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Today is the first day of the rest of their lives for those who work in the political offices in Los Angeles City Hall. With that comes job changes. Among the first to get noticed is that Vicki Curry, the final press secretary for Antonio Villaraigosa's mayoral administration, is joining Eric Garcetti's team as associate director of communications. Curry was well known to the media before she joined Villaraigosa in 2012 as a longtime producer for the late KCET new programs "Life and Times" and "SoCal Connected."
City Attorney Mike Feuer has also made it official that Rob Wilcox will be his director of community engagement and outreach. Wilcox previously was director of communications for Laura Chick when she was city controller. Feuer also announced other top level appointments in the office of city attorney. Several come with City Hall experience:
"Los Angeles is at a pivotal time in its history and the City Attorney's Office is central to the quality of life of our residents and businesses," said Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer. "The members of my team have the wide breadth of experience, commitment and passion to help carry out an ambitious agenda to make Los Angeles a better and safer place to live, work, raise a family and visit."
Leela Ann Kapur, Chief of Staff, has 24 years of experience in the Office of the Los Angeles County Counsel, most recently as Chief Deputy. In the County Counsel's Office, she represented and advised the Board of Supervisors, other County officials, departments, agencies and commissions on a wide variety of legal issues. As Chief Deputy, she was responsible for the administration of the office and assisted the County Counsel in managing all of the County’s diverse legal matters.Jim Clark, Chief Deputy, has more than 38 years of civil litigation experience, was a long-time partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has handled a multitude of complex civil litigation matters at every level of the California and Federal Courts.
Capri Maddox, Special Assistant City Attorney, previously served as a Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney where she worked in the following units: Central Trials, Neighborhood Prosecutor Program, Complex Litigation and General Counsel Section. Before returning to the Office of the City Attorney, she was President of the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works.
Alex Ponder, Director of Policy and Inter-Governmental Relations, served as Deputy Chief of Staff and District Director for Feuer when he was in the State Assembly. Previously he was a Legislative Advocate for the National League of Cities and Chief of Staff to Los Angeles City Council Member Cindy Miscikowski. He also worked for Feuer when he was on the City Council.
Rob Wilcox, Director of Community Engagement and Outreach, is the former Director of Communications for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission and Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick.
In the Morning Buzz I noted that Tony Arranaga has moved over from Bill Rosendahl's staff to be director of communications for new Councilman Mitch O"Farrell.
* Afternoon update: Becca Doten, who had been the chief of staff for Councilman Richard Alarcon, has joined Team Garcetti as director of the Crisis Response Team in the Office of Homeland Security & Public Safety. Doten is a reserve officer with the LAPD, according to her Facebook page.
Added: Yusef Robb, who was with Garcetti's council office staff, is director of communications for the mayor's office. He previously worked with Mayor James Hahn.
Vicki Curry photo: Facebook
