Bobb Snags Right Hand Man

When D.C. school board President Robert Bobb was lured to D.C. from Oakland, Calif., he brought along a few loyal subjects to make sure he had some friends in the city administrator’s suite.

Now that Bobb has moved from the bureaucratic to the elected realm, he’s decided one of those Oakland followers should come along too. Last week, he informed the board that he was hiring long-time confidant Ed Reiskin to serve in the newly created position of chief of staff for the Board of Education.

Reiskin is pretty comfy working for Bobb. He started with him as an assistant city manager in Oakland in 2000. He arrived in D.C. the same day as Bobb in late 2003 and rose through the ranks to eventually serve as deputy mayor for public safety and justice. “I’ve been with him almost seven years,” says Reiskin.

In an e-mail to board members last week, Bobb announced that Reiskin would be coming on for the next 110 days. Apparently, Bobb is looking for some short-term help for a period that is expected to be anything but relaxed.

“What I see is it’s a pretty intense time right now and there are a lot of demands being placed on the board,” says Reiskin.

Yeah, like a possible elimination of the body as we know it. Reiskin plans to leave the battle over who will run to schools to others. “Despite all the larger issues, the board was elected with a mandate to get things done,” he says. “That is what I expect to do.”