OREGON CAPITAL INSIDER - Carpet in the Oregon governor's ceremonial office in the state Capitol in Salem

Elisabeth Shepard is Gov. Tina Kotek’s new public affairs and communications director, making her part of the governor’s executive team. Shepard, who was one of Kotek’s two press secretaries, replaces An Do, who submitted her resignation April 24.

With Vince Porter’s elevation to deputy chief of staff, Kelly Brooks took on an expanded role in the Governor’s Office. She now serves as transportation, infrastructure and economic development policy adviser, having added Business Oregon and Travel Oregon to her portfolio. Also, Natalie Whitesel joined Kotek’s office as a Harvard Kennedy School Dukakis Summer Fellow on the natural resources policy team.

Hazel Tylinski on Friday will leave her job as communications director for House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene. Lucas Bezerra, who has that role for the House Majority Office, will be helping out after Tylinski’s departure. Meanwhile, the HMO this week began recruiting for a communications director. If Bezerra joins the Speaker’s Office, he will be at least the second high-profile staff member whom Fahey has brought over from her previous stint as House majority leader.

Former Senate President Gene Derfler, R-Salem, celebrated his 100th birthday last week at Capital Manor. Former Democratic Govs. Kate Brown and John Kitzhaber were among speakers at the Salem gathering, which brought together past and present legislators, lobbyists and other well-wishers.

Derfler served in the House during 1988-1993 and then in the Senate until 2002. After being Senate majority leader, he was elected president in 2001, the most recent Republican to hold that position. He was followed by Peter Courtney, D-Salem, who presided for 20 years before Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, took over in 2023. A Chinook salmon carved by Derfler, who is a renowned woodworker, was displayed outside Wagner’s office during this year’s legislative session.

Wagner and Fahey appointed members of their respective chambers to three groups created by the 2024 Legislature: America 250 Oregon Commission, Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, Rep. Jules Walters, D-West Linn, and Rep. Boomer Wright, R-Reedsport; Environmental Restoration Council, Sen. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, and Rep. Ken Helm, D-Portland; and Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Sen. Aaron Woods, D-Wilsonville, and Rep. E. Werner Reschke, R-Malin.

Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, will join Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, in organizing the Legislature’s Oregon Arts and Culture Caucus. Nosse had coordinated the 23-member caucus since its formation last year.

Rep. Thuy Tran, D-Portland, recently returned from deployment in Kodiak, Alaska. An optometrist, she is a lieutenant colonel in the Oregon Air National Guard and chairs the Oregon Veterans Caucus.

Former Oregon Senate Pro Tempore Mae Yih, 96, will give the invocation when the Senate convenes Friday to act on Gov. Kotek’s appointments to state boards, commissions and agencies. Yih was the first Chinese-born woman elected to a state legislative chamber in the U.S., elected to the Oregon House in 1976. Following three terms in the House, she served 20 years in the Senate. In 1993, she became the first woman to serve as Oregon Senate president pro tempore.

Lobbyist Darrell Fuller is the newest member of the League of Minority Voters board. The League was founded by Promise King, who worked in the Oregon Capitol for Mae Yih. King continues to lead the League’s work in several states. At its recent annual dinner, the League honored former Gov. Barbara Roberts; Rep. Tawna Sanchez, D-Portland; KATU anchor Steve Dunn; and Tom Hoffert, CEO of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Oregon School Boards Association hired Adrienne Anderson as a legislative specialist. She joins Efren Zamudio as the Legislative Services team prepares for director Lori Sattenspiel’s retirement in June. An adjunct professor at Portland State University, Anderson has been a Multnomah County deputy district attorney, legislative analyst for the House and Senate judiciary committees, and assistant attorney general.

North Carolina’s deputy director of Medicaid policy, Emma Sandoe, PhD, MPH, will become head of Oregon’s Medicaid program on July 24. Vivian Levy, the interim Medicaid director, will serve as deputy director of the Oregon Health Authority’s Medicaid Division. Medicaid director Dana Hittle left in October, moving to the Oregon Department of Human Services, where she is interim director of the Office of Developmental Disabilities Services.

Tony Vezina, executive director of 4th Dimension Recovery Center in Portland, testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee last week in Washington, D.C. He was among four speakers discussing “Front Lines of the Fentanyl Crisis: Supporting Communities and Combating Addiction through Prevention and Treatment.” Vezina’s participation came about when he ran into Sen. Ron Wyden, the committee chairman, while both were shopping at Fred Meyer.