Head for the Hill
Submitted by Al Diamon on Tue, 11/27/2007 - 5:01pm.
Filed 11/26/2007
The Portland Press Herald has hired a new Washington correspondent. He's Jonathan Kaplan, who's been a staff writer for The Hill ( a Capitol Hill newspaper aimed at elected officials and political insiders) for the last five years. Kaplan will start work for Maine's largest daily and its sister papers, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville on Dec. 17, according to a posting on the paper's Web site by city editor Andrew Russell.
Unlike Bart Jansen, the Press Herald's previous reporter in D.C. who left in June after six years on the job, Kaplan has actually spent some time in Maine. The Chicago native is a 1994 graduate of Colby College in Waterville, where he majored in government and economics. He also has a Master's degree in public policy from the University of Chicago. In addition to covering Congress-people and their cronies, Kaplan has made reporting trips to Iraq and Venezuela.
In his new job, he'll handle the Press Herald's coverage of the 2008 U.S. Senate race between Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Tom Allen, as well as the presidential campaign. He's also scheduled to write a weekly column for the Maine Sunday Telegram and a political blog for the Press Herald's Web site.
It's doubtful that Kaplan's brief time in Maine more than a decade ago was a major factor in his hiring. According to an insider at the Portland paper, several current staff writers at the Press Herald expressed interest in the D.C. job, but were told the paper wanted the new correspondent to be somebody, like Jansen, who had lots of Capitol Hill experience.
Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
The Portland Press Herald has hired a new Washington correspondent. He's Jonathan Kaplan, who's been a staff writer for The Hill ( a Capitol Hill newspaper aimed at elected officials and political insiders) for the last five years. Kaplan will start work for Maine's largest daily and its sister papers, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville on Dec. 17, according to a posting on the paper's Web site by city editor Andrew Russell.
Unlike Bart Jansen, the Press Herald's previous reporter in D.C. who left in June after six years on the job, Kaplan has actually spent some time in Maine. The Chicago native is a 1994 graduate of Colby College in Waterville, where he majored in government and economics. He also has a Master's degree in public policy from the University of Chicago. In addition to covering Congress-people and their cronies, Kaplan has made reporting trips to Iraq and Venezuela.
In his new job, he'll handle the Press Herald's coverage of the 2008 U.S. Senate race between Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Tom Allen, as well as the presidential campaign. He's also scheduled to write a weekly column for the Maine Sunday Telegram and a political blog for the Press Herald's Web site.
It's doubtful that Kaplan's brief time in Maine more than a decade ago was a major factor in his hiring. According to an insider at the Portland paper, several current staff writers at the Press Herald expressed interest in the D.C. job, but were told the paper wanted the new correspondent to be somebody, like Jansen, who had lots of Capitol Hill experience.
Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
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