Source: Nick Juliano, E&E reporter • Posted: Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has filled out the senior ranks of the Senate Finance Committee.Wyden yesterday announced a dozen positions had been filled on the committee, which he became chairman of last month following the departure of former Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to become ambassador to China. Several aides are joining Wyden from his previous perch atop the Energy and Natural Resources Committee or from the senator’s personal office.Among the new hires are Finance Committee Staff Director Joshua Sheinkman, who held the same position at ENR and has worked for Wyden since at least 1994, according to the congressional staff database LegiStorm. Jocelyn Moore will be the committee’s deputy staff director; she has been Wyden’s deputy chief of staff since last April after more than a decade on Capitol Hill working on health care, immigration and other issues.Wyden also is bringing the chief investigator from ENR, David Berick, to serve in that position at Finance. Serving as the committee’s chief tax counsel will be Todd Metcalf, who held the same role in Wyden’s personal office. And ENR press secretary Keith Chu will remain part of Wyden’s communication team, where he will handle energy, natural resources and trade issues.
The senior leadership team also includes several outside hires. Wyden is bringing on Mike Evans to be the chief counsel for the Finance Committee. Evans previously was a partner with the K&L Gates law firm after an earlier 20-year stint on Capitol Hill that included working for the Finance and Environment and Public Works committees.
Joining Evans will be Sarah Bittleman, the committee’s legislative director and chief counsel for energy, natural resources and agriculture issues; Bittleman was agriculture counselor at U.S. EPA and has worked at the Department of Agriculture as well as in a number of senior roles as a congressional aide.