Vice President Mike Pence.
Photo: Gino Santa Maria/Shutterstock.com
Two top lawyers serving as senior aides to Vice President Mike Pence are leaving their posts after less than a year with the administration.
Pence’s chief counsel, Mark Paoletta, is joining the Office of Management and Budget as general counsel, while domestic policy adviser Daris Meeks will be returning to the private sector, according to CNN, which first reported the moves.
“Daris Meeks and Mark Paoletta served the vice president’s office with honor and distinction,” said Alyssa Farah, Pence’s spokeswoman, in an email. “Meeks built a policy shop that helped play a critical role in pushing the president’s agenda through Congress and Paoletta oversaw setting up the legal department and was instrumental in preparing nominees, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, for confirmation.”
Mark Paoletta.
Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
Meeks formerly worked as partner at Venable before joining Pence’s office. A Venable spokesperson declined to comment Monday on whether Meeks was rejoining the firm.
Meeks has helped Republicans lead the charge against the post-financial crisis Dodd-Frank reforms. Meeks also worked as a former senior adviser to House Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who pushed efforts to pull back the Dodd-Frank legislations and reform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Paoletta formerly worked with Pence during the vice president’s time in Congress and served as a partner at DLA Piper, where his lobbying clients included Oracle. Former Pence chief of staff Josh Pitcock left the vice president’s office last year to join Oracle.
Paoletta and Meeks’ departures come in the wake of the departures from some of Pence’s other top aides, including the October 2017 exits of Josh Pitcock and communications director Marc Lotter.
