By BARA VAIDA
Barack Obama released reams of policy priorities along the campaign trail, from energy, to health care reform, to education, to ending the war in Iraq. Rescuing the economy from recession comes first, but lobbyists have been wondering in what sequence the rest of Obama's priorities will head to Congress.
Among those who will help with those priorities are experts lending their know-how to the Obama congressional affairs transition team. The congressional aides chosen by Obama and his transition directors to plot strategy before Jan. 20 are names to know on K Street -- and elsewhere around Washington.
An e-mail circulating Tuesday named the as-yet unannounced team of aides who are working with his newly designated White House lobbyist, Phil Schiliro. Helping Obama from the House: Dan Turton, a longtime aide to former Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and majority staff director for the House Rules Committee (Turton was once a Timmons & Co. lobbyist); John Michael Gonzalez, chief of staff to Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., who stands tall on the talent scorecard kept by Obama's designated White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; Rob Nabors, majority staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, and a former Office of Management and Budget analyst during the Clinton years; Dana Gresham, chief of staff to Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala.; and Denise Wilson, professional staff member for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (Schiliro's former world).
And helping from the Senate: Paul Bock, longtime chief of staff for Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc.; Ron Weich, chief counsel to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Sean Kennedy, chief of staff to Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. (Kennedy was once a lobbyist for AT&T Services); Jennifer Duck, once an aide to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and now with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and Ed Pagano, chief of staff to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
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