James Mathews, 23, another new hire, will be a staff assistant. A native of Pinson, Ala., Mathews received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He was elected chairman of the College Republican Federation of Alabama in 2004. Before coming to Washington, Mathews was an intern for the Alabama Republican Party and for Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.).

Finally, Thomas DeHaven, 28, was recently hired as a legislative assistant on fiscal policy. Before joining Sessions’s staff, he was an economic-policy analyst for the National Taxpayers Union and a fiscal-policy researcher at the Cato Institute. DeHaven has been published in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the New York Post, National Review Online, National Review magazine, FoxNews.com, Tech Central Station and Human Events Online. In addition, he has appeared on the “CBS Evening News” to discuss Social Security. DeHaven received  a bachelor of science in business administration from Shippensburg University.

Foley hires aide as chief of staff

Yes, there is literally a fishbowl in Rep. Mark Foley’s (R-Fla.) office, so Capital Living decided to take the concept a step further by going in and learning more about several of the new aides he has recently hired.

Liz Nicolson is Foley’s new chief of staff. Born in Norfolk, Va., Nicolson came to the Hill in 1985 to work for Rep. Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.) — before the now-independent senator’s party switch. She then went to work for then-Rep. Peter Smith (R-Vt.) as his press secretary. She also worked for Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) for two years and for former Rep. Dick Zimmer (R-N.J.).

Before becoming Foley’s chief of staff, Nicolson worked for the congressman for eight and a half years, rising through the ranks as his legislative director and his deputy chief of staff before being promoted to her current role.

In the middle of her long Capitol Hill tenure, Nicolson left the Hill to write the great American novel. Instead, she says, she got “bogged down in kids and laundry.” Before coming to the Hill, Nicolson was a newspaper reporter for 13 years at various publications, such as The Burlington Free Press and the Vermont Press Bureau (political reporting arm of The Times Argus in Barre, Vt., and the Rutland Herald).

Ramona Bean, 27, has been promoted to legislative correspondent/special-projects coordinator. She grew up in West Palm Beach, Fla., and attended the University of Florida. She came to the Hill in 2003 to work as Rep. Ernest Istook’s (R-Okla.) press aide/intern. Bean, an avid runner, recently ran the Boston Marathon.
Hannah Walker, 30, formerly with the National Republican Campaign Committee, recently joined Foley’s office as a legislative assistant. A native of Memphis, Tenn., Walker graduated from Middle Tennessee State University and earned a law degree at the University of Memphis.

Jeff Ostermayer, 24, is among the faces you will see when you first walk in the door. In May 2004, he graduated from Auburn University in Alabama. He began interning for Foley in January and was recently promoted to staff assistant. “I always wanted to work in politics,” he says, explaining that the desire had something to do with the “excitement of the Hill. It’s everything I expected and more.”