NAB Hires Top Hill Staffer for Lobbying

NAB HIRES TOP HILL STAFFER FOR LOBBYING
[SOURCE: TVNewsday, AUTHOR: Kim McAvoy]
The National Association of Broadcasters has hired Mildred Webber, deputy chief of staff for House Majority Whip Rep. Roy Blunt (MO), the third-ranking Republican leader in the House. Webber will join NAB as senior vice president of government affairs on Sept. 29. She will report to the department’s executive vice president, Doug Wiley, who assumed his post in May. According to a June 2003 story in The National Journal, Webber aided Rep Blunt in his duties as Whip, always trying to make sure that 218 votes -- a House majority -- were aligned with the wishes of the Republican leadership. The article also said that Webber tended to “member services, or taking care of Republican lawmakers' unique problems, whether they involve policy, politics or personal matters.” Webber's rise to prominence on the Hill -- Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, recognized her in 2004 as one of Capitol Hill’s 50 most powerful staffers -- may have more to do with her association with Rep Tom DeLay, the once powerful House Majority Leader who decided not to seek reelection earlier this year after being indicted for campaign financing violations. Webber once served as Rep DeLay’s director of coalitions, responsible for rallying outside support for the Republicans political agenda among lobbyists and businesses. And Webber is credited with helping Rep DeLay land the job of House Majority Whip in 1994 in an upset over more established rivals. The National Journal reported in April 2005 that Webber contributed $500 to Rep DeLay’s legal defense fund. Prior to her work for Reps Delay and Blunt, Webber was staff director for the House Subcommittee on National Economic Growth, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs. Webber, who has a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also knows her way around the executive branch, having worked for both the Reagan and the first Bush administrations.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2006/09/01/daily.4/