Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe’s first appointments include the state’s longtime budget guru, a campaign official, and several experienced state government hands with ties to previous Democratic administrations.
McAuliffe is keeping Secretary of Finance Richard D. Brown on the job, making this the 11th governor Brown will have served in his long state government career.
He named Paul Reagan his chief of staff and Suzette Denslow his deputy chief of staff. Denslow is the chief of staff to Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
Longtime McAuliffe aide and deputy campaign manager Levar Stoney was named Secretary of the Commonwealth.
McAuliffe said Brown will stay at least through the first budget. Brown only planned to stay temporarily under Gov. Bob McDonnell, who kept him as the state’s top financial official, hoping for some continuity as he managed in difficult economic times.
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Brown has helped governors, who by law cannot serve consecutive terms, steer the state through tumultuous financial times, from the great recession to sequestration and the partial federal government shutdown.
Reagan most recently served as chief of staff to former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. He has also served as chief of staff to Rep. Jim Moran and as communications director during the administration of Gov. Mark R. Warner.
He is currently in charge of McAuliffe's transition team.
Denslow served as legislative director in the administrations of Warner and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and was Deputy Secretary of Education for Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. For the last four years she has served as Chief of Staff for City of Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones.
Longtime McAuliffe aide and deputy campaign manager Levar Stoney was named Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Stoney a former executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party, had worked for state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath in his failed 2009 gubernatorial bid.
The announced appointments, with the exception of Brown, draw from established Democratic stock in the state. McAuliffe has pledged bipartisan cooperation and a diverse administration that he told the Times-Dispatch last week will include members of the McDonnell administration.
Also under consideration for retention in the McAuliffe administration are current Health and Human Services Sec. Bill Hazel and Agriculture and Forestry Secretary Todd Haymore.