As Mayor Soglin and Dane County Executive Joe Parisi take their new jobs, some familiar faces are popping up in their administrations.
The first staff member Soglin hired is Anne Monks, who was part of Soglin's last administration. Two former Soglin aides, Jane Richardson and Sally Miley, are working on the mayor's transition team, but will not be joining his regular staff.
Soglin plans to hire four more administrative staff members. "Even though these are political appointments, I've decided to do an open recruitment process to get as diverse a population of applicants as possible."
So far, Soglin has received 40 to 50 applications, at least two from outside of Wisconsin. "My guess is at least one or two will be completely new to city government."
Although the Dane County budget is twice the size of the city's, Parisi has fewer political appointees, with just three. He's filled two of those. Josh Wescott, the current communications director for Kathleen Falk, will be his chief of staff. And Casey Slaughter Becker, who worked in the state Assembly and later on Parisi's campaign, has been named his communications director.
Says Parisi, "It's important to have a blend of institutional knowledge and new faces coming in."
