After working for the Senate Republican Office since 2019, Legislative Director Justin Brecht is heading to Dalton Advocacy Inc. His new job begins Oct. 1.

Leaving the Governor’s Office, Meliah Masiba will return to her legislative director role at the Department of Administrative Services on Sept. 24. Masiba has been on a job rotation to work with first lady Aimee Kotek Wilson.

Retiring Congressman Earl Blumenauer, D-3rd District, will start a part-time gig at Portland State University on Jan. 3. He will have two titles: senior fellow and special adviser to President Ann Cudd and presidential fellow at PSU’s Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies. He first worked as a presidential assistant at PSU after completing his undergraduate degree at Lewis & Clark College.

Megan Cogswell, who worked for the Department of Forestry and Chemeketa Community College, is the new apprenticeship and workforce development coordinator at the Department of Corrections. 

Dr. Raeshelle Meyer, who was the Small and Rural Schools Program manager at the Oregon Department of Education, is the new director of professional learning for the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators.

Aaron Knott left the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, where he was policy director. He now is director of government affairs and communication for the Oregon Judicial Department, which is the state court system.

Senate President Rob Wagner appointed Caroline Wong, Multnomah County senior deputy district attorney, to the Task Force on Specialty Courts, replacing Knott. Wagner also reappointed Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, to the Oregon Law Commission.

Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, and Rep. Lisa Reynolds, D-Beaverton, were selected for The Council of State Government’s Henry Toll Fellowship. The national program brings together officials from the legislative, executive and judicial branches of state governments for a five-day leadership boot camp in Lexington, Kentucky,

Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove, and Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, participated in the Oregon Trucking Association’s Annual Leadership Convention and Exhibition in Bend. McLain and Gorsek are co-chairs of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation.

Craig Campbell, who was president of The Victory Group and had been executive director of the Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center, is now government affairs director at the Oregon Refuse and Recycling Association.

Keith Leavitt ended his lengthy career at the Port of Portland, where he was chief trade and economic development officer. He has founded a consulting firm, Confluence Strategies LLC.  

Rachel Smolkin, who was senior vice president of global news for CNN Digital, took over from Steve Bass this week as president/CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting. Bass led OPB for 19 years.

Paul De Muniz, retired chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, has written a new book, “James Tenney Brand, A Life in the Law: Country Lawyer, Oregon Supreme Court Justice, and Presiding Judge at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial of Nazi Judges.”