People

HEADED TO LOWE'S. After eight years working for Colorado lawmakers, Craig Rushing is headed to Mooresville, N.C., to become government affairs manager for home improvement retailer Lowe's. The North Carolina native started on Capitol Hill as an aide to former Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., then joined the staff of Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., in 2007. "He has worked hard for the people of Colorado," Lamborn said. Rushing has an economics degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

OXFORD COWBOY. Marcus Brubaker will succeed Rushing as Lamborn's legislative director. A native of Casper, Wyo., Brubaker got involved in politics in 1994 as a volunteer on the campaign of the late Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo. After graduating from Hillsdale College with a degree in history in 2001, Brubaker went on to earn a master's degree in history from Oxford University. He was "supposed to come back to the U.S." at that point, Brubaker said, but instead headed north to St. Andrews University, where he earned a second master's in international security and met his wife, who was also a student. "We surprisingly had a lot in common," Brubaker said. "There are obvious cultural differences but, like in Wyoming, the Scots tend to be pretty down-to-earth and very hospitable. ... We're both big energy-producing states, but tend to be very skeptical of far-away government authority." Upon his return to the States, Brubaker joined the staff of former Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., as an intern. "I'm actually really proud of" beginning as an intern, Brubaker said. "As I become the legislative director, I'm very mindful of the job that people do on the lower end of the ladder, what they're giving up and the frustration that can hit people coming out of college, ready to do things." He later became an aide to former Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho, and was most recently a legislative assistant with Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla. Brubaker has acquired a few nicknames on his journey from the West through England to Washington. "Some of my friends call me the 'Oxford Cowboy,' " he said.

This article appears in the June 12, 2010, edition of National Journal Daily.

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