Begich adds to Senate staff

U.S. Senator-elect Mark Begich will bring 4 staffers from the Anchorage Mayor’s office to his new job. He announced yesterday that David Ramseur, his chief of staff in the Mayor’s office, will have the same job in the Senate office. Ramseur was also chief of staff for Governor Tony Knowles and worked for Governor Steve Cowper in the 1980s. Ramseur and Deputy Chief of Staff Leslie Ridle will go to Washington. Ridle will handle constituent relations, which was her job in the Mayor’s office and under Governor Knowles.

The other two staffers named will work in the Anchorage office. Julie Hasquet will serve as Press Secretary, the same job she held during the campaign and on the Mayor’s staff. Suzanne Fleek-Green will be Begich’s state director in Anchorage. She worked for him in the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development.

Begich says he’s received more than 200 applications from people who want to work for him in either Alaska or Washington. He said at a press conference yesterday that he’ll continue to hire staffers, but will have to wait to fill some posts until he learns his committee assignments.