Nathaniel Ledbetter makes more staff appointments

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Nathaniel Ledbetter

State Rep. Nathaniel Ledbetter, the House Republican Caucus’s choice to be the next Speaker of the Alabama House, announced on Tuesday several appointments for the Speaker’s office staff.

“Running the day-to-day operations of the speaker’s office effectively is key to ensuring that the House remains on track and the members remain informed,” Ledbetter said. “Each of these men and women have proven themselves to be able administrators in the past, and I know that they will work hard to serve the members of the House on both sides of the aisle as well as the taxpayers across Alabama.”

Ledbetter has already announced that Mark Tuggle will remain as the Speaker’s Chief of Staff. Tuggle previously served as a Republican State Representative from Alexander City.

Jade Wagner, a DeKalb County native who currently resides in Montgomery, will serve as Ledbetter’s deputy chief of staff. Since 2017, she was previously employed by Ledbetter in the office of the House majority leader, where she served as policy director.

Ledbetter will retain Andrew Westcott of Pike Road as general counsel and policy director in the Speaker’s office, a post he has held since 2015. Before joining the Speaker’s staff, Westcott was employed by the Alabama Law Institute.

Rob Green is a Jasper native. He will hold the title of director of communications and external affairs. Green previously served as policy analyst under Speaker Mac McCutcheon. Geen recently returned from a leave of absence after working with the campaign team that successfully maintained the Republican supermajority in the Alabama House.

Daisy Goza of Millbrook will follow Ledbetter to the Speaker’s office. She will serve as Ledbetter’s executive assistant and scheduler, the same role she filled during his service as House majority leader.

Holley Knowles of Montgomery will remain on staff as the Speaker’s constituent services specialist.

These appointments are not official until Ledbetter is elected by the full body as Speaker of the House; however, since Republicans hold a 77 to 28 supermajority in the Alabama House of Representatives, it is extremely likely that the House Republican Caucus choice for Speaker of the House will be elected as such during the organizational session of the Alabama Legislature in January. During the recent election, the Republican Supermajority successfully defended all but one of its 77 seats from the last quadrennium. State Rep. Charlotte Meadows was unseated by her Democratic challenger. However, Democratic incumbent Rep. Dexter Grimsley of Abbeville was also unseated by his Republican challenger; thus, there is no net change in the political composition of the legislature even though there was unusually high turnover in the members overall.

Ledbetter is the former Mayor of Rainsville. Ledbetter was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 204. Speaker McCutcheon elected to not run again for the state legislature.

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