Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Administration Committee, recently introduced four new faces to the panel’s minority staff.

“As the ranking member for the Committee, I have taken special care in selecting especially competent personnel who would add support to the current Committee staff,” Millender-McDonald said in a statement. “It is important to have people who can move quickly into assigned roles.”

Janelle Hu, hired to the committee’s professional staff, will assist with election law and other legislative matters. A former national director to the nonprofit organization Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Campaign, Hu will also serve as the liaison to the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Hu is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and Public Policy Institute. [IMGCAP(1)]

Another new member of the committee’s professional staff, Diana Rodriguez, will work as part of the member services team, assisting Millender-McDonald with special projects related to her role as ranking member. She also will serve as committee liaison to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Rodriguez graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management.

Serving as the new committee communications director is Denise Mixon, Millender-McDonald’s press secretary for the past three years. Prior to coming to Capitol Hill, she worked extensively in broadcast journalism. Mixon graduated from Grambling State University, earning degrees in journalism and English.

A former intern in Millender-McDonald’s personal office, Kristin McCowan has been selected to fill the position of committee staff assistant. She is a graduate of California State University.

Kennedy Loses Senior Adviser. Kevin Richards, a senior adviser to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on high-tech and telecommunications issues, recently accepted a position on Symantec Corp.’s federal governmental relations team, where he will be responsible for monitoring and analyzing technology-related legislation on Capitol Hill, particularly in the area of information security.

As Kennedy’s legislative assistant and economic policy adviser, Richards was responsible for drafting technology-related bills, composing the Senator’s speeches to business audiences and preparing his floor statements.

A veteran Congressional staffer with more than 15 years of experience, Richards also has assisted Kennedy with his work for Senate committees and other Capitol Hill working groups, including the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, the Congressional Internet Caucus, the Senate Democratic High Technology Working Group, the Public Policy Institute’s New Economy Task Force, the Boston Digital Bridge Foundation and the Senate Manufacturing Caucus.

Richards, a native of Clinton, Mass., earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1991 from Catholic University, graduating with honors. While at Catholic, he was a member of Phi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society.