Obama taps 2 Conn. men
Lieberman’s former campaign manager, Dodd aide selected for administration positions
A former campaign manager for Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and a top legislative aide to Sen. Christopher J. Dodd are in line to take key posts in the incoming Barack Obama administration.
Sean Smith, a New York-based political consultant who ran Lieberman’s unsuccessful 2006 Democratic primary campaign, is slated to become the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency overseen by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Operations Committee, which Lieberman chairs.
Shawn P. Maher, a veteran Dodd staffer now serving as staff director and general counsel to the Senate Banking Committee Dodd heads, has been selected to be Obama’s deputy director of legislative affairs for the Senate.
The selection of Smith, who was Obama’s communications director in Pennsylvania during the presidential campaign, has infuriated many in what has become known as the “netroots,” the Internet bloggers credited with helping Greenwich cable company executive Ned Lamont wrest the Democrats’ senatorial nomination from Lieberman two years ago.
http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2008/12/24/news/doc4952558865e84042440594.txt