Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva, the incoming Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, announced on Tuesday his hiring of Meghan Conklin as Democratic Staff Director for the 114th Congress. Conklin first came to the attention of Grijalva’s constituents this year when she and other Beltway operatives donated to an obscure school board race in Grijalva’s congressional District.
Those donations were made to the campaign of Raúl’s daughter Adelita Grijalva, who was running for her fourth term on the Board. The congressman got his start on the same board years ago. It was from there that he launched his career and built his power base using district resources for his campaigns.
Conklin is currently a Senior Professional Staff Member on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Conklin has served in Washington for more than fifteen years. Prior to joining the Senate in 2013, she served as Associate Deputy Secretary of the Interior, leading the Department’s efforts to destroy the mining industry and succeeded in the Department’s withdrawal from new mining claims of 1 million acres of Federal lands.
Conklin also served as Chief of Staff to then-Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Sam Hamilton.
Ms. Conklin worked as a Professional Staff Member on the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands – renamed the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation at the beginning of the 113th Congress – from 2004 to 2009, which Rep. Grijalva chaired in the 110th and 111th Congresses and on which he has served as Ranking Member since 2011. She played a key role in passage of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which designated more than 2 million acres of Federal lands as wilderness.
“Our resources and beautiful natural places – and for that matter our Congress – need people with Meghan’s experience, expertise and dedication,” Grijalva said in announcing the hire. “I couldn’t be happier to have her lead my staff and I can’t wait to get started in January.”
Ms. Conklin is a native of San Diego, California. She holds Bachelors of Science and Arts from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a Master of Arts from the George Washington University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband Thomas McCabe and twin sons Kennedy and Callahan.
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