Rep.-elect Kilmer names staff chief, district directors

GIG HARBOR — U.S. Rep.-elect Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, has announced his first three staff hires.

Jonathan Smith will serve as his chief of staff, Meadow Johnson will be his district director, and Joe Dacca will work as his deputy district director.

“All three individuals have excellent qualifications and experience, and will help me provide the best possible service to my constituents and to employers in our region,” Kilmer said in a press release.

“Our team is going to focus on working for every family and every business in this district so we can get our economy back on track.”

Come Jan. 3, Kilmer will represent Kitsap County in the 6th District, which was redrawn after the 2010 Census. Until then, Kitsap is part of the 1st District, represented by Suzan DelBene, D-Shoreline.

Smith has nearly a decade of experience working in Congress, both in individual members’ offices and on the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also worked as an attorney for the Seattle-headquartered law firm Preston, Gates and Ellis (now K&L Gates). He will be based in Kilmer’s Washington, D.C. office.

Johnson is a lifelong resident of the district, attending Peninsula High School, Tacoma Community College and the University of Washington, Tacoma. She has spent several years working for Kilmer.  Prior to her work in politics, she worked in the real estate industry.

Dacca, a graduate of Gig Harbor High School and the University of Washington, has spent the past five years working in the district office of Congressman Norm Dicks.  Prior to joining Dicks’s staff, Dacca served as legislative assistant for Kilmer during Kilmer’s first term in the state Senate.

They will start work once Kilmer has been sworn in.

 

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