Adviser, ex-candidate join Tom Wolf's office
HARRISBURG — Gov.-elect Tom Wolf is filling key positions in his office with more people with connections to his successful campaign and to ex-Gov. Ed Rendell.
Wolf, a Democrat, announced Wednesday that a top campaign adviser, Mary Isenhour, will be his legislative secretary and John Hanger, a former fellow cabinet member under Rendell, will be Wolf’s policy and planning secretary when he succeeds Republican Tom Corbett on Jan. 20.
Isenhour, 56, held top positions in the state Democratic Party while Rendell was governor, serving as executive director from 2007 to 2010 and directing Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign in Pennsylvania. She has run a political consultancy since 2010 with former Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney.
Hanger, 57, was a member of the Public Utility Commission and founder of the Harrisburg-based environmental advocacy group, PennFuture, before becoming Rendell’s environmental protection secretary in 2008, staying until Rendell left office in 2011.
Hanger also ran for governor as a Democrat, but dropped out in March amid difficulty raising money, two months before Wolf won a four-way primary. He has been in private law practice since 2011.
Wolf served in Rendell’s cabinet as revenue secretary for nearly two years, leaving in 2008.
Wolf also named Obra Kernodle IV to be his public liaison. Kernodle was a deputy campaign manager for Wolf. Kernodle also has served in Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s administration and worked on President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign in Pennsylvania as the southeast political director.
