Steve Holton, a former Capitol Hill aide, has joined the Washington-based National Potato Council as director of corporate and public relations.
He takes a slot being vacated by Mark Szymanski, the former US Chamber of Commerce staffer who joins the Afghanistan Veterans of America in New York as communications director.
The 66-year-old NPC represents the $4.3B US potato industry, including its DC push to get potatoes on the menu of the federal food assistance program for women, infants and children known as WIC.
Holton worked communications and aide posts to Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), the Bush-Cheney re-election in Michigan, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
He takes the reins on the NPC's media outreach, grassroots and social media, in addition to coordinating public policy PR.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs' Amy Spitalnick has condemned president Trump’s threat made during his UN General Assembly speech to wipe Iran off the map.
The principles of liberty, self-government and individual rights are often discussed as matters of history. Last week in Odesa, Ukraine, I was reminded they are also very much matters of the present. 
How risks and opportunities have evolved for communicators in the second Trump administration.
Too many executives view public affairs as a technical task. They think that if their policy is strong, their facts are correct, and their lawyers are ready, the outcome will naturally follow. That’s a dangerous misconception.
A majority of Americans (52 percent) say president Trump launched the invasion of Iran in part to distract voters from the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal. Forty percent disagree, according to Drop Site/Zeteo/Data for Progress survey conducted March 6-8.
