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Foxx builds Washington staff from scratch |
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By The Hill Staff
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Posted: 04/12/05 12:00 AM [ET] |
| Three months into the job, freshman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) has finally put the finishing touches on her Washington staff. The team of eight aides brings a wealth of Hill experience and time spent working on campaigns and in the White House. |
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Patrick g. Ryan |
Rep. Virginia Foxx’s office, from left: Bob Honold, Eliza Baker, Chris Wall, Erica Shrader, Richard Hudson, Deana Funderburk, Amy Auth and Jeff Walton.
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“We’re getting to know one another, getting comfortable with each other,” said Deana Funderburk, Foxx’s legislative director, who spent eight years working as a policy director for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas). “I think there is a good energy in the office.”
Funderbunk, 29, whose father, David Funderburk (R-N.C.) was a served in the 104th Congress, graduated from Wake Forest University. She has volunteered on several North Carolina campaigns, including her father’s, and once served as the chairman of the Wake Forest College Republicans.
Richard Hudson, 33, is Foxx’s chief of staff. For the past six years, he was Rep. Robin Hayes’s (R-N.C.) district director and deputy chief of staff. He also managed Hayes’s last two reelection campaigns. Hudson claims he’s no micromanager. “I believe in giving clear guidelines and getting out of the way,” he says. “I see my role more as a facilitator.” Hudson is the former student body president of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he majored in history and political science.
Bob Honold, 25, is one of Foxx’s legislative assistants. Previously, he was communications director and L.A. for Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.). His claim to fame is that on Sept. 11, 2001, he was supposed to begin an internship at the White House. He started the job two days later and was the first intern for the Office of Homeland Security. Honold graduated from the Holy Cross with degrees in political science and economics.
Amy Auth, 23, recently moved from North Carolina to Arlington, Va., for her first stint on Capitol Hill as Foxx’s press secretary. She was communications director on Foxx’s 2004 campaign. She also interned for former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore and former Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley.
Auth graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with degrees in journalism, mass communication and political science.
Chris Wall, 29, is a legislative assistant. Before joining Foxx’s staff, he was a legislative correspondent for Hayes, and also worked on the congressman’s 2004 campaign. His first political job was as a staff assistant for Sen. George Allen (R-Va.). Before that, Wall owned an auto paint repair business in Charlotte, N.C. He says “all the politics that are involved in owning a small business” spurred his interest in politics.
Erica Shrader, 25, a staff assistant, came to Capitol Hill from North Carolina in January. “It’s different from small town North Carolina, but I’m liking it,” she says. Schrader worked as an events planner on Foxx’s 2004 campaign. A Winston-Salem, N.C. native, she graduated from North Carolina State University, majoring in business marketing and art design.
Eliza Baker, 26, joins the staff as the congresswoman’s executive assistant after performing the same duties for Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) and working as a legislative correspondent for Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.). She graduated from the University of Georgia, majoring in public relations and political science.
Jeff Walton, 26, is Foxx’s legislative correspondent. A Colorado Springs native, he was the systems administrator for Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) in 2002. In the fall of 2001, he worked as a paid intern for Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.). Walton says it was a standard internship except for the anthrax scare on Capitol Hill at the time, which left him with less mail to deal with.
Walton, who graduated from Seattle Pacific University with degrees in political science and journalism, says he probably won’t ever be a legislative assistant. “I don’t think my skills lie in that area,” he says. |
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