Boehner hires new staff for leadership office

House Majority Leader John Boehner has announced several new hires for his leadership office, many of which have either been with him for years or are veteran Capitol Hill staffers.

Avid readers of political news in Greater Cincinnati may recognize two names: David Schnittger, a graduate of Moeller High School in Kenwood who has been with Boehner since he came to Congress in 1991 - and Kevin Madden, who previously worked as the Ohio spokesman for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign in 2004.

Schnittger will serve as deputy chief of staff in Boehner's leadership office. Schnittger most recently served as Boehner's chief of staff in his personal office and ommunications director for four years at the House Education & the Workforce Committee, which Boehner chaired. Schnittger served as press secretary in Boehner's congressional office from late 1996 to 2000 and worked as a field representative in Boehner's Butler County district office from 1994-96.

Madden will be the chief spokesman in Boehner's leadership office and will oversee the development and execution of its media strategy. Madden most recently was spokesman for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Before that, he was a spokesman for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign in Ohio. He also served previously as press secretary for Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y.

Madden, who was born in New York City but raised in Yonkers, said it's great to be back with all his Buckeye state friends: "Even Boehner's current staff recognized how much I missed Ohio when I held forth about the political makeup of the I-75 corridor during one of our conversations. That and the fact that I'm the only Cincinnati Bengals fan to ever grow up in a New York zip code means this was probably fate getting its way."

He's a Bengals fan?

"Other than winning on Election Day, meeting Hall of Fame tackle Anthony Munoz at a rally in West Chester was the highlight of the whole campaign," Madden said.

Here are the other recent staff hires in Boehner's new leadership office:

Paula Nowakowski has been named Chief of Staff for Majority Leader Boehner. Nowakowski has been staff director for the House Education & the Workforce Committee since Boehner became chairman five years ago. Nowakowski previously served for four years as communications director for the House Republican Conference and has held various other positions, including research director at the Republican National Committee.

Kevin Smith will be communications director for Majority Leader Boehner. Smith will supervise the overall development of the majority leader's internal and external communications strategies. He has been Boehner's communications director at the Education & the Workforce Committee since July 2005. Before that, Smith served as the Committee's senior communications advisor since Boehner's election as chairman in January 2001. He completed an earlier stint with Boehner as a legislative analyst at the House Republican Conference and previously worked for Internet startup Voter.com and formerly for Rep. Randy Tate, R-Wash.

Jo-Marie St. Martin has been named general counsel. She was general counsel at the Education & the Workforce Committee under both Chairman Boehner and Chairman Bill Goodling. She previously worked in private practice at Wilson & Worley in Kingsport, Tenn.

Brett Loper, who served as chief of staff for former Majority Leader DeLay, will serve as an adviser during the Boehner's transition.

Anne Bradbury Thorsen will remain on staff in the majority leader office. She served as deputy director of legislative operations for former Majority Leader DeLay and previously as legislative director for Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La.