The top deputy of one of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ main City Council antagonists will now be working for the mayor.
Jaymie Bradford, chief of staff to Councilman Carl DeMaio, will become the mayor’s director of appointments to boards and commissions and director of protocol starting Feb. 9. She’ll make $93,000, a decrease from the $98,010 she made under DeMaio. Bradford has worked for the mayor previously as a policy advisor and director of council affairs.
DeMaio, a first-term Republican, has been an unceasing critic of Sanders’ approach on fiscal issues, saying the mayor needs to do more to reduce pension and other retirement costs.
Sanders, in turn, has sought to marginalize DeMaio. The Mayor’s Office has angrily responded to memos and compared DeMaio to City Attorney Mike Aguirre, a previous whipping boy.
Mayoral spokeswoman Rachel Laing said hiring Bradford was not related to DeMaio, citing her positive relationships with community leaders and activists and the Mayor’s Office.
“Jaymie’s maintained a great relationship with everyone in this office,” Laing said.
Bradford’s departure is part of a recent shuffle in DeMaio’s office. His previous spokeswoman, Erica Mendelson, left in November to take a job with a local public relations firm. DeMaio’s current spokeswoman, Republican political consultant Jennifer Jacobs, was hired short-term and is leaving no later than the middle of next month.
Jacobs said DeMaio was restructuring his office and bringing in a new employee, Felipe Monroig. Monroig is a Washington D.C.-area attorney and former No. 2 at DeMaio’s old company, the Performance Institute think tank.
— LIAM DILLON