Oregon insiders: Who’s who in and around state government

Published 1:08 pm Thursday, July 31, 2025

After an uneven 2025 legislative session that culminated in failure of a transportation package, the Oregon House Democrats Caucus re-elected Ben Bowman, Tigard, as majority leader but rearranged their leadership team to include:

— Floor managers: Jason Kropf, Bend, and Dacia Grayber, Portland.

— Assistant majority leader, policy: Willy Chotzen, Portland.

— Assistant majority leaders, political: Paul Evans, Monmouth; Lisa Fragala, Eugene; and Rob Nosse, Portland.

— Assistant majority leader, professional development: Hải Phạm, Hillsboro.

  The House Democratic Caucus leadership previously included Annessa Hartman, Gladstone, and Pam Marsh, Ashland, assistant majority leaders, and Andrea Valderrama, Portland, majority whip.

House Speaker Julie Fahey, Eugene, and Speaker Pro Tempore David Gomberg, Otis, whose positions are decided by the full House, were not up for election.

“Belonging: A Memoir,” a play based on the life of Rep. Thủy Trần, D-Portland, will be presented at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Winningstad Theatre in Portland. The play, which traces Trần’s journey as a Vietnamese American woman, was co-written with Libby Cozza.

Gov. Tina Kotek appointed Michael Tessean as director of the Oregon Youth Authority, effective Aug. 18. Jana McLellan, who has been interim director since March, will retire at the end of September. Tessean was director of the Colorado State Board of Parole.

Clare Lanusse joined the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board as a policy analyst for the Oregon Environmental Restoration Fund. She previously was Kotek’s natural resources, climate and energy policy coordinator.

Nik Blosser is returning to state government as Oregon’s first chief privacy officer and artificial intelligence strategist. Chief Information Officer Terrence Woods appointed Blosser to the new position. After serving as Gov. Kate Brown’s chief of staff, Blosser worked in the Biden White House, as vice president of public affairs at Portland General Electric, and as executive director of the Columbia River Task Force. He is also board chair of Sokol Blosser Winery.

Leah Horner, assistant director for operations at the Oregon Department of Transportation, volunteered to be laid off as part of the nearly 500 employees who received layoff notices in early July. Her last working day was July 15, and her position has now been eliminated. Horner, who oversaw almost 2,700 employees, returned to the agency in 2023 after working for Gov. Brown, the Department of Human Services, ODOT and the Oregon Health Authority.

Jan Kailuweit is now DMV systems and planning manager at ODOT, after serving as project delivery program coordinator. He previously worked for the departments of Employment, Consumer and Business Services, and Revenue.

Tiffany Johnson, who joined ODOT last year after 18 years with Amazon and Target, departed in July as the manager for Region 4, which serves Central Oregon. Johnson joined ShipBob as director of inbound and hub operations. ODOT now lists Ben Ebner as region manager.

Lauren Mulligan, who was Information and Education Division administrator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is now assistant vice president of communications at Willamette University. Her state service included nearly 10 years at the DMV, where she led communications for the 10-year, $90 million Service Transformation Program.

Candy Emmons is the new executive director of the Democratic Party of Oregon. The party’s deputy director, she briefly was interim director after Brad Martin left earlier in July. In a note to Democrats about her appointment, Emmons said: “I grew up in a trailer park in South Salem, raised by teen parents who worked hard and counted every dollar. Like so many families, we relied on public programs championed by Democratic leaders.”

President Donald Trump appointed Scott E. Bradford as U.S. attorney for Oregon. Bradford was sworn in Monday on an interim basis while awaiting confirmation by the U.S. Senate. He replaces Acting U.S. Attorney William Narus, who took over after Natalie K. Wight stepped down in February at the Trump administration’s request. Wight is now executive director of the Northwest Regional Reentry Center in Portland.

Diane Lund-Muzikant, founder of The Lund Report and Oregon Health Forum, died Saturday at age 86. She established The Lund Report in 2008 to do watchdog reporting on the health care industry in Oregon.

Angela Wilhelms, president/CEO of Oregon Business and Industry, will be a keynote speaker at the Oregon Infrastructure Summit in September. Her topic is “Restoring Oregon’s Competitiveness: A Necessary Imperative for Healthy Infrastructure.”

State Librarian Wendy Cornelisen received the 2025 University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award.

If you have an update on who’s coming or going – or taking on a new assignment – in state government or organizations involved with it, email Dick Hughes at TheHughesisms@gmail.com.