Murkowski hires new chief of staff

Karen Knutson, who helped craft the administration’s national energy plan as an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, has taken a job as chief of staff to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

Knutson, a native of Ketchikan, Alaska, will replace Donna Murray, who is retiring.

{mosads}Knutson left the administration as a deputy assistant to the vice president for domestic policy in 2003 to join the lobby firm ML Strategies. Last year, she moved to the Business Software Alliance.  

The Washington revolving door often moves the other way, with congressional staffers moving downtown to better-paying positions. But Knutson, 40, said she leapt at the chance to work for Murkowski and for her home state.

“I couldn’t stay away,” she said.

She will join the office in late August.