Jordan Stoick will not tell Hill Climbers the year he graduated from the University of South Dakota. The competition in the office is too tough.

Stoick says he has a bet running with his co-workers, and when he graduated is the focus of the bet. So Stoick is keeping quiet. [IMGCAP(2)]

He is the new press secretary for the Senate Republican Conference. Stoick previously served as the press secretary for Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and for former Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.), and he worked as Beauprez’s deputy campaign manager and communications director during the 2004 election cycle. He also has worked for the Department of Labor and the South Dakota Republican Party.

“Jordan’s depth of experience will serve Senate Republicans well as we work to ensure our message is reaching the American people,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl (Ariz.) said in a statement. “Our conference team is composed of people who have a broad range of expertise in strategic communications, and Jordan is a great addition.”

From Mobridge, S.D., Stoick is 28 years old and has a degree in communications.

“It’s exciting any time you can be part of a good thing, and Chairman Kyl and his team have done good things when it comes to communicating the GOP message,” he said. “I’m honored to be able to be a part of that effort.”

Stoick is getting married Sept. 16 to Carine Saddy, a lawyer in D.C. He keeps a boat on the Potomac River that he enjoys taking friends out on and is a huge NASCAR fan — but that didn’t happen until he moved from South Dakota to Washington, D.C. Why the sudden interest? It was “after joining an office NASCAR fantasy league,” he said. Looks like Stoick is committed to his office wherever he goes.

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Howdy! Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) has added new staff — and with them, some friendly, down-home Texas charm — to his office.

Beth Ann Kieschnick, 23, is Carter’s new staff assistant. Her passion is aerobics — she taught it in college, and her long-term goal is to write for a fitness magazine. From Mt. Vernon, Texas, Kieschnick earned a degree in agricultural journalism from Texas A&M University in 2007. She is particularly interested in health care but is excited to be involved with “anything” in Carter’s office. “You never know what you’re going to learn,” she said.

Chris Alsup, Carter’s new legislative director, is serving as a member services liaison and has been with Carter since he was first elected to office in 2002. “I was his first staff assistant,” Alsup said; his wife, Julie, whom he married last year, was Carter’s first scheduler. Alsup worked on the Texas state Legislature and for a state Representative before coming to Capitol Hill, and before that he went to the University of Texas, where he earned a degree in government in 2000. He also served three years of active duty in the Army, where he had served in the Reserves since he was 17. Originally from Petersburg, Ill., he is particularly fond of war movies — though not because of his time in the Army, he says.

Mary Randolph Carpenter, 24, is Carter’s new scheduler. From Raleigh, N.C., she graduated from Appalachian State University in 2005, majoring in political science and communication. There, she was in a sorority, played soccer and occasionally snowboarded. She previously interned for Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), and she started with Carter’s office in February of this year.

Carmen Terry, from Lubbock, Texas, is Carter’s new press secretary. She has worked for Republican Reps. Randy Neugebauer (Texas) and Tom Cole (Okla.). She likes to eat out and enjoys going back to Texas every chance she gets. Terry, 25, is engaged to Jason Fenton, a legislative assistant in Carter’s office. She said her dream is to sing in a band.

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