Neophyte Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) has tapped Hill veteran Leslie Belcher-Sowell to be his chief of staff.

Sowell spent more than 10 years serving Members from the Sooner State delegation before leaving Congress a year and a half ago to join Collier Shannon Scott, a D.C. law firm, to serve as government relations adviser.

While previously on the Hill, she was chief of staff to retiring Rep. Wes Watkins (R-Okla.) and legislative director for then-Rep. Bill Brewster (D-Okla.).

Sowell, who hails from Chandler, Okla., also was assistant director of federal relations at Oklahoma State University. She earned a 1988 bachelor’s in journalism from that institution.

New Kids on the Block. Freshman Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) has lost no time assembling his starting lineup.

Angelyn Wollen, 23, moves over from the office of Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.), where she was executive assistant, legislative assistant and speechwriter.

The former intern for Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) hails from Omaha, Neb., and holds a bachelor’s in English from Vanderbilt University.

Gopher State native Monica Jirik, formerly statewide multicandidate coordinator for the Minnesota Republican Party, becomes director of constituent relations.

The 2001 University of St. Thomas political science graduate interned for Minnesota state Sen. Michelle Fischbach (R) during the spring of 2001. She is 23.

New Legislative Correspondent Stephanie Anderson joins the office fresh from Vienna, Austria, where she taught English and served as a translator and editor for Buertscher Bio-Chemistry.

Prior to making the transatlantic leap, Anderson was the editor of Regarding Whatever, an Internet newspaper in Minneapolis.

The 23-year-old hails from Hopkins, Minn., and holds a 2001 bachelor’s in history from Wake Forest University.

Brooke Dorobiala will add executive assistant to her previous title of scheduler for the John Kline for Congress campaign.

The Woodbury, Minn., native got her start in politics as a fundraising coordinator for Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer’s (R) re-election campaign. Dorobiala, 22, earned a bachelor’s in political science in 2002 from Gustavus Adolphus College.

Rounding out the list is Steve Sutton, another Terry acquisition.

The Hill veteran has served as chief of staff for Terry, then-Rep. Frank Riggs (R-Calif.) and then-Rep. Peter Torkildsen (R-Mass.), and as director of long-range planning for then-Rep. Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.).

A Big Apple native, the 46-year-old Sutton holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Crowing for Cox. Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) has drafted Kate Whitman as communications director. She will also handle media for the House Republican Policy Committee, which Cox chairs.

The 25-year-old comes to the Hill after stints in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence and in the Department of Labor’s public affairs office.

Most recently, Whitman served as spokeswoman and press secretary for the Benson for Governor campaign and was communications director for the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Whitman, who hails from New Jersey, is a member of Wesleyan University’s class of 1999 and holds a bachelor’s in government.