From the Rapid City Journal, Senator-Elect Mike Rounds is bringing in a long time educator and military man to run his West River office:
Jeff Marlette will begin a job as West River Director for incoming U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, who will be sworn in Tuesday. Sandy has spent more than a decade working in Sen. John Thune’s Rapid City office and will continue in that job.
If there’s something important to the people of this region, their offices are probably working on it. Jeff Marlette said that’s a big part of his new job: Keeping Sen. Rounds connected to the people and issues in the West River region, so that the new senator “never loses touch with what’s going on out here.”
“He believes in government from this end up and not from the top end down, and I like that about his approach,” Marlette said.
The 53-year-old Marlette, of Rapid City, is not a stereotypical political operative. Working for Rounds will be a new chapter in a career that was previously spent in the military and education.
Marlette served 32 years in the National Guard, in both part- and full-time roles, before retiring in 2012 as a brigadier general. He also worked 15 years in education, including stints as a superintendent in Gettysburg and most recently as superintendent and elementary principal for the New Underwood School District. He’s leaving that job to work for Rounds, who will be sworn in for a six-year term this week.
Read it here.
