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Arrest Leads to Shake-Up of Alexander’s Leadership Team

By Alyson Klein — December 11, 2013 1 min read
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Longtime Capitol Hill staffer and edu-nerd extraordinaire David Cleary, the GOP staff director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has become the chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. Alexander, a former U.S. secretary of education, currently serves as the top GOP lawmaker on the Senate education committee.

The promotion comes after Alexander’s former chief, Ryan Loskarn, was charged with possesion and distribution of child pornography. Alexander put out a statement saying that his office is cooperating fully with the investigation.

“The courts will judge Mr. Loskarn’s guilt or innonence, but under these circumstances, he cannot continue to fulfill his duties as chief of staff of this office,” Alexander said in a statement released Wednesday. “Therefore, as of today, I have removed him from the payroll.”

Cleary, who has been serving as Alexander’s legislative director, had previously worked as an education aide for Republicans on the House Education and the Workforce Committee under then-chairman Rep. John A. Boehner. He also served as a legislative analyst at the U.S. Department of Education.