House Speaker Gaye Symington has hired a new communications guru to replace the departed Bill Lofy.
Kenneth Russell, 40, a 1985 graduate of Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon, moved back to Vermont with his wife and kids in July and lives in Montpelier.
Russell recently completed master of public administration at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and worked for American Civil Liberties Union in California.
He comes from a politically active family, he said. His mother, Virginia Russell, was an adviser to Gov. Howard Dean, he said. For him, political activism started brewing inside when he lived in California and the city of Palo Alto was going to outlaw sitting or laying on sidewalks to curb homelessness. "I ended up marching down to City Hall in my flannel shirt," he said.
Lofy, who's gone to work on New Hampshire political campaigns for the year, worked for both Symington and Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin, helping them shape and articulate their messages. It's still being decided if Russell will work some of his time for Shumlin or just for Symington.
The position is paid for out of the speaker's political action committee.
- Terri Hallenbeck
