Istanbul, Turkey, bureau chief for the New York Times and a reporter there for the Los Angeles Times.

David McKean will be chief of staff of the committee, which is the center of the Senate's foreign affairs deliberations. McKean has been chief of staff in Kerry's Senate office since 1999, and he helped lay the groundwork for Kerry's presidential run in 2004.

[TayTay]

1. David Wade to be Chief of Staff for Kerry Senate office

Congratulations David! (and Go Sox!)

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2009/01/can_sen_kerrys_new_chief_of_st.html">The Sleuth
Washington Post, Jan 7, 2009

There are staffers on Capitol Hill who cash in big time after a few years and go make gobs of money in the private sector. And then there are those who are so loyal - almost to a fault - to their bosses that they never leave.

And so it goes with David Wade, the longtime aide and sidekick to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who's known for his political prowess, biting wit and fanatical love of the Boston Red Sox. (He once ran - unsuccessfully - for president of Red Sox Nation, the team's official fan club).

Wade, 33, has just been promoted. After working for Kerry for twelve years, he has just been named chief of staff, succeeding David McKean, who will become staff director to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Kerry now chairs in the new 111th Congress. (Speaking of loyalty, McKean had been Kerry's chief of staff since 1999.)

Kerry calls Wade "one of my most trusted advisors and one of my best friends." The senator says Wade is "simply one of the best. He could've served anywhere in public service but he chose my office and the United States Senate. I like his loyalty, and I love the way he fights...I'm extremely lucky to have him at the helm now."

David Wade has been a good friend of the Kerry netroots. Again, much congratulations David!

[Muttocracy]

3. Is he the one who helped Biden in the VP campaign?

I'm terrible with names but that one rings a bell, and I remember him being funny with the press and very good at his job.

Is Biden taking some of his old SFRC staff to the VP office? I saw that Ted Kaufman is planning on keeping most of Biden's staff to keep constituent service for Delaware going smoothly.

[TayTay]

4. yes to both Joe!

David Wade was Sen. Biden's press secretary during the recent campaign. He started working for that office before the selection of Sen. Biden.

He has been back in Kerryworld since mid-November or so.
Sen. Biden has taken a lot of his command staff from SFRC with him to the Veeps office. As he should. These are his trusted folks and very knowledgeable on world issues.

BTW, nice to hear from you.

[Muttocracy]

5. I would think the Biden and Kerry staffs know each other really well

In Biden's autobiography he mentions several staff (Martilla? again, bad with names) who worked on campaigns for both Biden and Kerry over the years.

I expect having Pres, VP, State, and SFRC all working together smoothly will be quite a nice change. I bet Lugar is looking forward to it too!

I suppose I should pay more attention to the house foreign affairs committee too - like it makes any difference what I pay attention to anyway :crazy:

[TayTay]

6. Good memory.

Senior Advisor John Marttila
Boston-based consultant. For many years (through 1996) he and Tom Kiley ran a consulting business. Consultant on Biden's 1987 presidential campaign and on his 1972 upset campaign for U.S. Senate. Marttila is also a longtime advisor to Sen. John Kerry (going back to 1970).

http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/biden/bidenorg.html


Good memory Joe. I once heard a respected voice call Mr. Marttila the smartest guy he ever met in politics. Bar none.

[ProSense]

7. Yay David.

Love him, really clever and talented.

[globalvillage]

8. Awesome. Congrats to David Wade!

No offense, Tay, but this beats the heck out of Prez of Red Sox Nation.

The man has a fabulous, quick wit and is a great pick for chief of staff. Good to see DW rewarded for his hard work and loyalty.

[TayTay]

2. More SFRC Staff moves

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0109/Kerry_staffing_up.html?showall">Kerry staffing up

Incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry is reaping the fallout of the John Dingell-Henry Waxman war in the House, scooping up Dingell's former Commerce communications director Jodi Seth as his personal CD.

Seth used to work in the Senate, with stints on staff with Jack Reed and Bob Torricelli.

Kerry is also moving his main foreign policy maven, Frank Lowenstein, over to the committee as chief counsel. Lowenstein, a Yale alum, joined Kerry's personal staff three years ago after serving as national security policy director for the Kerry-Edwards campaign in '04.

[MH1]

9. Frantz was involved in investigating BCCI,

according to a post I saw by blm in one of the GDs last night.

Interesting. :)

[MBS]

10. oh, EXCELLENT. : ) n/t

[MH1]

11. You might be interested in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4799158