Former state Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, takes over as executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute on Feb. 27. Former Secretary of State Phil Keisling chairs the nonpartisan organization, which promotes voting by mail. Smith Warner served nine years in the Legislature and was House majority leader.

Senate President Rob Wagner hired Emily Mooney as deputy legislative director. She served as chief of staff for Sen. Deb Patterson, D-Salem, and then as Patterson’s campaign manager last year. McKenzie Worthington, a recent graduate of Oregon State, is Wagner’s legislative assistant.

The Legislative Environmental Caucus is recruiting a chief of staff to work during the 2023 session. Applications are due March 1. The monthly salary range is $4,178 to $6,266. The salary is jointly paid for by the participating legislators’ office budgets.

This will be the second legislative caucus not officially connected with a political party to have paid staff. The other is the Legislative Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) Caucus. The Senate and House Democrats and Republicans have staffs. The two senators who caucus as independents – Independent Brian Boquist of Dallas and Republican Art Johnson of Cave Junction – were not allocated a taxpayer-paid caucus staffer. (Other caucuses, many of them bipartisan, that lawmakers have formed around common interests include Arts and Culture, Coastal, Sportsmen’s, Clackamas County, Clinicians and craft beer.)

Curt Melcher was reappointed to a four-year term as director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, a job he’s held since 2015. Melcher has worked for the agency for 37 years. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission made the appointment on Friday.

The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission on Wednesday heeded Gov. Tina Kotek’s recommendation and unanimously chose Craig Prins as the agency’s interim director. He replaces Steve Marks, whose resignation the governor requested. Prins has been inspector general for the Oregon Department of Corrections since 2016. OLCC chair Paul Rosenbaum subsequently resigned at Kotek’s request.

Late on Feb. 13, Kotek announced that she had promoted Deputy Superintendent Casey Codding to superintendent of the Oregon State Police. The appointment stirred outrage in some quarters because Codding was one of the two troopers who fatally shot Robert “LaVoy” Finicum at a law enforcement roadblock during the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation seven years ago.

In the same press release, Kotek said she hired Philip Castle as director of the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. He spent 21 years in the Army before working for Washington state government.

With Colt Gill retiring after the 2023 Legislature adjourns, the state has begun recruiting for director of the Oregon Department of Education. Applications are due March 6. The listed salary range is $163,356 to $253,308. Kotek announced in January, before taking office, that Gill would be leaving. The ODE director serves as the state’s deputy superintendent of public instruction because the Oregon Constitution specifies the governor is the superintendent.