WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) announced today that his long-time Chief of Staff, Julie Tagen, who has served in that position since Raskin entered Congress in 2017, will be moving to the House Oversight Committee, where he was recently elected Ranking Member for the 118th Congress.
“I am so grateful for all of Julie’s hard work, amazing knowledge of Capitol Hill and passionate commitment to the success of our office,” said Rep. Raskin. “I’m delighted that she will continue to serve our team in a new role as my responsibilities expand and grow. We are in the process of reorganizing the dramatically reduced Democratic staff on the Oversight Committee and Julie is helping me to build a lean and effective team of investigators, lawyers and communications personnel to act with the Members of our Committee as a truth squad against the coming tides of conspiracy theory and disinformation.”
New roles and titles for minority staff on the Oversight and Accountability Committee (as it may be renamed) will be announced in coming weeks as the membership of the Committee is formed and its work focus is defined.
Replacing Tagen as Chief of Staff on Congressman Raskin’s personal office staff will be Leesa Klepper, who arrives with broad experience working on Capitol Hill, most recently as a Senior Counsel for the House Oversight and Reform Committee focused on health care and, earlier in her career, as Counsel with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. A graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, Klepper spent over ten years as an Adjunct Professor at American University Washington College of Law (WCL), and worked alongside then-professor Raskin as Assistant Director of WCL’s Law and Government Program developing and implementing new academic initiatives for hundreds of law students. She also worked as an associate at Ropes and Gray and has been an executive coach and a health coach.
“Raised in the Eighth Congressional District, Leesa brings her love for Maryland, passion for teamwork, enduring commitment to public service, and impressive experience as a lawyer and manager in academia and the private sector to our office,” said Rep. Raskin.
Rounding out Congressman Raskin’s leadership team is Kathleen Connor, who has been director of Raskin’s district office since his 2016 election and will continue to lead the District Office under the new title of District Chief.
“Kathleen has been indispensable to me since I entered politics and indeed before that, and I thank her for her remarkable service to the people of Montgomery, Frederick and Carroll Counties as District Director,” said Rep. Raskin. “I’m thrilled that Kathleen will now continue to lead my District Office as my District Chief, a title that better captures the amazing role she plays for the Eighth District and which she has fortunately accepted.”
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