FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                           CONTACT: ROBERT DILLON

JANUARY 27, 2009                                                                                      (202) 224-6977

MURKOWSKI NAMES ALASKANS TO ENERGY PANEL STAFF

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has named several long-time Alaskans to serve on the staff of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

McKie Campbell has been appointed Republican staff director of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. With nearly 30 years of government and private-sector experience working on natural resources issues, Campbell was commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game from 2005 to 2007. He also served as deputy chief of staff to Gov. Walter Hickel, and spent nine years in the Alaska Senate as legislative committee staff working on natural resource issues. As a private business owner, Campbell managed multiple environmental impact statements and consulted on many of Alaska ’s largest natural resource development projects.

Chuck Kleeschulte, who has been an aide for the Alaska Congressional Delegation for 18 years, is taking over dealing with most Alaska energy and land issues on the energy committee.  Kleeschulte, a former reporter for the Juneau Empire and Anchorage Daily News, and a 32-year Alaskan. He is a former communications aide for Gov. Jay Hammond and also worked for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. He previously handled Alaska energy issues for Sen. Murkowski out of her personal office for the past four years. He studied petroleum economics at Oxford and has a Master’s in journalism and a Bachelor’s in political science from the University of Missouri .

Isaac Edwards has also moved over from Sen. Murkowski’s personal office to handle territories and international energy issues for the committee. Edwards is the committee’s Republican counsel. Edwards was born and raised in Homer. He worked for Sen. Frank Murkowski starting in 1997, and then for Sen. Lisa Murkowski and served as her legislative director since 2003. 

Robert Dillon has been named communications director for the energy committee. Dillon began his journalism career at the Anchorage Times in the late 1980s. He later spent six years covering Alaska Native issues as a reporter in Kotzebue and Bethel for Alaska Newspapers Inc. Before joining the energy committee, Dillon covered politics in Juneau and Washington, D.C. , for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. He also wrote about energy policy for the Energy Intelligence Group.

Anne Johnson has joined the committee staff as minority press secretary. She previously served as deputy press secretary for Sen. Murkowski, where she started as a press aide. Johnson was born and raised in Chugiak and is a graduate of the University of Alaska Anchorage .  

Brian Hughes will remain on the energy panel as a legislative aide, focusing on policy related to oil, natural gas and alternative fuels. Hughes was raised in Anchorage and graduated from Service High School in 2001. He first came to the Senate as an intern for Sen. Ted Stevens, and went on to serve as his speechwriter before joining the energy committee in September 2007.

For more information about the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, please contact Dillon at (202) 224 6977 or on his mobile (202) 285 6783, or by e-mail at Robert_Dillon@energy.senate.gov.