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Muriel Bowser appoints general counsel, other senior aides

We Are Washington D.C. — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 02:00:36 +0000

Mayor-elect Muriel E. Bowser named several senior aides Tuesday, including the leader of a well-respected network of public-interest nonprofit policy centers to serve as her chief legal counsel.

Betsy Cavendish will leave the presidency of Appleseed to join the District government as the mayor’s general counsel. She becomes the second person in that post to join the District government; in 2007, Linda Singer left Appleseed to become D.C. attorney general, then a mayor-appointed office.

Read more at the Washington Post

D.C. Mayor-Elect Muriel Bowser Makes Several Exec Staff Hires

We Are Washington D.C. — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 22:00:42 +0000

D.C. Mayor-Elect Muriel Bowser announced several appointments to her executive staff Tuesday, including a deputy chief of staff and director of community affairs.

Betsy Cavendish, who had worked as president of a non-profit group, was appointed general counsel. A graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School, she had previously worked at the U.S. Department of Justice and was an assitant professor at University of Illinois College of Law.

Charon Hines has been appointed director of the mayor’s Office of Community Affairs, having previously served on Bowser’s campaign and traveling chief of staff. She had worked with Montgomery County Public Schools from 2006 until 2014.

Lindsey Parker was appointed deputy chief of staff, after serving as director of legislative affairs and economic development in Bowser’s office. She served under former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty as deputy director of policy and legislative affairs

Bowser names new D.C. health director

We Are Washington D.C. — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 23:15:33 +0000

D.C. Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser named Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt to oversee the Department of Heath in a new round of cabinet positions Monday.

Nesbitt, who served as senior deputy director of the Community Health Administration under then-Mayor Adrian Fenty, has been the director of the public health and wellness department in Louisville, Kentucky, since 2012.

Bowser Announces Three More Appointments To Administration

We Are Washington D.C. — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:15:11 +0000

With only a few days left until she’s inaugurated into office, mayor-elect Muriel Bowser announced three key appointments to her administration today: Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt as Director of Health; Laura Zeilinger as Director of Human Services; and Clinton Lacey as Director of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

These three appointments, Bowser said in a release, will “help tackle homelessness and provide critical services to those most in need in the District.” As part of her goals as mayor, Bowser has pledged to end family homelessness in D.C. by 2018 and overall homelessness by 2025.

Bowser taps officials to oversee D.C. homelessness, health, juvenile justice

We Are Washington D.C. — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 18:00:22 +0000

Mayor-elect Muriel E. Bowser on Monday appointed a trio of officials with ties to the administration of former mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) to lead key D.C. social service agencies.

To direct the Department of Human Services, Bowser (D) is tapping Laura Green Zeilinger, who was deputy director of that agency during the Fenty administration and serves as executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

“Now is the right time to make meaningful change locally, and I really wanted to be part of that,” Zeilinger said after a news conference announcing her appointment. The announcement was made at Miriam’s Kitchen, a Foggy Bottom nonprofit that serves the homeless.

Read more at the Washington Post

Muriel Bowser Announces Social Service Administrators

We Are Washington D.C. — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 15:00:30 +0000

Muriel Bowser, who officially takes over Friday as D.C.’s mayor, announced Monday the appointments of three officials with ties to former Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to lead key District government social service agencies.

During a gathering at Miriam’s Kitchen in Northwest, Bowser, who participated in her last D.C. Council meeting on Dec. 17 as the Ward 4 representative, tapped Laura Green Zeilinger to direct the Department of Human Services.

She chose LaQuandra Nesbitt, a board-certified family physician, to lead the Department of Health and Clinton Lacey as head of the District’s juvenile justice department.

Bowser names Tommy Wells director of D.C. Environment Department

We Are Washington D.C. — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 17:45:16 +0000

Mayor-elect Muriel E. Bowser (D) is tapping a familiar face to run her Department of the Environment: D.C. Council colleague and former mayoral campaign rival Tommy Wells.

“As Tommy’s friend and colleague, I have witnessed first-hand the passion he has for conservation, clean transportation and creating a more sustainable District,” Bowser said in statement on her first agency director appointment. “With Tommy’s experience and enthusiasm, we will create new and innovative policies to make the District the most environmentally-friendly city in the nation.”

Read more at the Washington Post

‘Tis the Season to Give Thanks

We Are Washington D.C. — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 14:00:16 +0000

“Thanks to Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser for taking ownership of the stadium project in the Council after her election. She consistently stated that she wanted to keep DC United in the District, but we often did not believe her. She quickly recognized the political difficulty of including the Reeves Center as part of the Stadium Act and worked to find an alternative solution while keeping to the critical end-of-year timeline. With her leadership, the Council crafted and unanimously approved legislation. It was an impressive debut for the incoming mayor. Now we believe.”

In crafting her administration, Ms. Bowser is off to a good start

We Are Washington D.C. — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 17:00:51 +0000

WITH LESS than a month until she is sworn in as D.C. mayor, Muriel E. Bowser has started to give shape to her administration. In retaining Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, she kept campaign promises to stick with proven success. In recruiting a professional city manager from outside the District, she made clear that experience, not political connections, is what mattered. These are encouraging signs that we hope will bode well for Ms. Bowser’s tenure.

Her first appointment, announced last week, was Rashad M. Young to the all-important job of city administrator. Mr. Young has served for the past three years as city manager of Alexandria, where he earned a reputation for his data-driven approach to government and a hard-nosed approach to the budget. Both should stand him in good stead as he moves from Alexandria to the challenge of running the day-to-day operations of a far larger city government. His experience managing a neighboring jurisdiction should be helpful in addressing issues that cross jurisdictional lines.

Read more at the Washington Post

Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser Statement on Efforts by Congress to Block Initiative 71

We Are Washington D.C. — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 19:40:22 +0000

“As Mayor, my job will be to protect the will of the people of the District of Columbia and ensure that our laws are clear and enforceable. I will continue to push hard to preserve the will of the people of the District of Columbia and its lawmakers.”