The Shuffle: White House lands big Twitter hire, campaign season heats up

You can also read this post on BeltWiki Blog from WhoRunsGov.com. Originally posted there on May 31.

In this week’s shuffle: communicators move around, the White House lands a big Twitter hire, and even more campaigns staff up.

Who’s moving where in Washington, after the jump.

CAPITOL HILL

Hill veteran Brad Bauman has landed at the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) as communications director. Bauman’s previous boss, former Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), lost her seat to Republican opponent Steve Stivers in the 2010 midterm elections. Bauman has also worked as comms director for Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio).

Kristie Greco, longtime communications aide to Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) , will be heading up communications for the 2012 DNC Convention taking place in Charlotte, N.C.

ADMINISTRATION

The Obama team has prided itself on its social media prowess ever since launching a computer-savvy presidential campaign in 2007. Now they’ve lured a big Silicon Valley name to a presidential advisory committee. President Obama announced his intention to appoint Twitter CEO Dick Costolo to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) early last week. More on Obama’s decision

CAMPAIGN

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty added a former McCain operative to his finance team last week. Phil Handy, who served on Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign as Florida chairman and national co-chairman, will be Pawlenty’s Florida chairman and national finance co-chairman.

Also joining Pawlenty’s team is a former 2008 Romney campaigner named Nicole Schlinger.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is finally, finally scheduled to launch his presidential campaign this week. I feel like he’s been running for years–oh, wait, he has. Joining Romney’s Iowa leadership team are former Iowa GOP Chairman Brian Kennedy and Iowa state Rep. Renee Schulte (R).

Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert (R), who is running in a close primary for the Republican nomination for the open Senate seat in Texas, has hired seasoned political operative Mike Slanker. Slanker, former director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, will serve as general consultant for Leppert’s campaign for the seat that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is vacating in 2012.