The House Rules Committee has snagged longtime Congressional counsel George Rogers to serve as its new professional staffer with responsibility for the following panels: Energy and Commerce, Government Reform, House Administration, Judiciary, and Standards of Official Conduct, among others.

During the 107th, Rogers was counsel for the House Government Reform Committee, as well as for Chairman Tom Davis’ (R-Va.) subcommittee on technology and procurement policy.

Rogers first arrived on Capitol Hill in 1999, when he worked on Commerce and Judiciary committee issues for Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar (R).

Prior to moving to the nation’s capital, Rogers practiced law and served as Republican council to the state Senate in Indiana.

The 1990 graduate of Ohio’s Miami University later went on to earn a law degree from the Indiana School of Law at Bloomington.

CBC Celebs.The Congressional Black Caucus beefs up this month, acquiring two new staffers and maintaining one old hand.

New CBC Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) has kept Paul Brathwaite on as policy director. Previously, Brathwaite held this post under then-Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas).

The one-time deputy assistant secretary of labor for the Employment

Standards Administration at the Labor Department is a District of Columbia native.

He holds a bachelor’s in political science from Delaware State University and a master’s in public policy and law degrees from Duke University.

Doug Thornell has come aboard as communications director. The former media relations and special projects manager in the office of the Assistant to the Democratic Leader has also worked as a field and political organizer for the Gore presidential campaign.

Thornell, who earned a 1999 bachelor’s in government from Cornell University, is from Silver Spring, Md.

Jewel James, formerly manager for the state action department of the Center for Policy Alternatives, joins the office as special projects director.

The Decatur, Ga., native is a member of Howard University’s class of 2001 and holds a bachelor’s in psychology.

Lieberman’s Leaders. Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) has acquired a duo of experienced aides to boost his efforts in the 108th Congress.

New Chief of Staff Clarine Nardi Riddle, who will also act as senior adviser to the junior Senator from the Nutmeg State, arrives in the office from her most recent perch as senior vice president and general counsel for the National Multi Housing Council and its joint legislative partner, the National Apartment Association.

Riddle and her latest boss have more in common than political affiliation, having followed similar trajectories during the course of their professional lives.

In fact, Riddle — who first met Lieberman when she served as his assistant counsel when he was majority leader of the Connecticut state Senate — also worked as Connecticut’s deputy attorney general under then-Attorney General Lieberman. When Lieberman was first elected to the Senate in 1988, Riddle was appointed to replace him, becoming the first female to hold that post.

The former state Superior Court judge has also held the mantle of corporation counsel to the city of New Haven.

Riddle, who holds both a bachelor’s and a law degree from Indiana University, later went on to receive an honorary degree from St. Joseph’s College in Hartford.

Michelle McMurry checks in as legislative assistant for health and social policy.

In her new role, McMurry — formerly hospital preparedness coordinator in the office of the assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness at the Department of Health and Human Services — is hardly treading into uncharted territory, having previously served as health and social policy fellow for the Lieberman team.

McMurry earlier was a pediatrics resident for a Children’s National Medical Center and National Institutes of Health program in Washington, D.C. The one-time science policy fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science holds a bachelor’s in biochemistry from Harvard University, as well as a doctorate and medical degree in immunology from Duke University.

A native of Oakland, Calif., McMurry is 33.

Printing Power. Government Printing Office veteran T.C. Evans recently advanced to deputy superintendent of documents.

Evans, who has spent 22 years at GPO, most recently served as director of the office of electronic information dissemination services. He joined that office in 1994, and became assistant director in 1996.

Evans began his career at GPO in 1981 as a supply systems analyst for the superintendent of documents technical support group. Seven years later, he took over as head of the documents planning and development branch.

A 1988 graduate of Marymount University, Evans holds a master’s of business administration. He is also a 1979 alumnus of East Carolina University.