Schweitzer Hires Anaconda Rep. As Education Adviser

By Dan Testa, 6-22-09

	Caption: Dan Villa

Gov. Brian Schweitzer has appointed Anaconda Democratic representative and former chair of the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education Dan Villa as his new education policy adviser. Villa, 26, will step down from his post as a lawmaker to join the administration.

From the story by Lee Capitol Bureau Chief Chuck Johnson:

Villa is the fourth state legislator to land a job in the Schweitzer administration.

In past years, Sen. Mike Cooney, D-Helena, was hired as a division administrator in Labor and Industry Department, and Rep. Eve Franklin, D-Great Falls, was hired as state mental health ombudsman and is now Schweitzer’s policy adviser on families.

The most controversial appointment was when the Schweitzer administration hired Sen. Sam Kitzenberg, then a Republican from Glasgow, as a Revenue Department employee in northeastern Montana in the summer of 2006. After the November 2006 election, when the Senate was tied with 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans, Kitzenberg switched parties to give Democrats 26-24 majority.

Franklin and Villa resigned from their legislative posts when appointed to state jobs, while Cooney and Kitzenberg kept theirs.

[End of article]