Walker names key advisers

Soon-to-be-Gov. Olene Walker announced six key senior staffers Friday who will serve in her closest circle, an announcement that also confirmed Gov. Mike Leavitt plans to take several Utahns with him to Washington, D.C.

In naming her top six advisers, Walker omitted the fate of top Leavitt staffers Natalie Gochnour, his deputy for communications and policy; Rich McKeown, his chief of staff, and Elaine Petersen, who has served as Leavitt's secretary.

Walker, at a press conference, said the trio is Washington bound, but Gochnour would only cagily concede they might be on a plane with him, declining to confirm they will become, like Leavitt, employees of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The situation is awkward because an announcement of who has jobs in the EPA upper echelon is up to the White House, not Utah government leaders.

The Friday announcement did reveal Walker plans to keep two of Leavitt's top aides at her side: Gary Doxey and Lynne Ward.

Doxey, who has been Leavitt's chief counsel through two administrations, will serve under Walker as her chief of staff. Ward, Leavitt's director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, will now be Walker's deputy chief of staff, serving as a budget and policy point person in the administration.

Walker also brings on Leo Memmott, a former legislative fiscal analyst with 32 years of state government experience, to be her deputy of policy.

"I am really excited to be working with Olene Walker. I worked with her when she served in the Legislature," Memmott said after the announcement.

He said it is clear the state's first female governor does not want a mere caretaker administration.

Deseret Morning News graphic Olene Walker's Cabinet Requires Adobe Acrobat.

"The goal is making a difference on the issues and the goals that she sets out over the next 14 months," he said.

Walker plucked Amanda Covington to take Gochnour's place as deputy of communications and Walker's current executive assistant, Rian Williams, will move from the lieutenant governor's office to continue working with her as governor.