Harrison Fox Jr. began work during the August recess in the office of Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) as the Volunteer State Senator’s newest legislative director.

Fox, 59, has 15 years of experience on Capitol Hill but was most recently president of American Military Housing Services, a nonprofit organization that builds and renovates on-base military housing.

“Harrison’s varied background and years of experience in both the public and private sectors are valuable assets to our team,” Alexander said in a statement. “For the second time in his career, he will focus on Tennesseans and the issues important to them.”

A St. Petersburg, Fla., native, Fox holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of South Florida and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in government from American University.

North Star State Trifecta. With three recent promotions, freshman Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) office had a bit of shuffling during the August recess.

Erich Mische moved up to the post of senior policy adviser last month after serving Coleman since 1992 in a variety of roles, most recently as his Minnesota state director. Among other duties, Mische will serve as Coleman’s principal policy adviser, working on initiatives that will affect the Senate Governmental Affairs permanent subcommittee on investigations, which Coleman chairs.

“Erich’s capacity to synthesize public policy initiatives, develop strategies to see them succeed and his understanding of the Minnesota agenda is critical to the

success of our legislative agenda in Washington,” Coleman said in a statement.

Mische, 40, graduated from St. Cloud State University in 1981 with a degree in speech communication. He was born in Burnsville, Minn., but considers St. Cloud his hometown.

Also moving up in Coleman’s office is Anne Schmidt. Schmidt, who was Coleman’s deputy communications director, will now serve on the Senator’s legislative staff as legislative correspondent for education, transportation and energy issues.

“I’m extremely happy to have Anne working as part of my legislative staff,” Coleman said in a statement. “I look forward to working with her on policy and constituent services.”

Schmidt, 24, is a native of St. Paul, Minn., who joined Coleman’s office in January after working as an assistant marketing manager at Toy Quest in Los Angeles. She attended Tufts University in Boston, graduating in 2001 with bachelor’s degrees in international relations, French and Spanish.

Taking over Schmidt’s duties as deputy communications director is Andy Brehm, who previously served as a legislative correspondent for the Senator. Brehm, 22, previously served as an assistant press secretary for Coleman last summer and as an intern in the White House press secretary’s office in 2001.

A native of Wayzata, Minn., Brehm graduated from McKenna College in May with a bachelor’s degree in government.