Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) has made a few changes around his Capitol Hill and district offices, promoting three staffers and hiring two more.

Elizabeth Nicolson has been promoted from deputy chief of staff to the top aide. Before becoming the deputy chief, Nicolson worked as legislative director for seven years. Nicolson also worked for then-Rep. Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.), then-Rep. Peter Smith (D-Vt.), Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) and then-Rep. Dick Zimmer (R-N.J.).

Prior to coming to the government, Nicolson worked as a journalist for the Vermont Press Bureau and the Burlington Free Press. The Virginia native holds a bachelor’s in communications from Loyola.

Steve Martino, 31, has been promoted to office manager in Foley’s Palm Beach Gardens office. He has worked in that office since 2000 as a constituent liaison.

Martino hails from Palm Beach Gardens and received his bachelor’s in political science from the University of Central Florida in 1998.

Hannah Walker has been hired as a legislative assistant. Previously, she worked as a researcher and fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee and as a research analyst at the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Walker’s legislative areas include appropriations, energy and the environment. She holds a bachelor’s in criminal justice from Middle Tennessee State University and a law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law.

Ramona Saridakis Bean, 27, has been promoted to legislative correspondent and special projects coordinator. She began with Foley in 2003 as a staff assistant in

the district office. Bean has also worked in the office of Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.).

Bean, a West Palm Beach native, graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s in English.

Jeff Ostermayer, 24, has been hired as a staff assistant; he had previously worked as an intern in the office. The native of Wellington, Fla., graduated in 2004 from Auburn University with a bachelor’s in entrepreneurship.[IMGCAP(1)]

More From the Sunshine State. Tracie Pough has been hired as chief of staff for the Washington, D.C., office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). Pough is a veteran Democratic staffer, most recently working for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as an adviser on education, budget and black outreach.

Prior to coming to D.C., Pough worked in the Florida state government for seven years, both in the state’s Legislature and the Department of Juvenile Justice. She met her current boss in her role as senior legislative analyst for the Florida House Democratic Leader.

Pough then went to work at the Center for Policy Alternatives, a nonpartisan think tank, first as Southeast regional director and then as state network director. In 2002, Pough became the base vote director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and was responsible for the national outreach program to black and Hispanic voters.

Pough is a native of Jacksonville, Fla., and her family has lived in the state for four generations. She holds a bachelor’s from Rollins College, as well as a master’s degree in public administration and policy from Florida State University.