RITTER NAMES COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, DEPUTY LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR

RITTER NAMES COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR,

DEPUTY LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR

 

Gov.-elect Bill Ritter today named Evan Dreyer as communications director and Adrian Miller as deputy legislative director, continuing to round out senior staff appointments leading up to the Jan. 9 inauguration.

 

Also joining the Governor's Office staff will be Scott Hutchings as director of operations and advance, and Flossy Aston as executive assistant to the governor.

 

"I couldn't ask for a better group of people to be joining me in the Governor's Office to help me fulfill the Colorado Promise," Ritter said. "With the addition of Evan, Adrian, Scott and Flossy, the citizens of Colorado will be well-served."

 

Dreyer is a former newspaper journalist who joined the Ritter for Governor Campaign in August 2005. As the governor's communications director, he will serve as chief spokesman. The Communications Office will respond to media inquiries, maintain the governor's website, distribute a regular newsletter, write speeches, answer letters and e-mails, and oversee gubernatorial proclamations.

 

The office also will work with the other directors to ensure that the governor's legislative, policy and budget agendas are well-communicated, as well as coordinate activities with public information officers from other state agencies.   

 

Miller will join the Governor's Office as deputy to Legislative Director Mary Kay Hogan. Together, they will work with Colorado's 100 representatives and senators to further Gov.-elect Ritter's Colorado Promise agenda. Miller, a Colorado native, spent two years in the Clinton administration as special assistant to the president and deputy director of the One America initiative, which focused on closing opportunity gaps for minorities.

 

Aston worked with Ritter for many years in the Denver District Attorney's Office. She also served as his executive assistant from January 2005 to January 2006 at the private law firm Hogan & Hartson, and then joined Ritter as his scheduler during the gubernatorial campaign. She is currently the governor-elect's Transition Team scheduler.

 

Hutchings most recently worked as an aide to Denver Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez. He took a three-week leave of absence from that post in October to coordinate Ritter's Colorado Promise bus tour. His resigned his city position effective this past Friday and is now helping to plan the governor-elect's inaugural ceremonies. He will join the Governor's Office in January.

 

Additional biographical information about Dreyer and Miller:

 

Dreyer, 40, graduated from the University of Denver in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in English and mass communications. He was a newspaper reporter and editor for 15 years in suburban Boston, San Diego County and here in Colorado. He was at The Denver Post from 1998 to 2003 as an assistant city editor and then as metro editor.

 

Dreyer helped oversee the paper's coverage of the Columbine tragedy, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Hayman fire and countless other stories big and small. After leaving the paper, he started Dreyer Communications, a media consulting firm. He worked on three issue campaigns before joining Ritter's campaign team.  

 

Dreyer is married to Melody Harris, and they have two children: Ben, 7, and Charlotte, 10.

 

Miller is a Colorado native who graduated from Smoky Hill High School in 1987, received a bachelor's degree in international relations from Stanford University in 1991, and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995. Upon graduating from law school, Miller returned to Denver to practice law at Holme Roberts & Owen and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae.

 

In 1999, Miller left Denver to serve as special assistant to the president and the deputy director of President Clinton's One America initiative. 

 

Miller has served as the general counsel and director of outreach for the Bell Policy Center and the Bell Action Network since September 2001.