Norris to become Vilsack's chief of staff

The Des Moines Register reports:

John Norris, the chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board, is becoming Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s chief of staff. Norris’ wife, Jackie, was President Barack Obama’s Iowa campaign director and already had a job in Washington as chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama. Vilsack was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday and took the oath of office Wednesday afternoon and went to work at his new office at USDA, according to an aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. The aide said David Lazarus, a former adviser to Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who led an outreach effort to farm organizations during the campaign, will become a special assistant to Vilsack. Vilsack’s deputy chief of staff will be Carole Jett, a longtime employee in USDA’s Natural Resources and Conservation Service who helped direct Obama’s transition work with the department.