On the Web site for the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus, David Cavicke is characterized as “a balding former thirty-something with a good sense of humor.” [IMGCAP(1)]

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) recently named Cavicke — who now is 45 — Republican chief of staff for the Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Barton is ranking member.

“I’m happy that David has agreed to accept the top Republican staff job on our committee. He has big shoes to fill, but it’s hard to imagine a person so uniquely qualified to fill them,” Barton said. Cavicke replaces Bud Albright.

He comes to the job after serving as chief counsel for the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. He was responsible for writing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and helped with Congressional investigations at Enron and Andersen.

“In his 12 years with Energy and Commerce, David has done everything but sweep the floors, and done each job with grace and success,” Barton said. “He brings diplomacy, humor and a powerful intellect, and I’m pleased to have him with us.” [IMGCAP(2)]

Cavicke also has experience at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, a New York City firm, where he dealt with banking and securities transactions. He also ran the firm’s volunteer program, mentoring Brooklyn public school students.

He earned a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1989.

Another attorney is taking a job on the Hill, this one as chief of staff for the Joint Taxation Committee. The committee’s chairman, Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), and vice chairman, Max Baucus (D-Mont.), have selected Edward Kleinbard for the position. He currently is a partner at the New York City office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where his work involves federal income tax planning.

“I am deeply honored that Chairman Baucus and Chairman Rangel have asked me to take on this responsibility,” Kleinbard said in a statement. “The staff of the JCT has a proud history of serving both houses of Congress, and both sides of the aisle, as a nonpartisan resource on federal tax legislation.”

Kleinbard is published in many journals and regularly lectured at New York University, the Practising Law Institute and Yale Law School, from which he received his law degree in 1976. Kleinbard earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brown University in 1973.

“Mr. Kleinbard’s expertise and enthusiasm for advancing tax law will result in a modernized, more responsive JTC that provides creative advice to Congress on policy matters and leverages the Committee’s resources into real results for American taxpayers,” Baucus said.

Eagerly Awaiting Embarrassing Moments. Twenty-three-year-old Meghan Tisinger likes Zane Lamprey, the host for the food show “Have Fork, Will Travel,” and University of Kentucky basketball and gladiator movies. She also loves her new position as director of communications for New York Rep. Randy Kuhl (R).

“I love what I am doing now with Rep. Kuhl,” Tisinger said. “I look forward to many more years in this office.”

The 2006 graduate of the University of Kentucky has a degree in public relations and marketing and is currently attending Johns Hopkins University to work toward her master’s degree in political communication, which she hopes to obtain in 2008.

Before starting her job on the Hill, she worked in the public affairs division of Ketchum, a public affairs and marketing firm, and as a media strategist for Levick Strategic Communications, both in D.C.

When asked about her most embarrassing moment on the Hill, she said, “I have only been on the Hill for a little over a month, so I am still waiting to fall down a flight of stairs or accidentally knock over a Congressman. But when it happens (which it will) [Hill Climbers] will be the first to know!”

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