Dutko's Judy Lemons and Andy Wright named top new hires by Washington Post columnist Jeff Birnbaum : 03-06-2007 By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum Tuesday, March 6, 2007; Page A17 Ex-Top-Aide Hires of the Week -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dutko Worldwide has hired Judy Lemons, a former chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Andy Wright, former chief of staff to Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.). The Watts Consulting Group of former congressman J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) has added Steve Pruitt, once the top Democratic aide at the House Budget Committee. Public Strategies Inc. has hired Lee Godown, former chief of staff to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.). Joshua F. Hurvitz, former legislative director for Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), has joined American Continental Group. And ML Strategies, the consulting affiliate of law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, has hired Jeremy Rabinovitz, former chief of staff to Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.). David E. Yudin, former director of the city of Chicago's Washington office and more recently legislative counsel to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), has joined B&D Consulting as a senior adviser. Brad Woodhouse, a longtime political operative with strong ties to liberal causes, was named president of Americans United for Change, replacing Karen Olick, a former chief of staff to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Olick joined the media and communications firm Squier Knapp Dunn. Apparently thinking ahead, XM Satellite Radio last summer hired as a senior vice president Jeff Blattner, who was chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and also helped run the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in the 1990s. XM is involved in a huge antitrust effort to win government approval to merge with Sirius Satellite Radio. And on the GOP side, Dan Meyer of the Duberstein Group, a top aide to former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), will replace Brian Conklin as the White House's chief lobbyist in the House. View Article » Learn more about Judy Lemons. »