John Harris, the Jokester

In an internal memo to Politico staff, Editor John Harris announces, with some degree of gravity, two new hires. At the top of the memo, he jokes that the announcement, a welcome e-mail regarding two new Politico editors, is "more serious than it sounds" in that without such an announcement, the publication could be "slapped with fines and surcharges" if Politico personnel policies are hit with an audit. All joking aside, the new hires are Matt Negrin and Jessica Taylor. Negrin,a Boston University grad who edited the student newspaper, will report on Obama's White House. He has worked in D.C. for the Boston Globe and New Hampshire's Union Leader, among a host of other resume building jobs. Taylor, meanwhile, will work on the upcoming unveiled 2010 campaign page. She was research director the 2010 edition of the "Alamanac of American Politics" and was a staff writer and online producer for NationalJournal.com. Like Negrin, Taylor also edited her student newspaper at Furman University in South Carolina. See Harris's internal memo after the jump... Internal Memo to Newsroom Staff from John Harris: Yikes. Beth Frerking [a senior editor] reminds me that we have (still sort of) new employees in our midst who have never been the subject of a staff welcome e-mail. This is more serious than it sounds. We could be slapped with fines and surcharges if POLITICO personnel policies were hit with an audit. So, with apologies for the tardiness of this announcement: Please join us in welcoming two new assistant editors to the staff, Matt Negrin and Jessica Taylor. Matt is adding his talents - and speed - to the 44 page's reporting on the Obama White House. He is a graduate of Boston University, where he edited the student newspaper, and has worked in Washington for the Boston Globe and New Hampshire's Union Leader. Matt also interned as a copy editor at the New York Times' foreign desk and had a reporting internship with The Associated Press in Japan. Reflecting POLITICO's bias in favor of the Old Dominion, he's a native of Fairfax County. He's working with Alex Burns to make the 44 page-one of our great successes of 2009-even better in 2010. Jessica will help manage and update our soon to be unveiled 2010 campaign page, tracking news from races around the country and serving as an in-house encyclopedia for the midterm elections. She comes well prepared, having been research director for the 2010 edition of "The Almanac of American Politics", and staff writer and online producer at nationaljournal.com, where she covered House and Senate campaigns. She also reported on the 2008 GOP national convention for National Journal's Convention Daily newspaper. A Tennessee native, Jessica attended Furman University in South Carolina and was editor of the student newspaper there. Please do introduce yourselves. Matt sits next to Alex, and Jessica is in The Arena Suite with Fred Barbash and Elizabeth Mendes.

Fishbowl

John Harris, the Jokester

Betsy Rothstein

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Betsy Rothstein