Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Texan hired as White House social secretary. Job 1: no party-crashers

Another Texan has joined the administration, in one of the most delicate, glamorous and demanding jobs around: White House social secretary, the nation's party planner-in-chief.

Jeremy Bernard, a native of San Antonio, currently serves as senior adviser to the U.S. ambassador in Paris. From 2008 to 2010, he worked as White House Liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities.

He is the first male and the first openly gay person to serve as White House social secretary.

He replaces Julianna Smoot, who led the Obama campaign finance team in 2008 and took over the social secretary gig from Desiree Rodgers, whose tenure was blemished by the most famous party crashers in White House history, the Michaele and Tareq Salahi. Smoot quit to return to Chicago to help on the 2012 reelection bid.

A Democratic activist, Bernard was a fund-raiser for the Obama campaign in California in 2008, and served on the Democratic National Committee for eight years. According to the White House, he has served on the boards of several gay and lesbian groups, including the National Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. In Los Angeles, he served on mayoral, sheriff and police LGBT advisory committees.

"Jeremy shares our vision for the White House as the People's House, one that celebrates our history and culture in dynamic and inclusive ways," Obama said in a statement.

Bernard said he is "deeply humbled.... I have long admired the arts and education programs that have become hallmarks of the Obama White House and I am eager to continue these efforts in the years ahead."

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/02/texan-hired-as-white-house-soc.html

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