Veteran reporter Chuck Oxley of the Associated Press is leaving AP to become the new communications director for the Idaho Democratic Party. His hire is one of several the Democrats are making with money being handed out by the national Democratic Party at the urging of Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and presidential candidate who’s now the national Democratic chairman. Dean will be in Boise on Friday, and will speak at Julia Davis Park at noon.

Richard Stallings, chairman of the Idaho Democratic Party, said of Oxley’s hire, “We’re really pleased. … He’s on and he’s been helping us with this Dean event.”

In addition to Oxley, the D’s will be hiring two community organizers and have hired a fundraiser, Stallings said. Those staff additions were among factors that persuaded the former congressman to stay on as state chairman. “It’s freed me up some,” he said.

---

---