Blue Raiders on the Hill, they file bills, brief senators and representatives, and keep the assembly line that is the Tennessee General Assembly on track

By Drew Ruble

We all know that MTSU graduates are the lifeblood of Nashville businesses. Here, then, is proof that MTSU is also cranking out the graduates that make Tennessee politics go round. The following is an alphabetical (and fairly comprehensive) listing of MTSU alums working the halls of legislative plaza.

Lauren Gillespie Agee (’01), senior policy advisor to Sen. Jim Kyle.

Liz Alvey (’99), attorney and senior policy advisor to Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris.

J. B. Brown (’04), audiovisual production specialist in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Andre’ Carpenter Jr. (’05), audiovisual production specialist in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Skip Cauthorn (’00), House Democratic Caucus press secretary.

Lance Frizzell (’93), highest-ranking MTSU staffer on Capitol Hill and chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.

Logan Grant (’07), research analyst for the Senate General Welfare, Health, and Human Resources Committee.

Daniel Hicks (’06), chief bill clerk for the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Cory Hudson (’08), electronic journal clerk in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Stephanie Jarnagin (’07), research analyst in the Senate Transportation Committee for the chair, Jim Tracy.

Tiffany Johnson (’09) works for Rep. Tim Wirgau of House District 75 and Rep. Bill Sanderson of House District 77.

Tammy Letzler (’93), assistant chief clerk of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Amelia Mitchell (’02), research analyst for the Tennessee House of Representatives’ Children and Family Affairs Committee.

J. R. Moran (’10) works in Facilities Administration.

Courtney Rynd (’09) worked in the House Clerk’s Office beginning with the 105th General Assembly and now works as a legislative assistant for Rep. John Ragan.

Patti Saliba (’93), executive assistant to Sen. Mae Beavers.

Paige A. Seals (’92) was hired as an attorney with the Office of Legal Services for the Tennessee General Assembly in February 1997. She provides legal advice for members of the assembly, assists them with the drafting of bills and amendments, oversees the preparation of summaries for bills and amendments, and serves on staff for the Tennessee Code Commission. (In her work with the Code Commission, Seals assists the publisher of Tennessee Code Annotated with the annual codification of public laws.)

Colby Sledge (’07), press secretary for the Senate Democratic Caucus, handling press coverage (arranging local and national media interviews and issuing legislative updates) and constituent contact (coordinating issues-based events for voters to interact with their senators) for the 13 Tennessee Democratic senators.

David Sprouse (’05) is a legislative researcher in the Office of Legal Services.

Raymond Temple (’06) is an audiovisual production specialist on the Hill.

Tori Venable (’07) is a legislative aide for Rep. Jeremy Faison.

Kara Watkins (’06) is deputy chief of staff for communications and policy in the House Speaker’s Office, assisting the chief of staff with day-to-day operations, advising on policy issues, and handling media relations and communication for House Speaker Beth Harwell.

Brian Warner (’96) works for Legislative Information Services and is responsible for network routers, network switches, the phone system, domain controllers, and various servers on the network.

Allison Weir (’03) is a bill clerk in the Tennessee House of Representatives.