New Year, New Faces

We at The Crypt bid a fond farewell to a number of able Hill staffers this month, particularly on the Republican side of the aisle where life in the minority proved frustrating, boring or just less lucrative than a career off Capitol Hill (although none would admit it publicly).

Brian Kennedy, a spokesman to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), leaves Capitol Hill at the end of the month to help start Responsible Resources, a non-profit political action group that will try to shift the debate over fossil fuels and carbon emissions.

Ed Patru, the communications director for the House Republican Conference, heads to Freedom's Watch, the group established by close allies to President Bush in order to support the administration's war policy in Iraq.

And Amos Snead, a press aide to House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), is moving Dittus Communications, where he will turn his focus to corporate America after fielding plenty of phone calls from obnoxious political reporters like me.